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  • Was the PRSL a holding company for South Jersey rail assets

  • Discussion relating to the PRSL
Discussion relating to the PRSL

Moderator: JJMDiMunno

 #1401206  by rrbluesman
 
I have always been confused about the corporate structure of the PRSL. When PRSL was formed in 1933, was it a true merger of the Atlantic City Railroad with the West Jersey and Seashore RR creating a new singular unified system or was the PRSL a holding company for the infrastructure and assets of the ACRR and the WJ&SRR? Who actually made the decisions regarding operations, abandonment, etc, the PRSL directors and mangers or their parent companies, PRR (and later PC) and the Reading?

-Ed
 #1401242  by edbear
 
The Reading owned the Atlantic City RR outright. The PRR leased the West Jersey & Seashore. When PRSL was set up, the Reading sold 2/3 of its stock in ACRR to PRR and ACRR assumed the lease of the WJ & SS. The management of the company alternated annually; one year PRR's 1st VP was President of the Seashore Lines. The following year that post went to the President of the RDG and so on. Reading oversaw treasury and legal dept. functions; PRR got oversight of mechanical, purchasing, accounting and real estate. I'm guessing PRR got engineering too, but I couldn't find a reference to that. PRSL gave the appearance of being an independent company, and it did have its own rolling stock, a lot of it looking PRR-ish. Due to the highly seasonal nature of passenger traffic, a lot of PRR P-70s showed up during the summer and PRR engines. One of the usual places that RDG steam showed up was on some of the Ocean City connections. RDG pushed to have some of its fairly young 4-6-2s used on the Seashore Lines after they were surplus to the Reading's own needs. The PRR dominated as it was quite late in the game, 1962, before RDG could route freight over the Delair Bridge. Until then RDG had to float its interchange freight from Philadelphia to Camden.