Customer Reviews

The Railroad Mergers and the Coming of Conrail

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Out of print as of 03/07/2000 I picked it up in a local library. As a novice railbuff I found it a very compelling read. I couldn't put it down. If you know anything about the the railroad industry you already know that this book doesn't have a happy ending. The most depressing thing I have ever read. I highly recommend it for anyone who wants to see how governments good intentions can 'improve' anything into oblivion. A great analogy for the recent Microsoft hearings.

the book deals with the economic impact of railroad mergers. Why these economic factors played in the role of the history of american transportation from 1832 to 1977.joh

I bought this book in a general bulk purchase of anything related to Penn Central, one of my pet railroads. It actually sat on my shelf for quite awhile, while I read through other Penn Central books and photo albums - typical railfan: lots of words can be intimidating. BIG MISTAKE! When I finally pulled it down, it stayed down from start to finish. The author did an OUTSTANDING job of explaining the many different situations and personalities that influenced the latter 20th century of railroading. His writing style is, for lack of better terms, COMPELLING (a word used to describe current thriller novels). He adds significant color to what could be very dry subject matter (merger negotiations, court cases, technical minutia). I thought I'd read every take and version of the whos and whys of the Penn Central, Chessie System, and even western mergers, but especially after reading so many versions of the same stories, the book was like I learned them all again for the first time. I STRONGLY SUGGEST anyone with even passing interest to try and get ahold of a copy.

Apparently no one learned form Penn Central. Good idea, poor planing and poor management to run it. The PRR was the reason for the collapse, Bevan and Saunders were the crooks for the 60's. Now we have CSX, the worst idea yet. Conrail wasn't broken, nothing needed fixing.

This book is a great read.