by Noel Weaver
It is more than just pulling out a siding and shipping by something other
than rail. The heavy industry that prevailed all over the north east until
probably the late 60's when a decline took place that lasted for quite some
years. Any number of heavy industries such as steel, mining, brass,
machine tools and much, much more are no longer operating at all, they
are gone and will for the most part never ever return again. So why
aren't the railroads all gone with them? Because in some cases they have
been able to adapt to intermodal, containers, garbage, unit trains of coal,
grain, oil etc, automobiles and some other stuff which has salvaged their
operations. Why are yards like Rochester, Cedar Hill, Springfield,
Hartford, Waterbury and lots more places no longer used or very little
used? Simple, the business that produced the shipments that went
through these yards are no longer in business and there is no longer a
need for their use. It is not the fault of the railroads nor the employees
nor the management either for that matter, it is simply what has happened
here over the past 40 or so years.
One thing that made Conrail so successful during its later years was the
forsight to go for container business in a big way, fix up the physical plant
to be able to compete with the trucks for efficiency, time and costs and in
doing so, they got a lot of business from the trucks. Even outfits like
Hunt, Schneider and others joined in with Conrail to be part of a winning
team. I know some on here will not agree with me but Conrail also cut
jobs, yards, trackage and even entire lines to get their operations into a
profit mode and made their operations efficient enough that they were
able to compete very effectively for the traffic that remained.
Yes, during my time on the railroad a lot of changes occurred and some
of them directly affected me but in the end, there was enough work for
everybody who really wanted to work and in some cases who were willing
to go where the work was.
For many, the jobs that remained were pretty darn good jobs and the
people working these jobs not only had a good job but a decent future as
well. For several years the unions and the people whom they represent
worked together with the management people to insure that the railroad
ran in a smooth fashion. Generally there was a spirit of very good
cooperation between management and the troops.
Unfortunately, today CSX has made a lot of changes not only in the
maintenance of the property but in the way they treated the same
troops who contributed to the success of Conrail over the years. This, as
expected, has not set well with the former Conrail people and they are
the ones in a position to know the results of this unfortunate situation.
I recall the time when the top management of CSX made a former Conrail
officer the president and he was determined to insure that the railroad
would continue to be well maintained as it was during the Conrail years.
The top CSX person (John Snow) did not agree with putting dollars back
into proper maintenance and the policy came down that Conrail was over
maintained. Snow made sure that the former Conrail person was tossed
aside and somebody else from CSX took over and when this happened
the maintenance was cut back. The result of this is what we are seeing
today, derailed and damaged cars decorating the landscape along the
tracks while valuable shipments are being lost and destroyed. A car load
of brand new automobiles, a container of valuable electronic equipment
and god forbid a tank car of hazardous chemicles is a huge financial loss
not only for the railroad but for others too. When you add up the
injuries, sometimes evacuations, damages and other consequences from
a major derailment, I sometimes wonder that it hasn't affected the
balance sheet much more than it actually has.
I hope I haven't bored you all with these comments, just wanted to get
them off my chest.
Noel Weaver
than rail. The heavy industry that prevailed all over the north east until
probably the late 60's when a decline took place that lasted for quite some
years. Any number of heavy industries such as steel, mining, brass,
machine tools and much, much more are no longer operating at all, they
are gone and will for the most part never ever return again. So why
aren't the railroads all gone with them? Because in some cases they have
been able to adapt to intermodal, containers, garbage, unit trains of coal,
grain, oil etc, automobiles and some other stuff which has salvaged their
operations. Why are yards like Rochester, Cedar Hill, Springfield,
Hartford, Waterbury and lots more places no longer used or very little
used? Simple, the business that produced the shipments that went
through these yards are no longer in business and there is no longer a
need for their use. It is not the fault of the railroads nor the employees
nor the management either for that matter, it is simply what has happened
here over the past 40 or so years.
One thing that made Conrail so successful during its later years was the
forsight to go for container business in a big way, fix up the physical plant
to be able to compete with the trucks for efficiency, time and costs and in
doing so, they got a lot of business from the trucks. Even outfits like
Hunt, Schneider and others joined in with Conrail to be part of a winning
team. I know some on here will not agree with me but Conrail also cut
jobs, yards, trackage and even entire lines to get their operations into a
profit mode and made their operations efficient enough that they were
able to compete very effectively for the traffic that remained.
Yes, during my time on the railroad a lot of changes occurred and some
of them directly affected me but in the end, there was enough work for
everybody who really wanted to work and in some cases who were willing
to go where the work was.
For many, the jobs that remained were pretty darn good jobs and the
people working these jobs not only had a good job but a decent future as
well. For several years the unions and the people whom they represent
worked together with the management people to insure that the railroad
ran in a smooth fashion. Generally there was a spirit of very good
cooperation between management and the troops.
Unfortunately, today CSX has made a lot of changes not only in the
maintenance of the property but in the way they treated the same
troops who contributed to the success of Conrail over the years. This, as
expected, has not set well with the former Conrail people and they are
the ones in a position to know the results of this unfortunate situation.
I recall the time when the top management of CSX made a former Conrail
officer the president and he was determined to insure that the railroad
would continue to be well maintained as it was during the Conrail years.
The top CSX person (John Snow) did not agree with putting dollars back
into proper maintenance and the policy came down that Conrail was over
maintained. Snow made sure that the former Conrail person was tossed
aside and somebody else from CSX took over and when this happened
the maintenance was cut back. The result of this is what we are seeing
today, derailed and damaged cars decorating the landscape along the
tracks while valuable shipments are being lost and destroyed. A car load
of brand new automobiles, a container of valuable electronic equipment
and god forbid a tank car of hazardous chemicles is a huge financial loss
not only for the railroad but for others too. When you add up the
injuries, sometimes evacuations, damages and other consequences from
a major derailment, I sometimes wonder that it hasn't affected the
balance sheet much more than it actually has.
I hope I haven't bored you all with these comments, just wanted to get
them off my chest.
Noel Weaver
Well, we've beat this pretty much to death. Damage is fixed for the most part and trains are moving again. Let's put this one to bed!