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It took the formation of Conrail for one government agency to see what another (the ICC) was doing to an entire industry. Railroads all over were not able to abandon unprofitable lines and fair rates could not be charged for services. That can't be overstated
The ill effects of the ICC are littered all over USA railroad history, particularly between the World Wars. There's no one book or article that covers it to my knowledge, but learning about its mistakes is one of the rewards of entering the rabbit hole. A good start would be your local library, railroad museum, or train-themed tourist attraction. Google will help, but it can only go so far as so much info has yet to be digitized and uploaded to the Internet.
One only needs to look at some of the absolute marvels the PRR built to realize how obscenely powerful this company was. Philadelphia's 30th Street Station is perhaps the most beautiful surviving railway station in the United States. There are areas of the interior that still bear the PRR emblem, etched into the marble surfaces or cast in bronze on railings. This company was a giant of the ages, and to see relics of it still alive and well today - over 50 years after the company's demise - is an incredible testament to that.
Thanks for the fantastic history lesson... I now know the stress my dad went through when I was growing up. He worked for PRR/PC/Conrail, almost his entire life. Started as a messenger boy, he was 15 in NYC with the PRR in 1944 and retired from Conrail 48 years later.
Another factor keeping the memory of the Pennsylvania alive is the model train world. No other company is as popular as it is in any scale. There is even a company in Florida called Broadway Limited Imports who specialize in making Pennsylvania Railroad models. You can find hundreds of Pennsylvania Railroad layouts on TH-cam that recreate famous sections of the Pennsylvania Railroad like Horseshoe Curve and the Northeast Corridor.
As a child rode the Penn Reading Seashore train out of 30th station to Cape May NJ. As a kid seeing the Steam Engine close from the ground level tracks in Cape May was a sight to remember. Going to college and commuting from Wayne Pa to Phila lived through the transition from PRR -> PennCentral -> ConRail. In the late 1960's the deterioration of the PRR infrastructure was quite apparent. From the PRR commuter 'red cars' slowly falling apart to seeing the huge freight yards just west of 30th street station slowly disappear.
I worked for Conrail from 1979-1984; there was some tension between different freight crews, at times - the Reading guys vs the Penn Central guys vs the Erie Lackawanna guys, etc At one point, there were 5 on a freight crew: engineer, fireman, conductor and two brakemen. This was reduced to three, and in some cases, two people. The Class I Railroads with their longer, heavier trains and Precision Scheduled Railroading want to just have an engineer on a train and send a conductor out in the case of hot boxes or detached air hoses, etc. More and more is being demanded of railroad workers
Fun fact the PRR planted Japanese knotweed (looks like bamboo) next to all its tracks, because it was tubular and held water so the tracks wouldn’t start fires from sparks. Also the stuff is invasive as hell.
You could go on further about how the Pennsy was innovative with its locomotive designs and other engineering developments. Their shops at Altoona (which are now owned by Norfolk Southern) used to have a laboratory for internal corporate R&D, kind of like a railroad version of Bell Labs. Also, the Northeast Corridor, which links DC all the way to Boston by high speed electric rail, was built by the Pennsy at their own expense in the 1930s, and now Amtrak sees heavy passenger traffic on it today.
Hugely informative, thank you for doing this video. I am recently retired at the age of 60 and railroading is one of my favorite things to watch and learn about. Thank you again.
The truth is, no one entity is too big to fail. The many Empires, Sears, General Motors, everything comes to an end. Sad but true. I wish train service as it was / is described in its height of glory was available still today in the same aspect at the same affordability.
The problem with any successful corporation such as the PRR or any you listed is two fold. Companies become complacent in their way… and the government taxes and regulates the hell out of them.
4:13 = ah yes, the famous Horseshoe Curve!!! Had saw it myself for the very first time last May, when I took Amtrak's Pennsylvanian route out to Johnstown to visit a friend of mine who lives out there
My Great Grandfather and Grandfather were both enginers for the PRR. Mosstly frieght from the stories my Grandfarher told me. He had a huge model RR and most of his collection was PRR. This was a great video
My grandfather worked on air brakes out of Wilmington, DE. He also worked on the wrecking crews. He also loved to build model railroads. I had two beauties of his growing up.
@@cliffanderson1725 When my Grandfather passed, my family gave me the responsibility of his train collection. I'm taking good care of it but have no room for a RR right now.
I remember taking the PRR train The Spirit Of Saint Louis from Penn Station New York to Saint Louis in the early sixties around Christmas time. Great experience and the station was fantastic ,it was a disgrace to let it be destroyed.
Its really the rise and fall of an entire industry - passenger rail. The PRR should have seen the writing on the wall after WWII when the automobile turned up on every driveway and the Interstate Highways were being built. People abandoned rail travel for the road and never came back The major aggravating factor for the PRR and other Northeastern railroads was the decline of coal as a fuel. All of the coal mined in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and others were hauled to North Eastern cities by the PRR and others. A lot of their freight business dried up along with passenger traffic. Conrail is an interesting story itself as it was a public corporation created by the government to keep railroad freight service operating for vital commerce and national security reasons. It turned out to be profitable while the other entity, Amtrak has not been (with the exception of the NE Corridor).
From what I understand, the NY Central tried building a line across southern Pennsylvania which was later abandoned and then became the Pennsylvania Turnpike, also known as the Penna Pike. I believe that was the world’s first paved toll road.
One correction. You needed to take a ferry to connect to most trains in South Jersey. There was a tunnel under the Delaware River planned, but never built
Nice work. I'm a retired Long Island Rail Road block operator. How about doing a story on the LIRR? It has been at war with Long Island since its inception. I believe the story about Huntington Station might be amusing as well as the cattle war.
Phenomenal video. When I was a kid, I remember riding those trains in New Jersey between Hoboken and Newark, both with epic train terminals that have been fully restored. Some of the rail cars were still emblazoned with the “Pennsylvania” livery.
