Railroad Forums 

  • The Term "Fallen Flags" is Catching On

  • This forum is for discussion of "Fallen Flag" roads not otherwise provided with a specific forum. Fallen Flags are roads that no longer operate, went bankrupt, or were acquired or merged out of existence.
This forum is for discussion of "Fallen Flag" roads not otherwise provided with a specific forum. Fallen Flags are roads that no longer operate, went bankrupt, or were acquired or merged out of existence.

Moderator: Nicolai3985

 #1526152  by 2nd trick op
 
Some of the senior members here might recall that in addition to my lifelong fascination with the iron horse, I also worked for about six years in trucking, primarily as a central dispatcher -- for Jones Motor, Branch, and Cooper-Jarrett, all of which fell victim to the changes brought on by the deregulation movement of the late Seventies.

I bring this issue to the membership's attention because a new Facebook group entitled "Fallen Flags", and devoted to the ever-growing ranks of extinct trucking companies, has recently emerged. I quickly made them aware of the role played in the origins of the term by some friends in Milwaukee -- too many years ago.
 #1529580  by MACTRAXX
 
...or another: "G.O.D." which meant "Guaranteed Overnight Delivery" ? :wink:

I agree - Fallen Flags in the transport industry may they be railroads or trucking companies have their share of historical and other fans...MACTRAXX
 #1529717  by BR&P
 
CPSmith wrote: Sun Dec 29, 2019 1:08 pm How about this dude:
**************************
Camel Express I think it was?

As long as we're discussing the competition, I love the pics of a trailer saying some variation of "Our most valuable asset is behind the wheel of this truck!" - after said asset tries to take a 13' trailer under a 12'6" railroad bridge! :P
 #1529778  by 2nd trick op
 
Commercial Car Journal (published by Chilton -- the same people who produced automotive repair manuals) was one of the two dominant trucking industry journals during the time I was first starting out (the other was the weekly Transport Topics which featured terminal properties for sale or lease, and stock prices for small truckers -- sometimes traded OTC.

But at any rate, every summer CCJ would produce an annual "Top 100" of truckers ranked by revenue. But this hierarchy could be distorted by how companies were classified -- "truckload", (or more formally called "irregular-route, specific-commodity" carriers) were excluded in favor of the more tightly-regulated "regular-route general-commodity" carriers like Consolidated Freightways, Interstate System, Associated Transport and the rest. UPS was still in comparative infancy -- and it was split into two companies which still ranked in the top ten of CCJ's listing, and FedEx, just getting started, was an afterthought.

That was nearly fifty years ago, and a lot has changed; CCJ has expanded its listing to a "Top 250", but the ranks are dominated by UPS and FedEx with revenues of several times any of the "also-rans" such as Schneider, Swift/Knight, and Werner, which are truckload-oriented.

https://www.overdriveonline.com/wp-cont ... -15-25.pdf

As for the "contenders" of the earlier day, many of them quickly fell by the wayside as deregulation took effect; even small carriers, which sometimes dominated small markets, quickly went bankrupt. Consolidated Freightways saved itself by splitting into several regional companies. Yellow and Roadway, two acknowledged leaders, merged, (but are still struggling), and Arkansas Best (ABF) supplemented its revenues by getting into the household goods (consumer moving) market.

The "Era of Regulation", roughly 1934-1977, was characterized by a system in which the general-commodity carriers were treated as if they were railroads, with routes specifically defined -- thus could also lead to a scenario where smaller carriers could still dominate over a limited area, and some of these could be driven out of business quickly (and their employees rendered superfluous) by deregulation. Still other companies (Estes, R&L, Saia) took up much of the slack and prospered, but (and because) they are no longer obligated to serve all comers equally -- small or mixed shipments are sometimes turned over to UPS or FedEx for local delivery.

"Oh, the more it changes, the more it stays the same,
And the hand just rearranges, the players in the game."

(Al Stewart, The Eyes of Nostradamus)