Al Perlman

Anyone know what Mrs. Perlman's first name was ?

Adele. Came from Denver, I believe.

Many thanks, been trying to find that for years

As Alfred E Perlman said
To me it was not a merger; it was a takeover, frankly.

You can surely say that again!
Saunders did as much damage to the NYC as Reagan did to the US!

Hey VideoBruce
Ever read the book "Wreck of the Penn Central?
I am halfway through it. I never imagined what went on there.
I just purchased another book "No way to run a Railroad."
I just became interrested in the history of the Penn Central.
Chris

I have and read both. There is one more that I want, but don't have. I think it is called "...........and the Coming of Conrail"

It gets me when I see so many prasing the 'pigtail' because of them always paying a dividend. Yea, they did, but at the cost of not putting money back into the RR just as CSX is doing now!

Bruce,
Is that book out yet
..... the Coming of Conrail!
Thanks
Chris

Well, I had half of it correct. The full title is:

Railroad Mergers and the Coming of Conrail.
Greenwood Press 1978
ISBN #0313200491

It was one of the recomended/talked about books in those other two that I have. I just never got around getting it. Now it's 27 years old.

Chris (above) says "As Alfred E Perlman said
To me it was not a merger; it was a takeover, frankly."

In view of the original question in this thread, I've got to ask - was he talking about the formation of PC, or his wedding?

It was a (very true) statement that Al made that has everything to do with the thread!

Videobruce--the book you referred to is by Richard Saunders (no relation to Stuart!). A couple of years ago he expanded and updated the book and published it as Merging Lines: American Railroads 1900-1970. Then he wrote a sequel, Main Lines. These books are well-written, interesting and informative, although they may paint a more favorable picture of Conrail, and of modern railroading, than you might like.

Aji-tater wrote:Chris (above) says "As Alfred E Perlman said
To me it was not a merger; it was a takeover, frankly."

In view of the original question in this thread, I've got to ask - was he talking about the formation of PC, or his wedding?

I'd say he was talking about the shotgun wedding of PRR-NYC.

Keep in mind the ICC in those days had broken up Robert Young's effort to merge C&O with NYC. Both NYC and PRR were bleeding gallons of red ink from passenger service, and the bureaucrats wouldn't let them drop service and trackage. OTOH, it was somehow OK for C&O to buy B&O, N&W to buy VGN, NKP, and WAB, but not OK for CB&Q, NP, GN, and SP&S to merge (although that did end up being approved after PC!).

At the risk of grossly oversimplifying things, suffice it to say NYC merged with PRR simply because the government wouldn't let them merge with anyone else. It makes the CSXT labeling of ex-CR rolling stock with "NYC" as a reporting mark, and the NS labeling of ex-CR stock with "PRR" all the more ironic.

Al Perlman sarcastically refused to save a single NYC steam locomotive,
when the price of scrap metal was negligible...even during the long
decline of the NYC in 1956-57. So, there is NOT ONE Niagara or Hudson in existence today.

Two Mohawks got saved accidentally:

(a)L3a #3001 was sold to the City of Dallas in 1956, to put in a
city park to replace a vandalized T&P locomotive. Much later, the
NYC Railroad Museum in Elkhart, Indiana traded a PRR GG-1 for
it...I think, via another railroad museum intermediary. #3001 sits
dead today, with nowhere to run in view of both NS' and CSX's total
hostility to steam.

(b)L1c #2935 was actually hidden behind cartons and so forth at
Selkirk Yard roundhouse. When belatedly noticed by NYC brass, it
would have been too embarrassing to scrap her. I saw #2935 and
#999 in tow in late 1961/early 1962, at Syracuse, en route to the
railroad museum at St. Louis...where both remain today.

legend has it that Perlman's brother in law was a scrap dealer; thats why everything was consigned to the torch, from locomotives to motor cars....

Work safe
Derail