The Wreck of the PennCentral and The Men Who Love Trains are great books for morning on the downfall of the PRR, NYC and ultimately the PC as Conrail was formed.
My uncle was a conductor in NJ for Penn Central. I thought of him during this entire video. My grandfather's last job on the PC railroad was a crossing gate operator. It was an easy job they gave to the old timers just before they retired.
Very interesting and informative. I've been a fan of trains and railroads from a very young age, and am fortunate enough to reside in Pennsylvania where there is still visible evidence of the PRR's impact. I'm also working on a model railroad layout which will incorporate Pennsy locomotives and rolling stock.
Other big factors in the decline of northeastern railroads were the decline of coal mining operations, and specifically after-effects of Hurricane Agnes in 1972. This wiped out a ton of PC’s branch line trackage all at once!
You forgot to mention the subsidies that are still going to the highways,and airways, plus the oil companies! Those railroads were not isolated from the political intriguing,and double dealing! Theoretically,there is supposed to be equality before the law,but railroads were singled out for ill treatment,remember New Jersey taxing the rails at full rate,and then crying when they went bankrupt! The amazing thing is,that the things thought dead,are coming back! Remember all the streetcars,now they are returning! Interesting times,we live in!! Thank you 😇 😊!
All the people can remember Pennsylvania Railroad by look at the equipment that they had like the GG1 GP -9 GP - 9 B and don’t forget that the PATH was owned by Pennsylvania RR too
There's a bunch of former PRR locomotives at Medina NY, that serve a bunch of novelty runs, like Xmas Polar Express kids' runs and Thomas the Tank Engine.
A hidden gold mine for PRR history lies in Kokomo, Indiana. Here, PCC&ST.L, the Cloverleaf, and the LE&W crisscrossed several times within a 5 mile radius to service large coal, steel, manufacturing and automotive industries. Quite a lot of manual interlocking signals, platforms and foundations remain on the ROW from over 100 years ago. All that is left is the PRR turned Conrail line between Kokomo and Logansport, and the Cloverleaf east, connected to Marion, IN via the old C&O Miami subdivision.
Finally! So glad a popular YT channel made a video on this great railroad. Many people of the young generation take for granted the extreme importance the railroads played in developing the world, and I'm glad it's getting attention these days.
my mom's dad ran the engine on the railroad in Galeton, PA in the 1960's and 70's until it went out. the wag railroad was brought in to end the railroad in Galeton, PA is what my grandpa said.
Originally the Buffalo & Susquehanna Railroad and then later bought by the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad before being sold to the Wellsville Addison & Galeton Railroad in the late 50s. I try to travel to Galeton at least once a year, it's some of my favorite country!
1:20 The Quincy Granite Railway became part of the Old Colony Railroad which got bought out by the New Haven. In the 1950s this line was removed for the Southeast Expressway (Route 3) which is now part of Route I-93.
Im watching this as im building Locomotive motors at the General Electric plant in Erie PA. Meanwhile my father is on the Test Track as a Engineer testing the newest locomotives. 🚂
Very interesting piece. I learned many things I did not know. Photo of the RBBB circus train toward the end peaked my sense of nostalgia. I waited 5 hours to see and photograph the final circus train on its trip back to Florida to be dismantled and sold off. Unfortunately this was merely a hodgepodge of cars from both red & blue shows, as the performers and crews that made up an intact train had all been released.
And unfortunately, that ended up with what we have today - rail monopolies once again controlling national traffic. The Staggers Act was needed at the time, but it went too far. Combined with other governmental moves in the 1980's, virtually every good and service we now consume is ultimately controlled by monopolies who realized they could bleed the life out of us ever since 2020 while their puppet politicians pointed fingers at each other as the cause.
@@tomkelsey3512 They... literally do not. Repukes try to regulate every aspect of your life: who you can date, what religion you are, what you can learn, what books you can read, etc. Democrats simply regulate the dumping of hazardous chemicals, mandating inspections on train cars (How did overturning that wind up, *Ohio*?), how much pollution you can spew, etc.
A truley unique video was captured on the pennsy in southern ohio. Shot at the very last days before the conrail transfer, the engineer brought his home movie camara aboard the E he was driving from Columbus to Cincinnati and back over what is now mostly hike/bike trail.
When you’re such a powerful force as a company, your name even appears in popular culture. In the 1941 Glenn Miller song “Chattanooga Choo Choo”, one of the lyrics is “You leave the Pennsylvania Station ‘bout a quarter to four”. When I was younger, I thought it just meant a train station in the state of Pennsylvania lol
Ayee I grew up in Duncansville and Altoona, currently in Huntingdon. If anyone is really really bored I have some aerial videos of the curve and trains from my rc fpv airplanes onboard GoPro lol. Cool to hear our towns here.
Love history about railroad which the number 1 way of passenger travel and freight delivery in late 19 and most of the 20 century way of travel before highway infrastructure and automobiles and also transportation
It's pretty crazy. I grew up in both the US and Canada and seeing and pretty much seeing how much reference is left of the Pennsylvania railroad. It's pretty amazing. Like when I visit a Pittsburgh I see the old Pennsylvania railroad train terminal which is still used today Just not all the time
Baltimore's Pennsylvania Station in my opinion is the most grand station left of the old Pennsylvania. The architecture is beautiful and makes you feel like an ant when you walk in there. I'm excited for its rebirth as Baltimore and Amtrak are working on it. The most important part of which, they are restoring the original station to its former glory, cleaning up the stone and marble.
19:36 another big mistake the Pennsy made was when they sold the air rights of the original penn station headhouse resulting in the demolition of one of the best railroad structures in the U.S in favor of a new state of the art sports arena which we all known today as the Madison Square Gardens. The announcement of the demolition resulted in protests to hopefully try to save the structure but there was no use. This was before the national landmark act had existed and after the demolition it was created and it helped save a lot of other historic structures most notably Grand Central in NYC (home of the PRR’s big rival the New York Central Railroad) However in the up and coming future MSG’s lease will be up by then and they could potentially relocate to another part of the city. There is hope that the original Penn Station Headhouse could return but it will take a lot of planning and negotiating. While the current MSG is a well known icon of the city, just remember what was once in its spot.
