Railroading In The 1950s, The Industry In DeclineThe streamliner craze that was so prevalent during the 1930s had slowed down by the late 1940s, although train travel remained a popular mode of transportation for most during the decade. However, following WWII and into the 1950s railroads watched helplessly as passenger traffic plummeted and not even new equipment and promotional advertising could sway passengers back to the rails. Some lines continued to spend money on new streamliners, such as the Pennsylvania Railroad, for passengers that never came. Railroading in the 1950s also saw a slow decline in freight traffic as the new interstate highway system began to take its toll.
It would take the diesel-electric locomotive nearly fifty years to equal the horsepower output of the steam locomotive during its technological height. However, diesels offered an advantage that far surpassed steamers and it was the deciding factor in them becoming the prime choice of motive power, efficiency. Diesels required far less maintenance in terms of overhauls (scheduled time in the shops for routine maintenance) and refueling (no longer were there frequent stops requiring water and coal/oil), which allowed them to be spending much more time moving freight and paying the bills. While diesels may have helped the industry save millions in locomotive maintenance the same could not be said for passenger operations. With the explosion of traffic during the war and only a minor drop off through the end of the 1940s many railroads expected passengers to remain true to the railroads during the 1950s, which, unfortunately did not happen. Some lines spent lavishly on new equipment like the New York Central ($56 million in 1946) and the Pennsylvania Railroad ($3 million in 1952). With President Dwight Eisenhower enacting the Interstate Highway System in 1956 (also known as the National Interstate and Defense Highways Act) and better highways and roads being built throughout the 1950s folks began to abandon trains for personal automobiles. Before the automobile came into existence railroads owned almost 100% of passenger traffic in the country but by 1957 held just 31.4%. A few stats regarding the decline of passenger railroading during these years: · Between an 18-year span following the year after World War II, 1946, passenger traffic declined from 770 million to 298 million by 1964. · By the 1950s total industry losses on passenger rail service was over $700 million. · Commuter trains declined by 80% from over 2,500 in the mid-1950s to under 500 by the late 1960s.
While passenger traffic was always helpful it was freight that paid the bills and even it was on the decline. By 1960 intercity truck traffic was up to 22%, a 12% jump since 1940 and the industry's average operating ratio (that is the ratio of operating expenses to revenue) rose from 67.5% to 78.6%. To make matters worse the ICC still held strict regulation over the industry. Despite these setbacks railroading in the 1950s did have some notable gains. For instance, ton-mileage per railroad worker had doubled every fifteen years since the end of World War I. Also, the 1950s saw an introduction of a new type of service, TOFC or trailer-on-flat-car. This service allowed railroads to haul unit trains of truck trailers, which was extremely efficient and beneficial to both industries and remains a highly lucrative service today. What began as an experiment in 1953 (one of the first lines to do so was the Chicago Great Western Railway) saw fifty railroads trying or testing TOFC service by 1959. And, track upgrades allowed for faster and heavier trains as mechanical machines began replacing track gangs, and rail of over 100 pounds covered more than half of all lines in operation by the late 1950s. Railroading in the 1950s also saw the beginning of the mega-merger movement with one of the first being the Norfolk & Western Railway's purchase of the Virginian Railway in 1959. While consolidations are a natural part of capitalism and the free market mergers began to increase in number in the mid-1950s partly because of the railroad industry's loss of market share to highways and airplanes. For instance, the overbuilt Northeast was probably the hardest hit by this market share setback. The Northeast's collapse culminated with the Penn Central bankruptcy of 1970 but it all likely started in 1951 when one Northeastern line, the Lehigh Valley Railroad, showed its final profits.
For more reading on railroad history you might want to consider picking up a copy of Trains across the Continent, Second Edition: North American Railroad History by author Rudolph Daniels. The book gives a general history of the industry and has received excellent reviews. Another book of interest in Bill Yenne's Atlas of North American Railroads, which is simply a compilation of detailed system maps of many of the best remembered classic railroads. If you're interested in perhaps purchasing either (or both) of these books please visit the links below which will take you to ordering information through Amazon.com, the trusted online shopping network.
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