Why did CR abandon some branch lines but not others?

Just curious as to what CR's mentality was when it came to abandoning branch lines and not others. Case in point are two of my favorite branchlines with a quick comparison...

1. The millstone branch in franklin twp. From 1980-2001 there were no customers past the Rt 27 xing BUT they kept the branch.
2. The E&N branch thru wilson and easton pa still had a few customers and many potential more. CR told the customers to buzz off and quickly abandoned the line and sold the row.

Why would CR abandon a line with potential and active customers but not abandon a line that hadn't seen a turn of the wheel is 30 years?

carajul wrote:Just curious as to what CR's mentality was when it came to abandoning branch lines and not others. Case in point are two of my favorite branchlines with a quick comparison...

1. The millstone branch in franklin twp. From 1980-2001 there were no customers past the Rt 27 xing BUT they kept the branch.
2. The E&N branch thru wilson and easton pa still had a few customers and many potential more. CR told the customers to buzz off and quickly abandoned the line and sold the row.

Why would CR abandon a line with potential and active customers but not abandon a line that hadn't seen a turn of the wheel is 30 years?

Just a suggestion: would this thread be more appropriate in the Conrail - 1976 to the Present forum? Some other recent threads might also be good candidates for migration.

carajul wrote:Just curious as to what CR's mentality was when it came to abandoning branch lines and not others. Case in point are two of my favorite branchlines with a quick comparison...

1. The millstone branch in franklin twp. From 1980-2001 there were no customers past the Rt 27 xing BUT they kept the branch.
2. The E&N branch thru wilson and easton pa still had a few customers and many potential more. CR told the customers to buzz off and quickly abandoned the line and sold the row.

Why would CR abandon a line with potential and active customers but not abandon a line that hadn't seen a turn of the wheel is 30 years?

I seem to remember serving at least one or two customers on the Millstone Branch west of Route 27 back in 1994.

the most recent customer I know of was all the way at the end of the millstone branch at clyde road. they moved out a few years ago, maybe 2009 at some point. supposedly they moved to dayton but have only heard that through word of mouth.