Enjoy your videos. I think some key points were left out of this one. As with all the NE railroads, the ICC's regulation, and very high local property taxes took down many of them. Competition with trucks and cars that used government funded roadbeds (highways) also cut into profits. Conrail only started to improve after Deregulation. PRR + NYC was a mix of opposites that should not have happened. Then adding the other NE railroads + NH were killers. In my opinion, the people that ran PRR were less about personal profit than many others that came in, milked a RR and walled away.
Thanks for the video about the Pennsylvania Railroad. While you did a great job explaining how it was expanded and prospered you could have done a better job on explaining why it failed. While the merger with the New York central had problems from the beginning the order to include the New Haven Railroad was a major factor in the Penn Central failure. Otherwise it also was a time of many manufacturing plants that used, railroad service were beginning to closed and move to overseas locations. The final blow was the major damage done to a hurricane that destroyed many areas of track that the railroads could not afford to repair. That is why Conrail was formed from not only Penn Central but other eastern railroads. Conrail succeeded because they were permitted to abandon marginal lines and also to be able to set fair costs to move the freight they could get. The railroads also learned how to take advantage of the imports coming into our country by providing good freight service off boats to container trains to move the goods inland to major cities not near the coasts.
you should one day do a video one the Illinois Terminal railroad. It was a nearly all electric interurban railroad network( might of even been the largest interurban) both freight and pasterns.The IT had both lines and stations from st louis, and almost all major towns of southern/ central Illinois as well as parts of Missouri.
If you drive Rt 30 out of Plainfield, IL toward Aurora, IL, look to east side of the road and in places you can see the flat space and some bridges left over from an electric train that ran to Elgin, IL.
Cool fact about Crestline OH (my hometown). It was the midway point between chicago and New York City and was a major terminal servicing over 100 trains per day. Later in the mid 1900s it was where the PRR stored their S1 and T1 duplex locomotives. This is where the Broadway Limited their most famous train changed from the K4 Pacific's to the S1s and T1s to run the rest of the trip to Chicago. There are unconfirmed reports they got up to 150 mph between Crestline and Chicago.
One of my favorite hats has PRR on it, I also have a bunch of N Scale locomotives including the GG1 all with PRR markings, you could do a hole video just on the history of the GG1 electric locomotive.
there is a PRR GG-1 isolated from the main line near Coopersville, NY. hoping it gets saved as there are only 16 accounted for of the hundreds manufactured
Did you do a previous video on the Pan Am Sanders guy who helped drive PRR into the ground? I remember watching a video early last year on this, but forget who made it. Thanks for another great railroad history video!
I worked for two Philly companies that had their own 800 to 1,000 sidings that saw a lot of traffic until early 1970's. First was a large slaughter house that had the worlds largest cattle cars. They would travel from Chicago to Philly twice a week. When cattle got to Frankford Junction maybe two miles away they would call the com po any up to have somebody to unload the cattle. POS railroad sometimes took halve a hour and sometimes 12 hours. Company had to pay a worker double time every Sunday that he spent twice as much time waiting to unload cattle cars. They would send out a box car of crackling ( ground up & cooked bones ,fat & meat scrapes ) to a chicken farm 700 miles away. It sometimes took lazy railroad a month to finally return a empty box car. When the called up to find if car was close was some times 800 miles further then the chicken farm. Second company had same problem with horrible delivery dates & times. Several times they dropped off a tanker of corn syrup at midnight and by the time guy tried to pump it out next morning during cold weather it would be frozen. While in Boy scouts one summer around 1963 tried to take the train home from Wildwood to Philly. Train only ran two days a week. Think it was on Monday & Thursday. Let me think a shore resort is busiest during summer weekends so you would think they would have passenger train running busiest days of the week.
I always thought "Mackinaw" was a term for my Winter dress Blues at Valley Forge Military Academy, never knew it was a US town.... the more you know!!!
My grandfather was an engineer on the NYC/PC his whole career in St Thomas.He was very proud of the NYC but when it merged into the PC around 1968 he said it went downhill very quickly. He retired around 1970 when it was still PC.
Good video but should have mentioned its involvement in the coal regions too. Also Hurricane Agnes in 1972 was one of the final nails in the coffin for Penn Central.
Who alive and living in the Eastern Seaboard in June 1972 could forget that messy hurricane? I was finishing my first year in BSA Troop 5; our summer camp was in Dilly's Mill, WV that week. It rained day and night for five days and then got cold enough to freeze over the water KP buckets. Of course, the end day--when we broke camp and left--was gorgeous weather and sunshine. Typical Troop 5 weather.
For an in-depth examination of the Pennsy and Central merger, read "The Wreck of thecOenn Central." This book chronicles how not to run a company and how not to perform mergers in detail.
1st steam locomotive built in York, Pennsylvania 1825. Richest man and founding father of York, Pennsylvania Leonard Baumgardner 1755 1839 Hessian traitor born in Prussia who only took orders directly from George Washington.
Would it be possible to make a modern engine with a replica of the GG1 shell? It would certainly look better than the engines used now. Good informative video, thanx and greetings from Port Saint Lucie Florida!
Good history channel. Also happened to the boston and maine rr. If you do some research on it, that would be an interesting video, lots of old lines that were abandoned.
