The Rise and Fall of the Penn Central 

My dad started as a signalman for the New York Central, through the Penn Central merger,and into the Conrail years before he passed away. I model all three on my model railroad in his honor 🎖

American Viewer here, Its really cool to see you review a fallen American Railroad, I thought you only did the UK and Europe! Great Video!

Given the regulatory environment, this merger never had a chance. There was too much duplication of trackage, too many secondary branches, and too many employees for the tonnage being moved. If deregulation came before the Penn Central, it may have had a chance.

What’s interesting is that the late-1990s Conrail breakup essentially undid the Penn Central merger. Most of the old NYC trackage went to CSX, and most of the old PRR system went to the Norfolk Southern.

Penn Central had the greatest Locomotive Roster of all time (With UP a close 2nd). I count myself blessed to have seen Penn Central in Buffalo, NY as a kid in the 1970's!

One correction, N&W steam ended in 1960. Long term steam was not gonna get much better, but N&W locomotives performed well compared to the 1st Gen diesels.

There were some items not covered in the video: 1) that commuter RR´s mostly went to the states (with some exceptions) 2) That the NEC track went mostly to Amtrak (and to NY and MA) 3) The track taxation that was unfair, as roads and airports are not taxed.

When it comes to the rivalry between the Pennsy and the Central, I always point my favorite quote from "The Wreck of the Penn Central" to show just how ingrained it was in each company's culture. "Before the merger the highest-ranked Jew in the 60,000-employee Pennsylvania Railroad was an accountant. Roman Catholics also were notably absent from its upper echelons. The Central had a broader ethnic mix. An Irish executive at the Central was said to have complained; 'I was brought up to hate Protestants and the Pennsylvania Railroad. After this [merger], I've got to love them both.'" (pages 97-98)

👏👏👏 appreciate your efforts to make such amazing less heard mini documentaries.👏👏👏

I think the slowest merger approval was James J Hill trying to get his railroads merged into one company. He owned the Great Northern Railway (of the US), the Northern Pacific Railroad, and the Burlington Route (there was also the Spokane, Portland, and Seattle which was jointly owned by the Great Northern and Northern Pacific so we have railroads owning railroads owned by the same guy). The plan to merge these four companies into the one railroad lasted for decades starting in 1901 (before the SP&S was founded in 1905) and ended in 1970 when it was finally approved leading to the Burlington Northern Railroad. It took so long the Hill had been dead for decades and Burlington Northern wasn't even the original name they had planned on.

The US Gov: We have a free market! We are a free, capitalistic country! Also the US Gov: intentionally hampered the railroads and their businesses while also providing subsidies to airlines and billions of dollars for the construction of the interstates because Congress was firmly in the oil industry’s pocket.

Really fascinating, a very clear explanation of a situation I didn't really know about. Not sure one can call it the Rise and Fall of the Penn Central - more like Decline and Fall!

Great video as always. Just one little detail, at 7:13, that's a locomotive of the Delaware & Hudson Railway, not the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western.

Never thought I'd see an American railroad documentary on this channel! Being a PC fan, I can say that this information is more or less about 95% correct. Keep it up!

As far as railroad videos go and there are not many about the PENN CENTRAL, other than Green Frog Productions which are Excellent, this one is extremely informative. It takes you from the Pennsylvania Railroad, New York Central merger to the rest, New Haven, B&O just to name a few. This one for being somewhat brief is excellent as well.

6:30 Flash forward 35+ years and CSX and NS split up Conrail, NS taking the old PRR lines and CSX taking the old NYC lines. Better late than never.

The Norfolk & Western was officially dieselized on May 7, 1960.

Fantastic video! The most concise summary of PC’s fall that I’ve seen. I often wondered how a merger between the New York Central and Milwaukee Road would have worked.

