Class 1 invasion?

Aside from the CSX Boston Line and southwestern Connecticut, New England is blissfully free of Class 1 roads. Are there any rumors about further encroachment by either CSX or NS? The one I heard is based on the (unconfirmed and likely fradulent) rumor that NS would take the D&H from CP, then from there be in a position to assimilate Guilford through the connection to the EX-B&M line at Rotterdam Junction (*gasp* the worst paintjob takes over the second worst!). Any other thoughts/possibilities?

Hey Xrails; Black is beautiful baby(even though I'm no NS fan) GTI is
THE uglist with that tomato soup stripe around it. Second place
is tie between "Dark Future" cats and PC flat yuk.

STEAM ON
/--OOO--:-oo--oo-

Well if NS takes over any more at least we won't need to bother with loading color film into our cameras!

I think that NS' paint scheme is sharp and classy, and I'd love to see them running things up here. We'd see nice new Dash 9s and SD70Ms hauling speedy mainline freights, and we'd see MP15s and freshly-rebuilt GP38-2s working the locals. Sounds good to me.

From a safety standpoint, I would much rather it be NS than CSX. How many Amtrak derailments have happened on CSX rails in the past few years? Too many.

At least a takeover of Guilford would give the boot those [insert favorite explitive here] who run it, but a class 1 would most likely introduce more "streamlining" (read: job cuts and more line abandonments). The upshot of this is it may provide a breeding ground for shortlines to operate cast-off branches. Rather than a takeover, I would really like to see (like this would ever happen) Guilford collapse back into the origional roadnames under independant ownership, akin to what happened after GTI turned the D&H loose (for a time).

MEC 407, if only you knew how many derailments there have been at all LOL

I would like to see ANYONE come in and take over "Guilford Snail System"

My stupid question of the day: What is a "Class 1 railroad"? What are the other classes of railroads?

Why, "2" and "3," of course. Silly.

Just kidding. :)

Class 1 refers to a lines such as CSX, NS, BNSF, etc. anything over 1000 miles of trackage. You have to have a certain mileage and I think there is an earnings bracket too.

Class 2 is a medium-sized railroad, I want to say something in the neighborhood of 1000 miles and under. These are your "regionals."

Class 3 if I recall correctly is anything under 100 miles- your short lines.

Of course, I may have these all screwed up. But that's the basic idea.

-otto-

In the old days, class was based on mileage. However, it is now based on revenue.

The Class I railroads operating in the U.S. today are:

Burlington Northern Santa Fe
Canadian National
Canadian Pacific
CSX Transportation
Kansas City Southern
Norfolk Southern
Union Pacific

Maine Central and Boston & Maine were both considered Class I railroads under the old system.

There are five classes. And it's actually a combination of miles and/or revenue:

Class l: $272+ million revenue
Class ll: $40-271.99 million (also known as regional roads)
Class lll: $<$40 million (also known as local roads)
Switching and Terminal carriers: Often owned by connecting carriers and are compensated through preexisting pricing agreements with those carriers
Canadian roads: self-explanatory (but does not include their operating subsidiaries, e.g., GTW.)
I don't know the miles. The aar.org website would have that info if you really need to know.

You'll probably see a UP+CSX and BNSF+NS mergers before anything happens here in the Northeast. Just look at the current operating practices and you'll note that the trend is towards these pairings.

NS just entered an operating agreement with CPRS over the old D&H that spares them from complete ownership.
The D&H was, is, and will always be a "bridge" road. Handling traffic that originated elsewhere and is terminating somewhere beyond. Nobody has had success with it since it generates little, if any, online traffic.
Its the economics of railroading that most people don't understand.

CSX meanwhile is letting the Boston & Albany's track maintenance slide which is not a good sign. But both they and NS paid too much for Conrail, so neither is eager to buy anyone else right now. Though being sold is never out of the question.

With the exception of the paper mills in Maine, most of New England generates little origin traffic to warrant a Class 1 buying the SLR, NECR, GRS or the P&W.

I don't know about CSX, but NS has been spending a lot of money upgrading its property. Also, since NS stock slid to about $10 per share after the Conrail split up fiasco, its stock was selling for $25.70 ps last Friday. If someone wanted to buy the NS they could have gotten it a lot cheaper a year ago. However, the rumor still persists among NS employees that BNSF will eventually buy it. They say BNSF stands for "buy Norfolk Southern first." One can only speculate about the effect of major mergers on New England, but let's face it - New England freight railroading has been struggling for years. Maybe a BNSF/NS or UP/CSX merger could pump some life into it.

XRails wrote: I would really like to see (like this would ever happen) Guilford collapse back into the origional roadnames under independant ownership.

I'm with you on this one..... I miss the Harvest Gold and Pine Green ....... Black(Guilford Grey) and "tomato soup"red is just plain GROSS!! I'm keeping my fingers crossed..... :D LOL :D

I never cared much for the so-called "harvest gold" -- mostly because it looks like hell when it's dirty, which it usually was, especially with the u-boats. The older paint scheme, which was mostly green with gold accents, was really nice. And B&M maroon with gold was nice too.