In the late 1990's, Conrail was essentially split up between Norfolk Southern and CSX. Norfolk Southern "inherited" 46% of Conrail's assets and assumed operations of CR's former Pennsylvania Railroad Mainlines, including "Horseshoe Curve" in Altoona. CSX "inherited" 44% of Conrail's assets and assumed operation of CR's former New York Central Mainlines, including the "Water Level Route". However, Conrail isn't completely gone, it's known as "Conrail Shared Assets" and is owned by NS and CSX. With the breaking up of "Big Blue" in the late '90s, this essentially "unmerged" Penn Central. Conrail like Amtrak, was created by congress as a government funded corporation. With the passage of the Staggers Act in 1980 during the Carter Administration, Conrail was essentially allowed to be "passed" into the hands of private investors in '81. And Conrail became a monopoly in the North East, as there were no other rail carriers that could compete with CR, not even CP Rail, Canadian National, the Chessie System, Norfolk & Western, (later Norfolk Southern through a merger with the Southern Railway in 1982) and not even Delaware & Hudson.
there were several other plans that they proposed, but the government only wanted to fund 1 system, not 2. the 3 systems east plan would have Chessie getting a large portion of PC, as well as most of the EL, RDG, and CNJ, while Conrail would be made of the remaining PC, the LV, AA, L&HR, B&M. D&H and the remaining half of EL would go to the N&W. P&E, IHB, and P&LE were to be made separate independent entities, and would gain significant Trackage Rights agreements. unfortunately, this never happened.
The Pennsylvania railroad in its peak owned water rights in the Altoona area, the President of the Pennsylvania Railroad said the railroad was going to employee all the family’s in the Altoona area that were able to work, so what the railroad did was stoped any and all growth in Altoona by refusing to sell weather rights to other companies that wanted to relocate to Altoona like copper tire Westinghouse etc…..so after the railroad got up and wiped it feet on Altoona there has been NO growth in Altoona a lot of the same buildings that stood back in the day are still standing, the town is it’s own time capsule, the Northfolk souther has dominated since taking over the town of Altoona caters to the railroad to this day, Altoona is a shadow of its self and loosing population daily because of no good paying jobs, it’s a town full of retail and restaurants that pay low wages, the only people who stay in Altoona are those who worked for the Pennsylvania railroad, Penn State wanted to put the main campus in Altoona but the Pennsylvania railroad pushed the college out and now resided in state college, Altoona is an extremely depressed area with No Hope of ever being what it once was There’s a highway that runs through Altoona from the turnpike to interstate 80 and people are using the highway to move out of Altoona the only thing that a good thing about Altoona it’s a low cost of living, but the youth of the area are graduating and walking out of Altoona, it’s a town that’s very very closed minded, there is no good entertainment in the town it’s a town who still to this day centers itself around the dead railroad, and now the towns political leaders are keeping growth away from the town, Altoona is like the Titanic above ground people come and visit and then go back to where they are from that offers much more possibilities as they shake their heads in disbelief, the town is still hoping for the Pennsylvania railroad to save it…..
The PRR was Very Stupid , the NYC wanted out of the Merger, the PRR was broke and Miss manage since the END of WW2. Was Very Labor Intensive Needed 4 tracks to do the Same Job as the NYC got done with 2 tracks . the PRR had a inter locking Tower every 20 miles and the NCY had CTC could move 100 cars trains with 2 gp 40's and the PRR needed 3 sd 40's and Helpers . no even the N&W did not want the PRR no body did, how young are you
I want the New Haven too! It was THE railroad of Southern New England and sometime in the early 20th Century went bankrupt and never came out. It was the forced addition of this railroad to the PRR-NYC merger that sank the Penn Central.
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I don't care, and as an Australian I find it useless for me
Be nice buddy
@@heatherjenkins1009 Yeah nah, because sponsors ruin videos sometimes, and sometimes I just want the history on the thing without the time fillers
It took the formation of Conrail for one government agency to see what another (the ICC) was doing to an entire industry. Railroads all over were not able to abandon unprofitable lines and fair rates could not be charged for services. That can't be overstated
To compound this at the same time the government was heavily subsidizing the airlines and trucking industry
Facts@@Stoker58
We're the government and we're here to help.
I’d be interested to know more about this. Can you recommend good reading on the subject?
The ill effects of the ICC are littered all over USA railroad history, particularly between the World Wars. There's no one book or article that covers it to my knowledge, but learning about its mistakes is one of the rewards of entering the rabbit hole.
A good start would be your local library, railroad museum, or train-themed tourist attraction. Google will help, but it can only go so far as so much info has yet to be digitized and uploaded to the Internet.
One only needs to look at some of the absolute marvels the PRR built to realize how obscenely powerful this company was. Philadelphia's 30th Street Station is perhaps the most beautiful surviving railway station in the United States. There are areas of the interior that still bear the PRR emblem, etched into the marble surfaces or cast in bronze on railings. This company was a giant of the ages, and to see relics of it still alive and well today - over 50 years after the company's demise - is an incredible testament to that.
Thanks for the fantastic history lesson... I now know the stress my dad went through when I was growing up. He worked for PRR/PC/Conrail, almost his entire life. Started as a messenger boy, he was 15 in NYC with the PRR in 1944 and retired from Conrail 48 years later.
Another factor keeping the memory of the Pennsylvania alive is the model train world. No other company is as popular as it is in any scale. There is even a company in Florida called Broadway Limited Imports who specialize in making Pennsylvania Railroad models. You can find hundreds of Pennsylvania Railroad layouts on TH-cam that recreate famous sections of the Pennsylvania Railroad like Horseshoe Curve and the Northeast Corridor.
My Father in law’s dad was the Chief Paymaster of the PRR in the 1930’s and 40’s era.
He passed away long before it became the PennCentless
As a child rode the Penn Reading Seashore train out of 30th station to Cape May NJ. As a kid seeing the Steam Engine close from the ground level tracks in Cape May was a sight to remember. Going to college and commuting from Wayne Pa to Phila lived through the transition from PRR -> PennCentral -> ConRail. In the late 1960's the deterioration of the PRR infrastructure was quite apparent. From the PRR commuter 'red cars' slowly falling apart to seeing the huge freight yards just west of 30th street station slowly disappear.
