Erie Lackawanna Railroad

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Logo of the Erie Lackawanna

The Erie Lackawanna Railroad (EL) was an American railroad company . The company was based in Cleveland (Ohio). It served a network of around 5,000 kilometers in the north of the USA between Chicago , Cleveland, Buffalo and New York City .

founding

From September 1956, the long-loss-making railway companies Erie Railroad , Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad and Delaware and Hudson Railroad began to conduct merger talks. In April 1959, D&H dropped out of the talks. The shareholders of Erie Railroad received 1.25 shares of EL for one share of ER. The shares of DLW shareholders were exchanged at a ratio of 1: 1. On September 15, 1960, the merger was approved by the Interstate Commerce Commission . It was the largest rail merger of the 20th century to date.

The merged Erie Lackawanna started operations on October 17, 1960. Despite the merger, losses were also recorded in the following years, except in 1965 and 1966.

One of the first measures was to reduce passenger traffic. Most long-distance trains were cut back in the 1960s. In 1970 the last train ran on the Chicago - Hoboken route . Only the local transport services between Cleveland and Youngstown (until 1977) and in New Jersey remained. From 1967 the state of New Jersey began to subsidize local transport. Therefore new cars and locomotives could be bought.

In the early 1960s, a wave of mergers began to emerge on the railways of the northeast. The Erie Lackawanna therefore tried to be integrated into a company led by the Norfolk and Western Railway . As a preliminary stage to a planned merger between the Norfolk & Western Railway and the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway , the Dereco Holding was founded. Although the merger failed, Dereco was founded as a Norfolk & Western subsidiary and in 1968 took ownership of the Erie Lackawanna. As part of this takeover, the name was changed to Erie Lackawanna Railway .

Storm damage and bankruptcy

On June 22, 1972, Cyclone Agnes caused severe damage to the railway systems. The amount of damage was approximately 9.2 million dollars, as a result of which the Erie Lackawanna filed for bankruptcy on June 26, 1972. Dereco effectively gave up control of the company and in 1972 posted the entire stake in Erie Lackawanna as a write-off of $ 55.8 million.

Erie Lackawanna continued its business operations under American bankruptcy law. The branch line to Tioga , which would have cost an estimated $ 1.2 million to rebuild, was closed, while a government loan of $ 3.9 million over 20 years was granted for the permanent repair of initially provisional repaired storm damage.

Takeover by Conrail

In the autumn of 1973, Congress passed the Regional Rail Reorganization Act (3R Act) , which came into force on January 2, 1974, in order to support Penn Central, which had been insolvent since 1970 . On this basis, the United States Railway Association (USRA) prepared the establishment of Conrail from 1974 . However, the shareholders, administrators and management of Erie Lackawanna initially refused to be involved in Conrail, so that the USRA's Preliminary System Plan for the company (as well as the likewise insolvent Boston and Maine Railroad ) provided for a reorganization from its own resources. A few weeks before the plan was published, however, the Erie Lackawanna asked for government support in January 1975.

USRA, Erie Lackawanna and other interested parties then examined various options, including the possible takeover by Santa Fe . A takeover of large parts of the Erie Lackawanna by the Chessie system , which was sealed in a letter of intent in June 1975, was favored . Conrail , however, would have essentially only taken over the routes located in New Jersey, while the Chessie system would have taken over the routes located in the states of New York and Pennsylvania as well as part of the routes in Ohio and would have received route usage rights in New Jersey. This variant was taken into account in USRA's Final System Plan . Negotiations about the purchase price and its form (for example by transferring a stake in the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad ) delayed the process. In addition, the 3R Act stipulated that employers 'and workers' associations had to clarify aspects of labor law before a company takeover. After both aspects could not be clarified by February 1976, most of the Erie Lackawanna was integrated into Conrail at short notice.

Conrail took over essential parts of the Erie Lackawanna on April 1, 1976 . However, the former Erie main line between Marion and Chicago, which instead was used briefly by the Erie Western Railway from 1977 onwards, was not taken over . Some routes of the Erie Lackawanna were closed in the following period by the Conrail or sold to Shortlines. The routes required for local traffic in New Jersey were acquired by NJ Transit .

