Greetings All,
The New York Central in Transition Part 1
Welcome to this three part series of the NYC in the lightning stripe to cigar band and road to the future transition. At the end of 2025 my New York Central System motive power, passenger and freight rolling stock enjoyed the center ring under the big top in the circus that is the New York Central Train layout.
During this time I did some research into the overall operations of the 1:1 NYC to see what if anything I could use for my modeling and operations and realized that the railroad and the industry as a whole was in a major transition from around 1956 thru 1967. This is something I've overlooked in the past so down the rabbit hole I went.
When thinking of the word transition as related to railroading the first things that comes to mind is the steam to diesel transition where first generation motive power vanquished the steam fleets of our nations railroads.
Another big transition that came in the 1950s when the envisioned post war prosperity that the railroads were confident would happen did not, especially for the New York Central. Lets take a look at this pivotal time frame for the NYC that was close to bankruptcy but under Alfred Perlman fought that off to become at least marginally profitable.
A Not So Brief Backstory
The New York Central System was a huge railroad, a system after 1935, operating just over 10,000 miles of track in ten states and two Canadian provinces and its passenger trains were a reflection of its overall service and prestige. Known primarily for its 20th Century Limited the Central's first and foremost duty was the transport of freight. Firmly entrenched in the heart of industrial America the NYC moved a tremendous amount of tonnage and in later later years competition with the Pennsylvania Railroad that served virtually the same market became especially severe on account of their relatively short hauls compared to trans-cons like the Santa Fe.
"New York Central System: The Pittsburgh & Lake Erie Railroad Company." by smallcurio is licensed under CC BY 2.0.
1948 A Pivotal Year
A press release in Railway Age reported that the New York Central will completely re-equip twenty eight of its principal passenger trains this year with streamlined cars according to NYC president Gustav Metzman. Almost as many new cars will be added to numerous other NYC passenger trains from orders dating back to 1944.
In all the NYC ordered 239 cars from Budd, 354 from Pullman Standard and 128 from American Car & Foundry augmented by the refurbished cars from pervious Pullman-Standard order of 1938-1940.
Schedules remained stable after 1948 until 1956 when the effects of airline and highway competition began to manifest itself and ridership plummeted.
NYC Passenger Car Timetable Comparisons
April, 1949 timetable (form 1001) listed 136 trains in 71 tables.
April, 1955 the timetable listed 114 trains in 54 tables.
April, 1957 the timetable listed 115 trains in 48 tables.
April, 1958 the timetable listed 83 trains in 44 tables. Gone were the long distance connections to the west coast.
April, 1963 the timetable listed 46 trains in 18 tables.
April, 1967 the timetable listed 24 trains in 6 tables.
November, 1967 named trains were removed from the timetables and were now running only as numbered trains. Gone was the 20th Century Limited and other crack passenger trains.
December, 1967 with the Penn Central merger on the horizon the NYC combined what trains were left and listed 8 trains in 10 tables.
Gustave Metzman exits and
William R. White takes the helm
Mr. White at the time of his appointment in the early 1950s was president of the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad in which the NYC had a vested interest. Mr. White was a railroad man from the old school, rising thru the ranks of the Erie RR before going on to management positions.
Mr. White toured the NYC extensively to assess the NYC's problem areas and went to great lengths to improve the manner in which the railroad addressed the needs of shippers, employees and on-line communities.
By 1953 Mr. White's work began to pay off. The top heavy management had been cut back, dieselization continued, property taxes were lowered and new train schedules were implemented to improve car utilization. Repairs to track and rolling stock were having a positive effect as freight began moving more smoothly over the line once more.
Passenger operations were trimmed as there had been a 70% decrease in ridership on many runs compared to previous years due to the huge inroads that had been made by automobiles and airlines.
In June, 1953 the ICC issued a decision regarding the division of line haul revenue between connecting railroads. Prior to this the division was tilted in favor of the Western roads where line haul distances were much greater.
The new division of line haul payments split the revenue equally and the NYC benefitted to the tune of $8 million a year in additional revenue. But ill winds continued to blow, this time in the form of Robert R. Young.
Enter Robert R. Young
Mr. Young, president of the C&O RR, was an enthusiastic promoter of rail passenger service who began a six year battle for control of the NYC which he accomplished in 1954. During the battle for control passenger travel had changed and in 1954 the railroad was in serious financial trouble.
When Mr. Young assumed the role of CEO New York Central passenger service was losing $38 million dollars a year. Mr. Young ballyhooed his planned Train X, a streamliner of unproven technology that would reverse this loss. When Train X was unveiled it was promptly considered a failure and was removed from service shortly thereafter.
The NYC Great Lakes Aerotrain operated by EMD for promotional purposes was another experimental train that debuted in 1956. It was moderately more successful than the Train X which was a disaster and went on to barnstorm the country on other railroads.
Alfred Perlman To The Rescue
Mr. Young hired Alfred Perlman who had saved the D&RGW RR from bankruptcy to be the NYC president. Mr. Perlman quickly set to work reorganizing the moneymaker freight operations. He also began talks with rival Pennsylvania Railroad about a merger.
An Untimely Death
Tragically Robert R. Young committed suicide in late January, 1958. President Perlman became CEO and quickly turned his attention to the hemorrhaging passenger service.
Keeping Afloat
Trying to recoup some of the huge investment in the passenger trains made in the post war years the NYC began selling off much of its once heralded Great Steel Fleet after the schedule realignment of 1958 thru the early and mid 1960s to mostly to NdeM, CN and Ringling Brothers among others.
Passenger Traffic Adjustments
Not being able to compete with the federally subsidized airlines and interstate highways that ate away at its traffic bases during this time frame the NYC began using their ground breaking Flexi-Van fleet and other express traffic on the headend of their passenger trains to try and offset some of the train's losses. This made for very long trains while the headend traffic had it's own costs.
"Two New York Central E8As at Hudson, NY" by railfan 44 is marked with Public Domain Mark 1.0.We'll cut it here for today and pick it up tomorrow with
Forward Thinking at a Critical Time
President Perlman addressed the need for cost cutting, improved infrastructure, efficient operations, and reducing labor costs by using both innovative and draconian measures to save the railroad.
Thanks for reading!!
See you tomorrow!!
I think you could offer that as a post grad theis!
ReplyDeleteThank you Sir Barry!!! Model railroading takes me down some rabbit holes from time to time
DeleteI must say this was a very interesting read, so say the least. What will the NYCTL do to enhance its operations is the $64,000 question! Looking forward to the next chapter!
ReplyDelete