I worked for Conrail from 1979-1984; there was some tension between different freight crews, at times - the Reading guys vs the Penn Central guys vs the Erie Lackawanna guys, etc
At one point, there were 5 on a freight crew: engineer, fireman, conductor and two brakemen. This was reduced to three, and in some cases, two people. The Class I Railroads with their longer, heavier trains and Precision Scheduled Railroading want to just have an engineer on a train and send a conductor out in the case of hot boxes or detached air hoses, etc. More and more is being demanded of railroad workers
Fun fact the PRR planted Japanese knotweed (looks like bamboo) next to all its tracks, because it was tubular and held water so the tracks wouldn’t start fires from sparks. Also the stuff is invasive as hell.
You could go on further about how the Pennsy was innovative with its locomotive designs and other engineering developments. Their shops at Altoona (which are now owned by Norfolk Southern) used to have a laboratory for internal corporate R&D, kind of like a railroad version of Bell Labs. Also, the Northeast Corridor, which links DC all the way to Boston by high speed electric rail, was built by the Pennsy at their own expense in the 1930s, and now Amtrak sees heavy passenger traffic on it today.
heck yeah especially the PRR at Altoona had a Dynamometer for locomotives, the footage archives are incredible.
Hugely informative, thank you for doing this video. I am recently retired at the age of 60 and railroading is one of my favorite things to watch and learn about. Thank you again.
Glad you enjoyed it!
The truth is, no one entity is too big to fail. The many Empires, Sears, General Motors, everything comes to an end. Sad but true. I wish train service as it was / is described in its height of glory was available still today in the same aspect at the same affordability.
The problem with any successful corporation such as the PRR or any you listed is two fold. Companies become complacent in their way… and the government taxes and regulates the hell out of them.
4:13 = ah yes, the famous Horseshoe Curve!!! Had saw it myself for the very first time last May, when I took Amtrak's Pennsylvanian route out to Johnstown to visit a friend of mine who lives out there
Ah yes, Dr.Quagmire
My Great Grandfather and Grandfather were both enginers for the PRR. Mosstly frieght from the stories my Grandfarher told me. He had a huge model RR and most of his collection was PRR. This was a great video
My grandfather worked on air brakes out of Wilmington, DE. He also worked on the wrecking crews. He also loved to build model railroads. I had two beauties of his growing up.
@@cliffanderson1725 When my Grandfather passed, my family gave me the responsibility of his train collection. I'm taking good care of it but have no room for a RR right now.
They are immortalized in Monopoly being one of the four railroads in the game.
I grew up near the PRR line between Philadelphia and Wilmington. The GG1 was a familiar sight.
I remember taking the PRR train The Spirit Of Saint Louis from Penn Station New York to Saint Louis in the early sixties around Christmas time. Great experience and the station was fantastic ,it was a disgrace to let it be destroyed.
Its really the rise and fall of an entire industry - passenger rail. The PRR should have seen the writing on the wall after WWII when the automobile turned up on every driveway and the Interstate Highways were being built. People abandoned rail travel for the road and never came back The major aggravating factor for the PRR and other Northeastern railroads was the decline of coal as a fuel. All of the coal mined in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and others were hauled to North Eastern cities by the PRR and others. A lot of their freight business dried up along with passenger traffic.
Conrail is an interesting story itself as it was a public corporation created by the government to keep railroad freight service operating for vital commerce and national security reasons. It turned out to be profitable while the other entity, Amtrak has not been (with the exception of the NE Corridor).
From what I understand, the NY Central tried building a line across southern Pennsylvania which was later abandoned and then became the Pennsylvania Turnpike, also known as the Penna Pike. I believe that was the world’s first paved toll road.
yes and the PRR did the Same thing to the NYC it was called the west shore RR
My grandfather started with the PRR then with Penn Central and retired with ConRail
Very informative great video
When i was 5,the GG-1 was on the point leaving New Jersey with me and my mother headed for Florida. That train today is Amtrak 81 the Silver Star.
One correction. You needed to take a ferry to connect to most trains in South Jersey. There was a tunnel under the Delaware River planned, but never built
god, a Delaware River rail tunnel would’ve been amazing
Nice work. I'm a retired Long Island Rail Road block operator. How about doing a story on the LIRR? It has been at war with Long Island since its inception. I believe the story about Huntington Station might be amusing as well as the cattle war.
Phenomenal video. When I was a kid, I remember riding those trains in New Jersey between Hoboken and Newark, both with epic train terminals that have been fully restored. Some of the rail cars were still emblazoned with the “Pennsylvania” livery.
The Pennsey was one of my favorite railroad lines. Right behind the I.C.R.R. Have a blessed day, everyone.
They (Penn Central) Shou have listened to Al. Pearlman.....but the Pennsy management was stuck in the past and unwilling to adapt to change.
A lot of research. Thanks again John in Chicago
The Wreck of the PennCentral and The Men Who Love Trains are great books for morning on the downfall of the PRR, NYC and ultimately the PC as Conrail was formed.
Those electric locomotives are so iconic.
My Grandfather Charles W Hostetler was a Conductor for the P.R.R. Enola Yard near Harrisburg to Altoona yard and back to Enola from 1941 to 1977
My uncle was a conductor in NJ for Penn Central. I thought of him during this entire video. My grandfather's last job on the PC railroad was a crossing gate operator. It was an easy job they gave to the old timers just before they retired.
Very interesting and informative. I've been a fan of trains and railroads from a very young age, and am fortunate enough to reside in Pennsylvania where there is still visible evidence of the PRR's impact. I'm also working on a model railroad layout which will incorporate Pennsy locomotives and rolling stock.
I have 4 train assemblies,including a Lionel train from
The 1930's for sale.
If interested, contact me.
Other big factors in the decline of northeastern railroads were the decline of coal mining operations, and specifically after-effects of Hurricane Agnes in 1972. This wiped out a ton of PC’s branch line trackage all at once!
When Powder River coal mining commenced Appalachia coal was as good as dead.
If only they could get a GG1 up and running again. Coolest loco ever no doubt
“They ruined the central!”
JUST found your channel, already love it. Thank you for the in depth focus of American history and heritage.