Amazing video, a really good look as to the desperate and anxious circumstances of the 70s and the so-called Malaise Era. This time period has always been one of intense fascination for me, both in the ways of the daily lives of Americans pulling through the bleakness, and the consequences of the policies and processes we enacted across society have to this day. Below are some of my two cents... One strange thing I've always noticed about the story of the Penn Central is that weird politicized focus on the factors of regulation the ICC put in place that led to the slow deterioration of the rail lines as different mediums began to pop up. It's an incredibly easy narrative to follow, the regulatory structure bad, corporation good. But in that it's also really easy to lose sight of the much broader issues within the corporate structure and the environments surrounding it that led to the demise of what was once the face of American railroading. I'm really glad you brought up the unusual conflicts between leadership both within the levels of the Penn Central and ICC and between the PRR and NYC heads respectively in their attitudes towards the future of their entities and the actions taken in the meantime to address their concerns. In some ways, I think we're starting to see this happen again, but in a much more abstracted scale. Reason being that such railroads, trucking companies, and airlines are now going towards such largesse and corporate bloat in these deregulated sectors again, and with potentially less ability for local and federal governments to protect the economy if such large collapses occur again. Even with the unions, employees in the corporations such as UP, BNSF, CSX or otherwise haven't much say in how the activities and issues over the daily service of the railroads are conducted, and thus are almost all at the behest of the shareholders and chairmen of their respective boards. Negotiations over how company policy affects the lines and the workers and customers on them become less important as these large contractual obligations are fulfilled by large and incredibly wealthy businesspeople and organizations. We can already see signs of this when it comes to the massive mergers of the past 10-20 years, the smaller and smaller timeframes put on basic safety like car inspection times, PSR and the destruction of hump yards in lieu of increasing focus on car velocity vs general carload, or the poor communication between the railroads and their customers, leading to massive demurrage charges against smaller companies for their lack of ability to properly set up for railroads to pick up their cargo. What we really should need to prevent these dangerous, and cataclysmic failures of corporate and regulatory action, is a system where the employees; workers if you will, of these increasingly vast systems have a good robust way of providing input and action into how the systems run and should run to give both efficient, effective, and long-lasting service without sacrificing the needs of the communities they serve, the workers who rely on them to afford basic needs, and the general public who relies on these services to get the goods that we use every day. There, we can establish a much more independent and flexible market without needing government oversight to prevent the encroachment against basic human rights and ethics, but also very capable internally of preventing such top-down, greed-fueled corporate control by profiteers and barons that were such defining moments of places like the railroads during the Gilded Age and Progressive Era.

Great video on a truely monumental story. Each of those railroads in themselves could be a 20min video

Love this. Would like to see the Milwaukee Road covered with the pacific extension

Kompakte und verständliche Geschichte vom Anfang bis zum Ende dieser unvergleichlichen Eisenbahn zusammen mit wertvollen Fotos und Filmen. Sehenswert!

Ruairidh, I have to say, you work is really incredible. Entertaining, but very enlightening. I really appreciate your videos emphasizing the way organizations communicate, react, and work with each other in the industry. They're the elephants in the rooms that not a lot of people seem to know how to articulate talking about, and you sure did a nice job explaining it between the PR and the NYC! Superb work. Also, whatever happened to your video on the Garratt steam locomotives? That video had great explanations, too!

Absolutely spot on. This video was great, I even learned a few details I did not know. You really did your research, which shows your appreciation and dedication to the subject.

2nd to Penn Central, the rock island railroad was the next giant railroad to fall and has just an equal fascinating story to go with it.

Another great episode, very informative and easy to understand, many thanks NZCH

Excellent video, footage and narration!

Extremely well researched and I enjoyed the photos chosen. Very well done!

Wasn't the Eisenhower administration responsible for the harsh regulations that practically killed the golden era of railroading in America? Of course, Carter practically saved Class 1 railroading by signing the Staggers Act.

Excellent video of an interesting time in the railroad industry. ICC always treated railway companies as "robber-barons". Only fault I could see is your file photo of Delaware, Lackawanna and Western when referring to its 1960 merger with the Eire Railroad, (7:14) is of the Delaware and Hudson Railroad.

Very enjoyable video on this of PENN CENTRAL. I grew up in The Mott Haven section of the South Bronx, New York City. I had the privilege to see the equipment the New Haven had as well. Sorry for the business side that caused the demise that PENN CENTRAL acquired in these other prior railroads. I simply remembered no doubt The New Haven lines & their equipment as well as my all favorite engine The FL 9. My opinion after watching this video: NEW HAVEN (formerly New York, New Haven & Hartford) had it worse with that many bankruptcies I was unaware of in their earlier railroad history, in the 1930's the ill fated BOSTON & WESTCHESTER railroad short lived went bankrupt & later abandoned then to be taken by the IRT Subway at 180th Street, Bronx, New York. I remember Conrail when they came in on 1976 I miss them as well. You narrated so well & I'm a major fan of British rails as well as other railroads in Germany, France, Korea, China,Japan, India & Russia! Awesome video. 👋👋👋👋👋👋

Oh my god you madman you made a video of this! I love this!

The locomotive at 7:14 is a Delaware & Hudson ALCo C-628. It is not a Delaware, Lackawanna & Western engine.

Really well researched and presented. Thanks for this history information that I always wondered about.

Wow. Kudos on a great documentary

Very good video, and a good job bringing to light a company that is often overlooked by railfans

I grew up along Conrail lines in Pennsylvania in the mid 80's, and I remember watching the coal trains going by and being able to spot the lone Reading, Eire or Penn Central coal car in the mix that had somehow escaped being repainted... you could still see the occasional lone survivor boxcar or hopper roaming the network until the early 90's, they had a unique teal/green color scheme, stood out even from a mile away.