The bankruptcy proceedings ended in 1982. To wind up the company, Erie Lackawanna Inc. was founded, which was able to fully satisfy the lenders and borrowers through the sale of the land and investments (around $ 95 million in income). Business operations were then discontinued in 1992.

Subsidiaries, holdings

Corporate management

  • October 17, 1960 - November 22, 1960: Harry W. von Willer (Chairman of the Board until August 31, 1961, President, Chief Executive Officer), was previously President of the Erie Railroad
  • Nov. 22, 1960 - June 1963: Milton G. McInnes (President, Chief Executive Officer)
  • September 1, 1961 - February 28, 1962: Perry M. Shoemaker (Chairman of the Board), was previously President of the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad
  • June 18, 1963 - April 6, 1967: William H. White (Chairman of the Board, Chief Executive Officer)
  • April 26, 1967 - March 8, 1968: Robert G. Fuller (Chairman of the Board)
  • March 8, 1968 - May 1, 1970: John P. Fishwick (Chairman of the Board until June 26, 1972, Chief Executive Officer)
  • May 2, 1970 - March 31, 1976: Gregory W. Maxwell (President, Chief Executive Officer)
  • June 27, 1972 - November 30, 1982: Bankruptcy trustees: Thomas F. Patton and Ralph S. Tyler Jr.
  • 1976-1985; 1987 - 1992: Harry Angelo Zilli (President, Chief Executive Officer)
  • 1985 - 1987: Bruce Hendry (President, Chief Executive Officer)

Web links

Erie Lackawanna Historical Society

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ 14 Apr 1959, Page 1 - Wellsville Daily Reporter at Newspapers.com. Accessed March 28, 2019 .
  2. ^ 1 May 1959, Page 7 - The Progress at Newspapers.com. Accessed March 28, 2019 .
  3. ^ 16 Sep 1960, Page 1 - The Kane Republican at Newspapers.com. Accessed March 28, 2019 .
  4. ↑ 16 Sep 1960, 1 - Elmira Advertiser at Newspapers.com. Accessed March 28, 2019 .
  5. ↑ a b c d H. Roger Grant: Erie Lackawanna: The Death of an American Railroad, 1938-1992 . Stanford University Press, 1996, ISBN 978-0-8047-2798-3 , pp. 176-177, 182, 190, 201 (English).
  6. ^ A b The Historical Guide to North American Railroads . Kalmbach Media, 2014, ISBN 978-0-89024-970-3 , pp. 135 (English).
  7. ^ Robert E. Bedingfield: Chessie Studies Bid for Erie-Lackawanna . In: The New York Times . May 15, 1975 ( nytimes.com ).
  8. ^ Edward C. Burks: Historic Erie and Lackawanna To Chug on Under a New Name . In: The New York Times . August 3, 1975 ( nytimes.com ).
  9. ↑ Ralph Blumenthal: State Says It's Prepared To Buy Part of Erie Line . In: The New York Times . March 19, 1976 ( nytimes.com ).
  10. ^ Measure sought on Erie Rail Use . In: The New York Times . July 6, 1976 ( nytimes.com ).
  11. ↑ ERIE LACKAWANNA, INC. May 11, 2018, accessed March 28, 2019 .
  12. ↑ 29 Aug 1961, 3 - Elmira Advertiser at Newspapers.com. Accessed March 28, 2019 .
  13. ↑ Erie-Lackawanna Road Elects Milton G. McInnes President; Ex-Clerk Also Named Chief Executive, Succeeding Harry W. Von Willer MERGED RAILROAD ELECTS NEW HEAD . In: The New York Times . November 23, 1960, ISSN  0362-4331 ( nytimes.com [accessed March 28, 2019]).
  14. ↑ 14 Jun 1963, Page 1 - The Evening Times at Newspapers.com. Accessed March 28, 2019 .
  15. ^ 2 May 1970, Page 14 - The Decatur Herald at Newspapers.com. Accessed March 28, 2019 .