Awesome video,I was born and raised in Lewistown and always love to learn any Pennsylvania history. Keep up the great work 😎
Thanks, will do!
I'm from Whitehall and had a rail line right below my parents house till 83, Ironton railroad, great hearing more train knowledge from Pa
You forgot to mention the subsidies that are still going to the highways,and airways, plus the oil companies! Those railroads were not isolated from the political intriguing,and double dealing! Theoretically,there is supposed to be equality before the law,but railroads were singled out for ill treatment,remember New Jersey taxing the rails at full rate,and then crying when they went bankrupt! The amazing thing is,that the things thought dead,are coming back! Remember all the streetcars,now they are returning! Interesting times,we live in!! Thank you 😇 😊!
All the people can remember Pennsylvania Railroad by look at the equipment that they had like the GG1 GP -9 GP - 9 B and don’t forget that the PATH was owned by Pennsylvania RR too
Don't forget PRR also owned the LIRR.
There's a bunch of former PRR locomotives at Medina NY, that serve a bunch of novelty runs, like Xmas Polar Express kids' runs and Thomas the Tank Engine.
Gotta love it when your small home town is mentioned. Crestline, Ohio!
My hometown was mentioned in the beginning, it's definitely cool to hear these smaller towns mentioned
A hidden gold mine for PRR history lies in Kokomo, Indiana. Here, PCC&ST.L, the Cloverleaf, and the LE&W crisscrossed several times within a 5 mile radius to service large coal, steel, manufacturing and automotive industries. Quite a lot of manual interlocking signals, platforms and foundations remain on the ROW from over 100 years ago. All that is left is the PRR turned Conrail line between Kokomo and Logansport, and the Cloverleaf east, connected to Marion, IN via the old C&O Miami subdivision.
Finally! So glad a popular YT channel made a video on this great railroad. Many people of the young generation take for granted the extreme importance the railroads played in developing the world, and I'm glad it's getting attention these days.
my mom's dad ran the engine on the railroad in Galeton, PA in the 1960's and 70's until it went out. the wag railroad was brought in to end the railroad in Galeton, PA is what my grandpa said.
Originally the Buffalo & Susquehanna Railroad and then later bought by the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad before being sold to the Wellsville Addison & Galeton Railroad in the late 50s. I try to travel to Galeton at least once a year, it's some of my favorite country!
1:20 The Quincy Granite Railway became part of the Old Colony Railroad which got bought out by the New Haven. In the 1950s this line was removed for the Southeast Expressway (Route 3) which is now part of Route I-93.
Im watching this as im building Locomotive motors at the General Electric plant in Erie PA.
Meanwhile my father is on the Test Track as a Engineer testing the newest locomotives. 🚂
Awesome
Very interesting piece. I learned many things I did not know. Photo of the RBBB circus train toward the end peaked my sense of nostalgia. I waited 5 hours to see and photograph the final circus train on its trip back to Florida to be dismantled and sold off. Unfortunately this was merely a hodgepodge of cars from both red & blue shows, as the performers and crews that made up an intact train had all been released.
Jimmy Carter was the driving force for deregulation of the railroads (Staggers Act) is what saved US fright railroads from financial ruin.
That's strange, but Democrats call for every industry to be tightly regulated by government, except abortion of course !
And unfortunately, that ended up with what we have today - rail monopolies once again controlling national traffic. The Staggers Act was needed at the time, but it went too far. Combined with other governmental moves in the 1980's, virtually every good and service we now consume is ultimately controlled by monopolies who realized they could bleed the life out of us ever since 2020 while their puppet politicians pointed fingers at each other as the cause.
Harley O. Staggers, U.S. House of Representatives, West Virginia. My dad knew him.
@@tomkelsey3512 They... literally do not. Repukes try to regulate every aspect of your life: who you can date, what religion you are, what you can learn, what books you can read, etc.
Democrats simply regulate the dumping of hazardous chemicals, mandating inspections on train cars (How did overturning that wind up, *Ohio*?), how much pollution you can spew, etc.
A truley unique video was captured on the pennsy in southern ohio. Shot at the very last days before the conrail transfer, the engineer brought his home movie camara aboard the E he was driving from Columbus to Cincinnati and back over what is now mostly hike/bike trail.
I grew up on the Reading Railroad side of town. The Pennsylvania railroad served the other side of town.
Where's that ?
When you’re such a powerful force as a company, your name even appears in popular culture. In the 1941 Glenn Miller song “Chattanooga Choo Choo”, one of the lyrics is “You leave the Pennsylvania Station ‘bout a quarter to four”. When I was younger, I thought it just meant a train station in the state of Pennsylvania lol
"Pardon me, boy...is this the Transylvania Station?"
"Yes sir. Track 29. Can I give you a shine?" --from"Young Frankenstein"
Ayee I grew up in Duncansville and Altoona, currently in Huntingdon. If anyone is really really bored I have some aerial videos of the curve and trains from my rc fpv airplanes onboard GoPro lol. Cool to hear our towns here.
Another good one! Glad you covered this.
I love those vintage electrics with their funny axles and boggies configuration. They were trying everything they could back then.
Great story. Thank you for creating and posting it. Loved the old-time drawing and photographs.
Glad you enjoyed it!
CNJ worked closely with the PRR most notably on the New York & Long Branch
Ive been to Horseshoe Curve. Very interesting. I didnt go up trackside, but it was still very interesting from below.
1st Privately owned company to have computer.
Love history about railroad which the number 1 way of passenger travel and freight delivery in late 19 and most of the 20 century way of travel before highway infrastructure and automobiles and also transportation
It's pretty crazy. I grew up in both the US and Canada and seeing and pretty much seeing how much reference is left of the Pennsylvania railroad. It's pretty amazing. Like when I visit a Pittsburgh I see the old Pennsylvania railroad train terminal which is still used today Just not all the time
Baltimore's Pennsylvania Station in my opinion is the most grand station left of the old Pennsylvania. The architecture is beautiful and makes you feel like an ant when you walk in there. I'm excited for its rebirth as Baltimore and Amtrak are working on it. The most important part of which, they are restoring the original station to its former glory, cleaning up the stone and marble.
