interesting article from 2-13-63 reading eagle newspaper.
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Railroad Forums
Moderator: Franklin Gowen
RDGTRANSMUSEUM wrote:The Reading did what RR's will do when they get tired of something thninking "it'sjust not worth it anymore." They chase away the business. Running RDC cars with RPO/Mail compartments would have been the logical choice. In todays dollars a 2 million a year mail contract would translate to 8 million! This was not the first time business was chased away,the Reading closed coal mines or discouraged private mines from using rail and let the business go to trucks. this was in the same time frame as the mail business was tossed away. At the same time they got a 30 million dollar Govt.loan to buy new GP-30 and 35's by trading old F-units that had many years worth of miles left on them. A few years later they went to the PC and asked the interchanging be transfered from Newberry Jct to Harrisburg so the RR could in effect dry up the Catawissa Branch. All this was done to downsize the RR and cut back on costs. Sometimes you gotta wonder what they were thinking . The railfan press usually got the story wrong and you keep reading the poor RR lost this and lost that,all the while they really gave it up or wanted it that way. Oh well hind site is 20-20 as they say.Chasing away the coal business was smart. It was declining, and RDG chasing away or keeping the business would not have affected the decline.