Fallen Flags Don't Really Still Exist...

Just a quick post about the fallen flag Reading RR that was on this board a while ago. About how the company still exists and all as the owner of movie theaters, etc. Well, it doesn't really. After some extensive research what I discovered was the Reading Co did contiue to exist after selling all it's rr assets to Conrail in 1976. It basically was a shell corp on paper that owned real estate (mostly right-of-ways and real property that Conrail didn't want). In the early 1980s the Reading Corp's common stock was in the toilet and dirt cheap. A lawyer named James Cotter from California bought the majority of the stock. The purpose was to finance his movie theater business. He sold all the Reading Co's real estate assets for this.

So, the current Reading Entertainment, Inc. really has nothing to do with the Reading RR. Just some rich guy who bought what was left of the Reading RR on paper and pillaged and sold every asset to generate $ to start something else. The current name and rr theme of the movie theaters is all bs.

Technically the paper trail makes it the succesor company whether its is in the rail business or not. But your point is well taken.

Often the case, that old companies no longer are in their orginal businesses, but are the successors. When the Reading common stock was purchased, unless the corporation was dissolved, it continued even if all the original assets were sold.

The Delaware & Hudson Company continued to do business after its original principal business (the canal) was shut down. It remained a railroad for almost a hundred more years.

Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company still exists, almost fifty years after it abandoned the Lehigh & New England Railway

If I'm not mistaken, PennCentral Corp also still exists as an Insurance Company under the guises of American Premier Underwriters.

Penn Central (known as American Premier Underwriters since 1995) continues to own Grand Central Terminal, under lease to Metro-North Railroad and the NY MTA.

Actually, the New York & Harlem Railroad owns GCT. American Premier Underwriters owns 90%+ of the NY&H common stock. The remaining shares are still out there and trade on rare occasion.

The current Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company is a new corporation. The original LC&N died in the 1980's. In the end it was reduced to a chocolate candy company in the SoHo section of New York City.

njmidland wrote:Actually, the New York & Harlem Railroad owns GCT. American Premier Underwriters owns 90%+ of the NY&H common stock. The remaining shares are still out there and trade on rare occasion.

Interesting. I can't find any info on this state of affairs. I'd love to know more.

The current Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company is a new corporation. The original LC&N died in the 1980's. In the end it was reduced to a chocolate candy company in the SoHo section of New York City.

Their web site (http://www.oldcompanyslehigh.com/) says the company was recreated from its own ashes, essentially. The mine assets which were acquired by Bethlehem Steel in 1974, it says, were spun off again as the new incarnation of the company in 1989. But it's admittedly vague.

carajul wrote:So, the current Reading Entertainment, Inc. really has nothing to do with the Reading RR. Just some rich guy who bought what was left of the Reading RR on paper and pillaged and sold every asset to generate $ to start something else. The current name and rr theme of the movie theaters is all bs.

Reading Cinemas Website wrote:Reading's unique history is reflected in its corporate logo. Look closely at the logo above, and you will see the train tracks of the pioneering Reading Railroad moving into a celluloid filmstrip, symbolising our commitment to FIRST CLASS entertainment.

Reading Entertainment Inc, is a cinema and real estate company with a unique history. The company is the successor of the Reading Railway which has been immortalised in American history as a square on the 'Monopoly' game board. Reading began in the 1830's by hauling coal from the Schuylkill Valley mines in Pennsylvania to Philadelphia and invited traveleers to ride on its famous passenger trains. With Railways throughout the U.S., Reading was considered at one time the world's wealthiest company.

Now in the 21st century, Reading continues its tradition by connecting people to the world of entertainment.

In the early 1990's, Reading refocused its resources on the cinema exhibition business. Currently, Reading operate cinemas in Australia, the United States, Puerto Rico and New Zealand

So the Reading website is bs?

In 1995, American Premier Underwriters merged with American Financial Corporation to form the American Financial Group (AFG).

AFG is a publicly traded company based in OH. They own the air rights to Grand Central Terminal, but not the building or the land on which it sits. That is most likely owned by the MTA.

From the AFG 10k filing with the SEC:

AFG subsidiaries own transferable rights to develop approximately 1.3 million square feet of floor space in the Grand Central Terminal area in New York City. The development rights were derived from ownership of the land upon which the terminal is constructed. Since the beginning of 1999, AFG has sold approximately 420,000 square feet of such air rights for total consideration of $22.2 million.

Hi guys-


I believe this even hold true for some locomotive manufacturuers. If I`m not mistaken, H.K. Porter still exists as like a tooling company or something. Interesting stuff. -chris

present day LCN is owned (or controlled) by James Curran who formerly ran Reading Anthracite until a family dispute resulted in a hostile takeover of the company and Mr. Curran was forced out. As previously mentioned, the original LCN dissolved in the 1980's after selling its last asset Cella Confectionary (which still exists). A great book by W. Julian Parton ( a former president of the LCN) outlines the rise and fall of the company and is available from the Delaware Canal Museum in Easton, Pa.

Since the company was dissolved no one really owned the rights to the name and it was picked up when Curran took over the operations of the former Beth Steel strip mine pit in Tamaqua which was at one time an original LCN corporation property. Beth Steel used the "Old Company's Lehigh" at that operation.

Moving back to theme of the original post, does anyone know what happened to "Jersey Cental Industries" which I believe was the name of the corporation that managed or disposed of the CNJ's non-rail assets after the start of Conrail?