I'd love a video on the CB&Q railroad
19:36 another big mistake the Pennsy made was when they sold the air rights of the original penn station headhouse resulting in the demolition of one of the best railroad structures in the U.S in favor of a new state of the art sports arena which we all known today as the Madison Square Gardens. The announcement of the demolition resulted in protests to hopefully try to save the structure but there was no use. This was before the national landmark act had existed and after the demolition it was created and it helped save a lot of other historic structures most notably Grand Central in NYC (home of the PRR’s big rival the New York Central Railroad)
However in the up and coming future MSG’s lease will be up by then and they could potentially relocate to another part of the city. There is hope that the original Penn Station Headhouse could return but it will take a lot of planning and negotiating. While the current MSG is a well known icon of the city, just remember what was once in its spot.
At the end you missed some of the biggest legacy of the Pennsylvania railroad. Penn Stations in NYC, Newark and Pittsburgh
Enjoy your videos. I think some key points were left out of this one. As with all the NE railroads, the ICC's regulation, and very high local property taxes took down many of them. Competition with trucks and cars that used government funded roadbeds (highways) also cut into profits. Conrail only started to improve after Deregulation. PRR + NYC was a mix of opposites that should not have happened. Then adding the other NE railroads + NH were killers. In my opinion, the people that ran PRR were less about personal profit than many others that came in, milked a RR and walled away.
Thanks for the video about the Pennsylvania Railroad. While you did a great job explaining how it was expanded and prospered you could have done a better job on explaining why it failed. While the merger with the New York central had problems from the beginning the order to include the New Haven Railroad was a major factor in the Penn Central failure. Otherwise it also was a time of many manufacturing plants that used, railroad service were beginning to closed and move to overseas locations. The final blow was the major damage done to a hurricane that destroyed many areas of track that the railroads could not afford to repair. That is why Conrail was formed from not only Penn Central but other eastern railroads. Conrail succeeded because they were permitted to abandon marginal lines and also to be able to set fair costs to move the freight they could get. The railroads also learned how to take advantage of the imports coming into our country by providing good freight service off boats to container trains to move the goods inland to major cities not near the coasts.
you should one day do a video one the Illinois Terminal railroad. It was a nearly all electric interurban railroad network( might of even been the largest interurban) both freight and pasterns.The IT had both lines and stations from st louis, and almost all major towns of southern/ central Illinois as well as parts of Missouri.
If you drive Rt 30 out of Plainfield, IL toward Aurora, IL, look to east side of the road and in places you can see the flat space and some bridges left over from an electric train that ran to Elgin, IL.
Ah yes the PRR my home railroad GREAT VIDEO I love it
Cool, thanks!
Wonderful documentary. I love the Pennsy.
Cool fact about Crestline OH (my hometown). It was the midway point between chicago and New York City and was a major terminal servicing over 100 trains per day. Later in the mid 1900s it was where the PRR stored their S1 and T1 duplex locomotives. This is where the Broadway Limited their most famous train changed from the K4 Pacific's to the S1s and T1s to run the rest of the trip to Chicago. There are unconfirmed reports they got up to 150 mph between Crestline and Chicago.
Thank you for the amazing content!!!
If you do the fall of the PRR, it is a must to do a video on the fall of it main rival, the New York Central.
the NCY never did Fall they were making money until the Force merger by the Fed Gov
@@dknowles60Wrong!!!
One of my favorite hats has PRR on it, I also have a bunch of N Scale locomotives including the GG1 all with PRR markings, you could do a hole video just on the history of the GG1 electric locomotive.
Thanks for the info!
there is a PRR GG-1 isolated from the main line near Coopersville, NY. hoping it gets saved as there are only 16 accounted for of the hundreds manufactured
Did you do a previous video on the Pan Am Sanders guy who helped drive PRR into the ground? I remember watching a video early last year on this, but forget who made it. Thanks for another great railroad history video!
I worked for two Philly companies that had their own 800 to 1,000 sidings that saw a lot of traffic until early 1970's. First was a large slaughter house that had the worlds largest cattle cars. They would travel from Chicago to Philly twice a week. When cattle got to Frankford Junction maybe two miles away they would call the com po any up to have somebody to unload the cattle. POS railroad sometimes took halve a hour and sometimes 12 hours. Company had to pay a worker double time every Sunday that he spent twice as much time waiting to unload cattle cars. They would send out a box car of crackling ( ground up & cooked bones ,fat & meat scrapes ) to a chicken farm 700 miles away. It sometimes took lazy railroad a month to finally return a empty box car. When the called up to find if car was close was some times 800 miles further then the chicken farm. Second company had same problem with horrible delivery dates & times. Several times they dropped off a tanker of corn syrup at midnight and by the time guy tried to pump it out next morning during cold weather it would be frozen. While in Boy scouts one summer around 1963 tried to take the train home from Wildwood to Philly. Train only ran two days a week. Think it was on Monday & Thursday. Let me think a shore resort is busiest during summer weekends so you would think they would have passenger train running busiest days of the week.
I always thought "Mackinaw" was a term for my Winter dress Blues at Valley Forge Military Academy, never knew it was a US town.... the more you know!!!
Except the town is spelled "Mackinac".
🎉CONGRATULATIONS!!! 600-THOUSAND subscribers!!!🥳
Yoooo Duncansville mentioned !
Got a kick out of that myself.
Thanks!
This is a world wide RR it ran threw St Thomas Ontario I miss it too thank you for the doc
My grandfather was an engineer on the NYC/PC his whole career in St Thomas.He was very proud of the NYC but when it merged into the PC around 1968 he said it went downhill very quickly. He retired around 1970 when it was still PC.
@@sdc5683 I agree when i was in public school I did an esay on the nyc and got my first A+
Damn good Documentary Ryan !!
