1- R.I. Questions. If the R.I. had sold off their older equipment locomotives their cars and some of their trackage locomotives..the equipment which happens to be way beyond repair to pay its debts and creditors and stuck with one paint scheme then join in on AMTRAK could the C.R.I.P. survive and for how long? 2- Two would have a more lean and mean slimmed down Chicago,Rock Island and Pacific RR. today? I was looking back at the R.I. from 1960-1980. Tom
Pondering these things always gets me wondering. Weren't they already short of power? So selling off was instead their CRP initiative. Cheaper than buying new. Also, as I remember, they leased some new units via help of the UP. Leaner would probably have been at leas some of the "granger" country branches gone. I wonder if anyone has done a serious breakdown of the system, for profit or loss by branch or line segment?
I once read that the Rock's problem was that everywhere they went, a stronger railroad prevailed in the Rock's large markets, AT&SF, CB&Q, C&NW, etc.. Thinking of evolving state and Federal regulations, varying line condition, terminal locations, interchanges, grain elevator locations, truck competition and even weather, harvest volumes and crop prices, a hindsight economic analysis of these lines would be difficult and uncertain. Interesting food for thought though!
What is interesting, is how many miles survived, post-embargo. Can't find it right now, but it was something like 6600 miles of the system. IOW, over two thirds.
If the Staggers Act had arrived perhaps five years sooner in 1975, the U.S. railroad landscape would have been much different. Roads like the CRI&P and MILW could have more easily jettisoned unwanted lines and improved what remained. By this time, the northeast roads were mostly bankrupt and beyond reclamation; Conrail would still have been a necessity.
The RI did sell the St Louis to Santa Rosa NM trackage. The agreement to sell this line was formalized before the directed service and final shut down. They also rebuilt during the bankruptcy the Memphis - Tucumcari (actually only to Amarillo) line with a view to selling it to the Santa Fe. The money spent was (IMO) wasted since once rebuilt they couldn't maintain it and after shutdown it ceased to be a through route due to piece meal operation and abandonments. From what I understand, the ATSF was somewhat interested, but political pressure from other railroads helped keep the ATSF from getting it. The money spent could've been put to better use over the rest of system. Most of the CRP rebuild geeps were sold and then leased back from Precision National. The RI stayed out of Amtrak because they didn't feel it wasn't a cost effective use of tight cash. The cost to join was based on passenger losses for a number of preceding years. The RI had been able to eliminate all but two intercity trains and those were subsidized by the state of Illinois. It was cheaper to run the two remaining trains on their own. In the early 1970s, UP's Kenefick approached the RI with an offer. The merger was dragging on. If the RI would stop soliciting through traffic for Denver and Tucumcari and only solicit through traffic via the UP at Council Bluffs and Kansas City, the UP in turn would "pour" enough business to the RI to make it profitable. For reasons unknown, the RI didn't agree to it. The CNW approached the UP that they were willing to be it's partner. The rest is history.
I've also read that Santa Fe's ultra-conservative management was reluctant to embark on such a major acquisition in view of the cost. This was an unfortunate decision, as Santa Fe's hoard of cash later brought corporate raiders attracted by Santa Fe's undervalued shares. As I recall, the Santa Fe declared a special dividend to offload some of its cash to shareholders and thus deter further attacks on its cashbox.
From reports of people who lived in the area at the time, the ATSF asked some of the states on the route if money could be made available to help rehabilitate the line that had again deteriorated. While many at the state level where at first willing to help, other railroads applied pressure to keep any help from happening. Those other railroads didn't want to see the ATSF going to Memphis.
Yes, that would have caused great dismay. Santa Fe's system weakness was that it had no southeastern gateways. I spent my career with a large southeastern manufacturer and most of our tonnage to CA went through New Orleans to the SP. The Santa Fe salesman didn't call on our office very often because his road couldn't effectively compete.
