Railroading in the northeast and the Guilford D&H merger full directors cut.

[@wjsj69]

This was very informative and more in-depth than I ever thought about the northeast RR debacles of the last half-century. Thank you!

[@stephaneduguay7267]

A lot of informations in this film, wow I'm breathless. Very very good 👍👍👍

[@jeffreyhunt1727]

I really enjoy this kind of long-form content. You did a fantastic job on this video. Thank you for putting this together!!

[@pfflyer3381]

Thanks for NOT adding unnecessary noise.

[@NELSONRRVIDS]

I love your informative videos. Great work.

[@danhoyland142]

I love these in depth documentaries you do especially bc you focus on the northeast railroads. Very cool stuff. Keep pumping these out.

[@danseluk5193]

Great video, very comprehensive. Thank you.

[@Clavichordist]

I saw Guilford destroy the B&M. Everything was nice with increased traffic then it all stopped after they busted unions and deferred maintenance on the mainlines outside of the MBTA commuter territory. What used to be 40 mph freight lines were reduced to 10 mph or less. Lawrence yard, located in Lawrence MA, where the brakeman was crushed by a falling freight car suffered from standing derailments. The crew showed me where they occurred because I was friendly with them and at one point, they wanted me to hire on which I declined to do. The tracks were sinking in the ground with barely rails sticking above them. In other locations, water was up to the rail tops and ties were missing. Engines ran out of fuel or died enroute, sometimes catching fire. hey discouraged branch line operations and focused on their mainline forcing many businesses to trucks even when companies asked for freight services, they were told to suck it up and go elsewhere. Management basically didn't care. From what I heard, some came from the Penn Central and to me it appears they ran GTI the same way. As you said, the management was the same when Pan Am Railways was formed. The only difference was the dark blue paint scheme with 20 mph being a bonus on the mainlines. They ran some shuttle flights too out of Portsmouth, NH and Bedford, MA but the FAA shut that down due to poor maintenance on their airplanes. Management was running the airline just like the railroad. Since CSX has taken over, the freight business has increased on the MEC and B&M and some maintenance has finally been done on the lines starting with the Worcester to Ayer MA section which was down to 5 and 10 mph in some sections. The word is they're going to start work on the other parts as well especially on the MEC where the tracks are in worse condition. Out of all this, the funny part is CSX gets their Dash-8s back after they sold them to the leasing company that PAR purchased them from.

[@CarmineRC]

Can't believe I've watched 12 of your documentaries, and am only now commenting! Fantastic docs!! Especially the ALCo series. I don't know if you remember me, I've been out of Model Railroading for almost 9 years... I have just enough money and space to bring the Pacific Belt back, in N scale!

[@richardfay825]

Thank you for your efforts. This was very informative for people like me, with an interest in railroading and industry.

[@dhdisprsmith2296]

I feel I must respond to a couple comments made in your video. The D&H unions NEVER went out on strike against Guilford. The unions supported the MEC BMWE by honoring the pickets which were set up on D&H property and not crossing their lines. The next strike against Guilford was by the UTU on the B&M over safety issues, and they never set up picket lines on the D&H because at the time we had been placed in bankruptcy by Guilford. In bankruptcy the court appointed Francis DiCello as the trustee, and the NYSW as appointed the Directed Service Carrier on the D&H property with financial support from CSX. When CSX withdrew their funding, the NYSW could not afford to continue operating the D&H property and so they also pulled out as Directed Service operator. The D&H then ceased operations and under an ICC order all traffic on line was diverted to Conrail and all future traffic was embargoed. With financial support of several big customers on the D&H such as GE, International Paper and Georgia Pacific, local service resumed by the employees under control of the Trustee. It was the Bankruptcy Court Trustee who selected CP’s bid to purchase the railroad, since CP had the greatest financial and operational plan to resume operation of the railroad.

[@alcobufff]

Sorry for my late response! I will definitely include this info and make adjustments to this end when I revise this video. Thanks for watching!

[@fernjet]

So informative. Great job!!! Loved every second of it.

[@gregmilliken5538]

I live in Maine, and used to work next to Guilford's former Boston & Maine Biddeford, Maine yard, most of Guilford's rolling stock looked like rolling junk piles. When Guilford took over, us Maine railfans , knowing that the Mellon Family a long time railroad owning family, had high hopes. Then we were disappointed to the nth degree.

[@GreatNW]

I live on the west coast but have always been fascinated by the small eastern railroads. The look the feel of them just is so captivating to me.

[@dodge-ut6ti]

Thanks really enjoyed this.

[@0fficialdregs]

i enjoy this beautiful documentary with a good meal and got tea

[@geac9100]

Great insight and research!

[@gregmilliken5538]

Great video! I wonder what would have been if New York Central and Pensy hadn't merged. I'm an alternate history nut. I suppose New Haven's Boston to New York segment of the Northeast Corridor was a consideration by the ICC.