Another great video. As always a fine topic. Thx.
My pleasure!
Good video but should have mentioned its involvement in the coal regions too. Also Hurricane Agnes in 1972 was one of the final nails in the coffin for Penn Central.
Who alive and living in the Eastern Seaboard in June 1972 could forget that messy hurricane? I was finishing my first year in BSA Troop 5; our summer camp was in Dilly's Mill, WV that week. It rained day and night for five days and then got cold enough to freeze over the water KP buckets. Of course, the end day--when we broke camp and left--was gorgeous weather and sunshine. Typical Troop 5 weather.
For an in-depth examination of the Pennsy and Central merger, read "The Wreck of thecOenn Central." This book chronicles how not to run a company and how not to perform mergers in detail.
New sub. here. We model PRR/ through the transition years in N-scale. Just love American History during those decades.
1st steam locomotive built in York, Pennsylvania 1825. Richest man and founding father of York, Pennsylvania Leonard Baumgardner 1755 1839 Hessian traitor born in Prussia who only took orders directly from George Washington.
"I'm a Hessian... without no aggression. If ya can't beat 'em...join 'em!" --from a Bugs Bunny cartoon 😅
Interesting
Great presentation
Thank you!
Would it be possible to make a modern engine with a replica of the GG1 shell? It would certainly look better than the engines used now. Good informative video, thanx and greetings from Port Saint Lucie Florida!
Just got my first GG1 last month. Vintage Arnold in Hunter Green.
They also are the reason why SEPTA exist.
Very informative
Good stuff young man☺️
Good history channel. Also happened to the boston and maine rr. If you do some research on it, that would be an interesting video, lots of old lines that were abandoned.
I will check it out!
In the late 1990's, Conrail was essentially split up between Norfolk Southern and CSX. Norfolk Southern "inherited" 46% of Conrail's assets and assumed operations of CR's former Pennsylvania Railroad Mainlines, including "Horseshoe Curve" in Altoona. CSX "inherited" 44% of Conrail's assets and assumed operation of CR's former New York Central Mainlines, including the "Water Level Route". However, Conrail isn't completely gone, it's known as "Conrail Shared Assets" and is owned by NS and CSX. With the breaking up of "Big Blue" in the late '90s, this essentially "unmerged" Penn Central. Conrail like Amtrak, was created by congress as a government funded corporation. With the passage of the Staggers Act in 1980 during the Carter Administration, Conrail was essentially allowed to be "passed" into the hands of private investors in '81. And Conrail became a monopoly in the North East, as there were no other rail carriers that could compete with CR, not even CP Rail, Canadian National, the Chessie System, Norfolk & Western, (later Norfolk Southern through a merger with the Southern Railway in 1982) and not even Delaware & Hudson.
there were several other plans that they proposed, but the government only wanted to fund 1 system, not 2. the 3 systems east plan would have Chessie getting a large portion of PC, as well as most of the EL, RDG, and CNJ, while Conrail would be made of the remaining PC, the LV, AA, L&HR, B&M. D&H and the remaining half of EL would go to the N&W. P&E, IHB, and P&LE were to be made separate independent entities, and would gain significant Trackage Rights agreements. unfortunately, this never happened.
The Pennsylvania railroad in its peak owned water rights in the Altoona area, the President of the Pennsylvania Railroad said the railroad was going to employee all the family’s in the Altoona area that were able to work, so what the railroad did was stoped any and all growth in Altoona by refusing to sell weather rights to other companies that wanted to
relocate to Altoona like copper tire Westinghouse etc…..so after the railroad got up and wiped it feet on Altoona there has been NO growth in Altoona a lot of the same buildings that stood back in the day are still standing, the town is it’s own time capsule, the Northfolk souther has dominated since taking over the town of Altoona caters to the railroad to this day, Altoona is a shadow of its self and loosing population daily because of no good paying jobs, it’s a town full of retail and restaurants that pay low wages, the only people who stay in Altoona are those who worked for the Pennsylvania railroad, Penn State wanted to put the main campus in Altoona but the Pennsylvania railroad pushed the college out and now resided in state college, Altoona is an extremely depressed area with No Hope of ever being what it once was There’s a highway that runs through Altoona from the turnpike to interstate 80 and people are using the highway to move out of Altoona the only thing that a good thing about Altoona it’s a low cost of living, but the youth of the area are graduating and walking out of Altoona, it’s a town that’s very very closed minded, there is no good entertainment in the town it’s a town who still to this day centers itself around the dead railroad, and now the towns political leaders are keeping growth away from the town, Altoona is like the Titanic above ground people come and visit and then go back to where they are from that offers much more possibilities as they shake their heads in disbelief, the town is still hoping for the Pennsylvania railroad to save it…..
I went to Villanova on the Main Line!! 🎉 🦁 🎉🎉❤❤❤❤
My dad always told me that if the PRR never bought out NYC RR the PRR would still be here
The PRR was Very Stupid , the NYC wanted out of the Merger, the PRR was broke and Miss manage since the END of WW2. Was Very Labor Intensive Needed 4 tracks to do the Same Job as the NYC got done with 2 tracks . the PRR had a inter locking Tower every 20 miles and the NCY had CTC could move 100 cars trains with 2 gp 40's and the PRR needed 3 sd 40's and Helpers . no even the N&W did not want the PRR no body did, how young are you
@@dknowles60How young are you???? You ask everybody-- so answer the question!
PRR HERITAGE UNIT
Can you imagine if Pennsy had merged with the Chespeake and Ohio in 1961. And the New Haven and the New York Central merged with Norfolk and Western
Since PRR owned a large block of N&W stock, it would have made for sense for them to merge than PRR with C&O.
no body wanted the new haven
Can you do the New Haven Railroad?
No
@@tylerrose5232 yes
I want the New Haven too! It was THE railroad of Southern New England and sometime in the early 20th Century went bankrupt and never came out. It was the forced addition of this railroad to the PRR-NYC merger that sank the Penn Central.