Overview

The Penn Central occupied centre stage during an especially depressed period in US railroading in which the operative word was bankruptcy. In existnce for just over eight years, Penn Central was a typical example of undercapitalized railroad operations -steadily deteriorating track structure, increasingly unreliable train service, and precipitous decline in revenues. The brevity of its existence narrowed the opportunity for coverage of its operations. It only existed from the New York Central/Pensylvania merger on Feburary 1, 1968, until the formation of Conrail on March 1, 1976. This book fills an information-void with its 208 photographs taken between 1970 and 1972. The photos, with their detailed captions, portray the 5,000-plus miles of PC's Southern Region, an especially volatile region. It was here in the Midwest that the Pennsylvania and New York Central lines overlapped most abrasively. Redundancy was rampant and called for intensive planning and capital projects to connect some of these lines and discard others so as to realize maximum operating efficiences. A Sampling of Penn Central is more than just a photographic documentation of the difficulties of the merger: every nook and cranny of this vast region is explored in detail, with four maps provided to enable the reader to stay oriented. Major terminals -Columbus, Cincinnati and Indianapolis - are thoroughly dissected, for it was at those locations that make-or-break operations were conducted. Perhaps most important of all, A Sampling of Penn Central gives author Jerry Taylor the opportunity to reflect on those hectic days. With the benefit of almost 30 years distance his new introduction helps the reader understand the successes and failures of those most crucial days for the nation's premier railroad.

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9780253337023

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Jerry Taylor was born in Brooklyn, NY, and grew up in St. James, Long Island. He received his high school diploma in June of 1944. He attended Cornell University, receiving his B.A. in 1949 and his LLB in 1952. In November of that year, he went to work for the New York Central Railroad, which in 1968 merged with the Pennsylvania to form the Penn Central. Beginning as a trainee, he held various staff positions on the railroad. Taylor was transferred to line supervision in 1962, rising from assistant trainmaster to general manager of the Southern District in Indianapolis in 1967 and of the New Haven Region in New Haven, CT, in 1969. He resigned in April 1969 to become Vice President-Operations of the Long Island Rail Road. After retiring from the LIRR in 1977, he moved back to Indiana. His post-retirement pursuits have included hiking more than 3,000 miles of the Appalachian Trail, maintaining a certified tree farm, and authoring four other books on various railroad subjects.

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