Excellent reporting.

Great Video, professional style gives us the facts and no flannel

Nice archive film and photos.

Excellent film, thanks for sharing

My Aunt worked for the Pennsey ( PRR) in the reservation department in NYC at the time of the merger. The railroads worked on a seniority system so she lost her job because all Centrals reservation people hand more time then her. She had 25yrs. Of service at the time.

Your videos are awesome man

Really good summary. Thanks

love these old documentary's

Excellent video!

Great! Thank you for all the great work! 😀

N& aW stopped using steam well before '65. The last revenue steam operation in the U.S. was the Grand Trunk Detroit commuter service on the fall off 1960.

Really enjoyed this, could you do a piece on Wisconsin Central please?

Great show

Excellent video content.

One thing not often remarked on was deferred maintenance. The track was so bad by PC that you almost couldn't move trains because of slow orders and derailments Conrail put millions into fixing up trackage

Really enjoyable video; brought back a lot of memories. I grew up in the 1960s in a small town west of Philadelphia and used to hang around the local train station watching the passenger and freight trains as they sped through on the main line west to Pittsburgh and Chicago.

Excellent work. Could you do one on the current state of the Canadian railroad system in a similar style?

Great video. The town I grew up in--Yorktown Heights, NY--was on the "Old Putnam" division of New York Central. (Historical footnote: that line was the first line in the United States to use diesel power for commuter trains, back in the 1920s.) It took the railroad approximately 20 years (and the merger/bankruptcy of Penn Central and subsequent acquisition by ConRail) for the line to be abandoned.

Great documentary. Do you have plans for a Rock Island documentary?

US railroads were in a dire crisis at the end of the 60s and even Amtrak wasn't very promising. Everyone was flying across the States rather than taking flyers from city to city.

The N & W operated steam into 1960, not 1965. If they would have operated steam that late I would've known about it because I was 12 and reading railroad magazines. While were on the subject the N & W steam locomotives were home built and of the most modern. As all can see I'm still a foamer.

I am always amazed at how much great research you put into these video's, if I could click like more than once i definitely would. You deserve so many more subscribers, i will share your videos with everyone I know. Keep up the great work my friend.

Out of High School in 1973 I worked in the Penn Central Track Dept(and I occassionally was able to hit the spike)in Toledo, Ohio. From what I saw EVERYONE Was STEALING the Company 'Blind'. From 'Top' to 'Bottom'. Feds took over and formed 'ConRail'. I remember that two ConRail 'Hostlers'(engineers) were smoking dope, blew past a red signal, collided with Amtrak, and killed and injured many people on the passenger train. That incident is what created Federally Mandated Alcohol and Drug Testing. I was a conductor at the time and lots of guys lost their job because they couldn't or wouldn't stop smoking weed. Some guys had wild ideas as to how to FOOL the drug test but turns out they were the FOOL and lost their job. Prior to the mandated Alcohol and Drug testing I can say that the issue was 'Rampant' mgnt and labor ON ALL RAILROADS! It really did a good job of getting rid of some Useless Losers ! Many TRUE stories that would scare you but fortunately it's behind us now. Retired after 37 years with BNSF in So Cal.

Conrail. Arguably one of the few smart moves made by the US government in the last half century. Great video!

My grandfather was a track supervisor for the PRR. He retired shortly before the Penn Central was formed. He declared at the time that the merger would never work, because the PRR and NY Central used incompatible signal systems.

I have great memories of seeing those Penn Central freight trains pass through my Bridgeport, Ct neighborhood as a child. Some old New Haven passenger cars are still in use on the commuter CT Rail line, and Until recently, a New Haven diesel engine was in use on the Metro-North Waterbury commuter line.

For a Limey, you sure know a lot about American railroads, my friend! Great job!

Great review on this fallen flag!

So glad you mentioned workers salaries and pay. I worked for penn central during the early 70's and while the railroad was choking and dying in debt, the union negotiated very very generous pay.

9:30 A little correction. That Railyard in Columbus Ohio was actually built in 1970, and was known as Buckeye Yard. It was Penn Centrals most efficient classification yard. It served all the way through to the Conrail Era and the Conrail Breakup years. In 2021, Norfolk Southern abandoned there section of Buckeye Yard, while CSX's half still remains as an intermodal facility. The property has been purchased by United Parcel Service and there is a possibility that it could see UPS Trains.

Although Penn Central was short-lived, it still helped moving freight in the Northeastern United States in the late 60s and the 70s.

Very good, while listening to this a CSX local went by on old New Haven territory.

Nice job.

Great video, very informative learnt a lot about the whole new York Central and Penn railway rivalry. Such a shame that only new York Centrals main station is the only one still standing in new York. Penn station as it is today is an abomination to the great station that it replaced.