[@janvaneck4088]

It was called "Guilford Transportation" because Tim Mellon, the owner, lived in Guilford, Connecticut. He was well known as a "colorful character."

[@93greenstrat]

C&O/B&O didn't become Chessie System Inc. until 1973. However, the C&O had been know by its nickname "Chessie" for many decades before then.

[@tommythomason6187]

Seems like Penn Central might have fared better if Perlman were given the leeway to run it. Having to take in the New Haven was certainly a no-win situation.

[@shannonthomsen3951]

Nice

[@heathwirt8919]

Very interesting historical record of American rail roads, it's unfortunate that so much turmoil over the years has caused this system to be in an almost constant state of bankruptcy or running at a loss. There must be a better way to run our rail systems but it seems we haven't figured it out yet. From an outsiders point of view it seems that an entity that could coordinate the entire system could make it work more efficiently with less duplication and more coordination. Rail transportation is vital to US productivity and strength, we have to do better.

[@wjsj69]

The problems happen when the government gets involved. If not for their interventions, competition would keep things working smoothly with survival of the fittest. As observed, the governments helped the airlines by funding their infrastructure. If not for just that, the railroads would've been more competitive and healthier. Why did the airlines get funding and not the RR's? They are just as important for a healthy economy. That's what happens with gov't. intervention; unfairness, ineptitude and corruption.

[@heathwirt8919]

@@wjsj69 If the government didn't get involved we would never built a railroad in the first place. Or highways, or water systems, or a military, or or or. Stop grinding your political ax, it just makes you look like a fool.

[@robswan4170]

This was just as good as the 3 episode about pencentral from there your problem

[@erniepike3902]

When cobblers think their job is to make money and not shoes or Mellons think they can run a RR. . . .

[@charlesmaxim4493]

I really enjoyed this video, it was very informative and I learned many things I did not know. My only complaint is your narration was poor, with many awkward pauses, sounding out of breath, stumbling, etc, I don't mean to sound critical however it did downgrade an excellent piece of work.

[@alcobufff]

My apology's on the audio. My editing software was deleting audio clips and moving others during the video processing/encoding phase. I have since corrected theses issues. I plan to remake this video with better audio and other updates and corrections . Thanks for watching!

[@kelvintorrence5994]

What are you talking about willis,i pay as and owner operator trucker ,close to 15.000 a year to run the road,fuel ,road truck purchases, etc in taxes,no body rides 4 free in America.

[@alcobufff]

I'm sorry if I was not clear. I was referring to railroads having to own the track they run on and pay property taxes on those tracks in addition to the the taxes that all business must pay. Thanks for watching!

[@kelvintorrence5994]

1.00 a gallon wow id pay that now since my diesel fuel is back up to 4 35 a gallon, give me a buck a gallon now.

[@patricknoveski6409]

Very confused 😕

[@cherokeecoyoteoffical4625]

How

[@bonehead2768]

Videos are somewhat informative- but someone REALLY needs to show this guy how to do narration and background sound levels, if he'd get some help & learn how to make these videos better they would be fantastic.

[@wazza33racer]

12.30 implies that trucking companies engaged in road haulage dont pay fuel/road tax to maintain and build highways etc. That is completely false.

[@alcobufff]

My apology's if I was not clear. I was speaking in terms of the railroads having to own and thus pay taxes on their tracks because they owned them, in addition to the other taxes in which all company's must pay. Thanks for watching!

[@wazza33racer]

@@alcobufff the simplest and fairest model, is to have the tracks government owned, allow anyone to use them on a "user pays" model..........same as the roads. The road tax on fuel that road haulage pays on fuel, is in most countries much higher than the cost of maintaining the roads........its simply a milking cow for greedy governments that have out of control spending. Like the situation you describe, a tax on rail tracks, sounds like yet another "tax grab" that only drives up costs and is an absurd and unjustified attack on an industry. Thanks for the videos, Im not a rail-phile per say, but I do enjoy broadening my horizons and learning about the evolution of machines of all kinds.

[@kelvintorrence5994]

I'm a trucker and pay lots if taxes and we get regulations that hold us down to the ground,thanks too railroads and others,even thought I like railroads ,tell the truth,we pat alot of taxes, fuel, road, truck purchases, etc..

[@wilfred8326]

Sanders? The Colonel from Spaceballs or The guy from 🍗 KFC

[@iannarita9816]

Stuart W. Saunders ex Pennsylvania RR President who gave away the railroad to get the merger.

[@wilfred8326]

@@iannarita9816 I know

[@mow4ncry]

And then came the US government trying to run a railroad AKA Conrail otherwise in the railfan community and even some on the railroad was known as a con job what a joke

[@thomaswood6118]

Sorry but you don't know much about the subjects of which you speak. Your style of pontificating shows your attitude of being an expert