Lets Bail out the Penn Central
#1
Here is a very interesting movie, both for content, and for the rolling stock and right-of-way.
I remember 10 MPH mainline track with passenger trains too.
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://blip.tv/file/1566325">http://blip.tv/file/1566325</a><!-- m -->
Charlie
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#2
I'm watching it here and there and it's very interesting.
Tom

Model Conrail

PM me to get a hold of me.
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#3
I thought it was very interesting. So sad to see how the MIGHTY PENNSY ended up. I'm sure Ralph will appreciate the video as well.

I wonder if Ralph derails trains in each operating session, in order to be prototypical? Icon_lol

Dave
-Dave
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#4
Interesting video.
To bad it didn't work.

Its funny how the PC kept saying their infrastructure was deteriorating. Unfortunately for them, they had inherited it from other railroads, that were deferring maintenance before the merger. The PC still running on bad track, just made it worst. Its also too bad, that the PC, was trying to get funds from Congress, when Congress was more into supporting the highway and trucking industry, letting the railroads defend for themselves. A little bad forsight. Kinda like the commuter system today. Rails were abonadoned to small towns, and cities, torn up. Now cities are fighting to get that rail system back.
It seems like Congress back then, did what Congress is doing today. Bail out insurance and mortgage (Sure...here's 700 Billion dollars....Now go on a retreat....)companies, but too hell with the auto industry(Hmmm....Gee.....I don't know...30 billion?.....Thats a little too much, don't you think?, Especially if you can fly here on private jets.)
Unlike bailing out insurance, banks and mortagage companies that are now being tightfisted with government funds, bailing out the auto industry, and PC, we would of seen immediate improvements.

Oh..Sorry....kinda went off topic here.

UH....Uh...is that Ralph I hear sobbing?
Torrington, Ct.
NARA Member #87
I went to my Happy Place, but it was closed for renovations.
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#5
This is sad. It's also how I remember the PC when I was kid - decrepit. And I live in the city in which a lot of money was invested shortly after the bankruptcy - Columbus. My family took a train vacation from here in 1974 and I remember being amazed at how bad the track was - we crept out of the city. Contrast that to some very smooth roads as we went further west (the Western Pacific stands out) and even a kid notices.

Of course, I also had a father interested in railroads pointing some of this out.

Matt
Matt Goodman
Columbus, Ohio
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#6
Awww...CRAP! Third time today! Smile
[Image: IMG_0658.jpg]

Charlie, that was very interesting to watch both for the "pitch" to the government and for the vintage glimpses of PC equipment and facilities. Hardly an upbeat picture though! I would like to learn about the government's response to this film in particular. It was a compelling approach: "We COULD do fine work like at these modern facilities but we just don't have the bucks to improve more of our physical plant. Look at how bad its getting (cue very scary looking wobbly freight cars) and know that its only going to get worse if we don't get some money!"

On night I heard an explosion and the next day witnessed the incredible mess of a PC derailment near Mt. Marion NY in 1975. Tankers with combustible materials went off the track, and ignited damaging or destroying several cars. It took several days to clean up the wreck. The incident was attributed to failure of one car's wheels. Had the derailment occurred a mile earlier it would have blown up a small loading facility that handled ammonium nitrate of all things, likley vaporizing the local post office and several homes nearby!

The many factors related to the PC's bankruptcy and dissolution are well documented in good reads like "The Wreck of the Penn Central" by Daughen and Binzen. Certainly deteriorating equipment and facilities were a big problem, as were so many other issues for this ill conceived merger. That said, I model it because it was RAILROADING in my world as a boy. Despite its catastrophe as a business and carrier I still love the looks of those black locomotives, jade green freight cars, and the much maligned "Mating Worms" logo. The line does run better in my basement than pictured above. Goldth

Ralph
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#7
Ralph,
What is that thing with the yellow cab? Can we see more?
Dave
-Dave
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#8
Wow, that was great Charlie!
A great little piece of RR & American history! (I was only 14 when that was made!)
Thanks for posting that!
-Drew-
"Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly."
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#9
Here's a blog talking about it...

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.lubetkin.net/blog/2008/12/penn-central-1974-movie.html">http://www.lubetkin.net/blog/2008/12/pe ... movie.html</a><!-- m -->
Mike
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#10
From a business stand point it's frightting and very fitting today. From a rail fans point of view it's really cool. Glad I'm just a rail fan that models the 1940's and not a R.R. executive from the 1970's.
 My other car is a locomotive, ARHS restoration crew  
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#11
Now that i saw that video i feel for the PC. Real cool video tho.
Harry Check out my blog at <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://newyorkontariowestern.blogspot.com/">http://newyorkontariowestern.blogspot.com/</a><!-- m -->
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#12
What do you call a PC brakeman riding on the side of a car?

"suicide rider".. :o
Larry
Engineman

Summerset Ry

Make Safety your first thought, Not your last!  Safety First!
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#13
Puddlejumper Wrote:Ralph,
What is that thing with the yellow cab? Can we see more?
Dave

Hi Dave,

I've been out of town the last few days with a family emergency and missed your question. The thing with the yellow cab is a track cleaning car I got years ago in a box of train stuff my uncle sent when he got out of the hobby. It was originally lettered for the Southern Pacific and the cab was colored red. There was a motor in the cab that turned two shafts with little sponges on the ends that wiped the tracks. When I received it the motor was not functioning so I removed the sponges and glued a piece of masonite to the shafts, using that wood slab to rub dust off the tracks. Then I painted and lettered it for the Penn Central. I run this car periodically to remove dust from my track but rely on Wahl oil to keep things clean and electronically conductive.

[Image: IMG_0662.jpg]

Ralph
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