Interesting to see the varied locomotives, especially the steam & electric.

Great video only one flaw at 7:15 you say that that’s a DL&W locomotive but the picture is a D&H locomotive

Great video, but I have one minor correction. St. Louis, MO is pronounced locally, and in America in general, as “St. Lewis.” Even though it’s named after King Louis IX of France, the pronunciation has been Americanized. I’m a local who lives in the nearby Illinois suburbs. I often mispronounce placenames myself. I even occasionally mispronounce placenames that I’m not familiar with here in Illinois and in nearby Missouri.

The Santa Fe was in the south west but traveled to Chicago but was focused in the south and western region of America . The Midwest railroads were the Milwaukee road, Chicago and northwestern railroad, the Burlington Northern, Illinois central, and the rock island. ( if I missed any let me know)

Very interesting.

What a pity Al Perlman was not allowed to run the railway properly. But in the end Stuart Saunders and the I C C killed PENN CENTRAL.

For another example of the extreme dysfunction of the Interstate Commerce Commission, consider what happened to the Rock Island Railroad 1965-1974. Union Pacific wanted to buy the Rock and sell off portions to other railroads but the ICC spent 10 years thinking about it and adding untenable conditions while the Rock deteriorated to the point that Union Pacific lost interest, leaving the Rock to ultimately fail completely.

One of your best I think. Really enjoyed that. Sad to see yet another business strangled in part by government interference while public servants walk away with a pension and no loss of income. Sounds familiar.

Outstanding video. What happen to the rock island line

Interesting video. I had no idea that things were that dire back then for American railroad companies.

Another factor not mentioned in this video: the role of ex-PRR CFO David C. Bevan, which rates a chapter in "Wreck of the Penn Central", entitled "A Very Small Affair". Bevan, together with several other officials of his department, had a little "private investment club" called Penphil Inc., which traded mostly PRR and later PC and subsidiaries' stock mostly on inside information. One of its investments was in Executive Jet Aviation, on which PC lost $20M - and that at a time when railroads were forbidden from owning airlines! That too rates a whole chapter. (BTW Penphil was obviously fodder for the "Q-Investments" subplot of Arthur Hailey's 1975 novel "The Moneychangers"). Bevan was known as a loose cannon even in his PRR days; he joined in 1951 and held the CFO position from about 1955 until fired in 1970. In fairness, he was a competent CFO without whom PRR and PC would have been even worse off. In hearings leading up to the merger, he repeatedly mentioned 1970 as a year of heavy debt maturities.

7:45 I have that clip on a VHS tape I just bought a couple of days ago.

3:05 The Bear Mountain Bridge over the Hudson River. Driven over that several times. The rail line is still active, don't recall if there is passenger service on it today.

@7:13 the DL&W did merge with Erie in 1960, but Delaware & Hudson was not part of the deal(picture shown of D&H Alco)

The underlying reason that caused these companies to merge was never addressed, and only prolonged their deaths. The main money maker for the Pennsy had always been anthracite. And following the Knox Mine disaster, state regulation of the industry increased operating costs to a point that mining ground to a halt. On top of that, federal law required either company to continue operating stations with little or no traffic. Preventing the closure of these stations meant that overhead increased more and more with no profit to show. What’s ironic is after Conrail took over, one of their first actions was closing unprofitable stations,

Pency went threw St Thomas Ontario Canada too i remember it as a kid

At least Penn Central got to exist for a bit. Even more hilarious is the story of the SPSF, which got killed before it really even started.

Interesting video/ Thanks for making. Railroading was a marginal business in the 1950's and 60s. Was not really a private company. Penn central was poorly planned and operated but it's bankruptcy was probably inevitable considering the conditions it operated under.

This is Rodney Katorski NOBODY NOBODY’S BETTER THAN THE PENN CENTRAL

WV Rep. Staggers saved a massive amount of RR failures. As a West Virginian and all the Coal coming out of the state at that time, I'm sure King Coal helped push the deregulation through.

Well shit I was not expecting to see this as like 4 in the morning but I'm excited!

it still hurts

This video lasted longer than the Penn Central

I would not have called it a "rise" of PC, considering it was the desperate merger of two failing companies, forced to take on a third one (New Haven) as an additional boat anchor as a condition for the merger. It was a pretty rapid descent into corporate Hell, which along with Hurricane Agnes in 1972 led directly to the creation of Conrail.

If they ever made a high speed rail line from NYC to Chicago along the Lake Shore Limited line, they should name it the 21st Century Limited.

Fantastic history of these railroads....modernization, car traffic and airflights, profitability, same as seen in UK to a lesser degree...

lol at "Merryland" and "St Louie". Great video though.

Hello from Kansas 🇺🇸

You should do video about the past fleet of USA