E. Spencer Miller's 1979 Newcomen Society Address

In the very twilight of his career with the Maine Central Railroad, former President and Chairman of the Board E. Spencer Miller was the guest of honor for the Newcomen Society in North America at a National Dinner held in Portland, Maine on July 18, 1979. Miller's speech addreses many of the very most popular topics in this forum in some detail while also making brief mention of much of the lesser known MEC history often discussed here as well. The address was printed in booklet format and copies are occassionally sold via Amazon. The publication Library of Congress Catalog Card Number is 79-89070. Copyright is reserved to Mr. Miller (and by implication his estate).

Here are some excerpts from the speech beginning with a section of the introduction given by Mr. John C. Kenefick, President of the Union Pacific Railroad:

My fellow members of Newcomen and Guests:

It is a great privelege and pleasure to be here this evening and have the opportunity to introduce Spencer Miller. It is a special pleasure, of course, because we are summer residents of Maine, living on Cliff Island. I'm not the first President of Union Pacific to have a Maine connection. One of my distinguished predecessors, the 16th President of Union Pacific, Mr. Carl R. Gray, was a native of Thomaston, Maine. Mr. Gray, in the less regulated days, had the privelege of serving as a Director of Maine Central Railroad at the same time he was President of Union Pacific Railroad.
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With the possible exception of Daniel Willard of the Baltimore and Ohio, Spencer Miller has the record of being President of a Class I Railroad for the longest time. Spence has served on many, many boards. I first knew him as a Director of the Association of American Railroads. This is a group of railroad presidents and railroads presidents are a pretty bombastic group. In the midst of the bombast, once in a while we would hear the sober voice of Spence and all in the room would listen. Spencer Miller has what I have heard described as the uncommon gift of great common sense. We recognized that and listened to him. Ladies and gentlemen, it is a great honor to present the speaker of the evening, Mr. E. Spencer Miller, Chairman of the Maine Central Railroad.

Having been graciously introduced Mr. Miller then makes his opening remarks and mentions several of his contemporaries who have likewise contributed Newcomen papers about railroads:

My fellow members of Newcomen and Guests: It is fitting and proper that some 35 Newcomen papers have, over the years, been contributed by railroad men abou railroads. They have run teh gamut from Fred Gurley's essay on the huge and highly profitable Santa Fe to the fascinating story of the little cog railway and its ascent of Mt. Washington. Several of the essayists including John Barriger of the Monon, Alfred Perlman of Western Pacific, Edd Bailey of Union Pacific and Downing Jenks of Missouri Pacific have been contemporaries, colleagues and fellow Board members of mine and it is with a sense of gratitude, honor and humility that I add this little contribution to modern railroad history.

After discussing the origins of railroad transportation both in the world and in Maine Miller then reviews the conditions of the railroad in 1929 and 1978 which leads to his introduction to the beginning of his history in 1940 when the Maine Central was under the management of the Boston & Maine.

We now pick up the story from 1940 but perhaps you will pardon me for stepping off the right of way to linger a moment at the Shrine of Mnemosyne.

Railroaders were a different breed 40 years ago. In those times Saturday was just another work day and since trains ran on Sunday key officials always turned up late that morning after church. Dana Douglass Executive Vice President, held court and in the building, on call, were Harry Withy of the Mechanical Department, Chauncey Robinson or Clint Plumly of Engineering, Charlie Hall and Gilbert Miller of Freight Traffic, Harold Foster of Passenger Traffic, Fred Wood Superintendent, Charlie Priest Portland Terminal Superintendent, Walter Reeves of Finance and Accounting (with the clearest mental processes of any man I ever knew), Eddie Westcott, crack skeet shot, intrepid hunting companion and boss of Maine Central Transportation Co., the Railroad's highway subsidiary, and myself. Eddie and I are the sole survivors of that united but diverse group. Generally, operating conditions were reviewed and plans laid for the coming week but sometimes the gathering degenerated into an indignation meeting—indignation over Maine Central's loss of independence. At such a point I usually withdrew.

From this point foward Miller launches into the process of making Maine Central independent again and in so doing gives the single most detailed financial history of Maine Central's ownership, equity holdings, leases and issued bonds I have ever read anywhere. The booklet is worth buying just for this section alone. There are numerous other quotes worth repeating in brief. My intention is to post these excerpts to other threads which handle the subject matter at hand. Regardless, I felt it was very important to make known the existence of this booklet and its densely packed history of the Maine Central contained therein.

For reference I intend to provides links to other posts regarding this address in other threads. That way in any given thread which has a post regarding this address the link back to this thread will also provide the reader with the cross reference to all the other material.

For Mr. Miller's remarks related to Maine Central engine #470 see here.

For Mr. Miller's remarks related to Maine Central Business Car #333 Lone Tree see here.

Another thread about Mr. Miller can be found here:

E. Spencer Miller, President of the Maine Central Railroad

Several references to the Newcomen Address are made in the following post in the Surviving Maine Central Passenger Equipment thread.