[PRCo] Re: Shoulda, Coulda, would

[Fred Schneider]

And the PennDOT offer was we'll take you off the hook in Crafton,  
Carnegie, McKees Rocks, Ingram, etc.   Right John?   A wonderful  
trump card when you're loosing money anyway.

The most recent Railfan and Railroad features a telephone interview  
with Dave Gunn from his home in Nova Scotia ... the man is free to  
talk now that he is gone.   Amtrak had to get rid of him because he  
just wasn't, what is the term John, a team player?   He wanted to  
keep the railroad that Bush wanted to destroy.   Now why would Bush  
want to get rid of it?   Might it be that it competes with the oil  
and highway interests?

If you are a private president, then you still do what the board  
wants you to do.   If you are heading up a tobacco company, then you  
tell the media that tobacco has no proven health hazards.   If you  
are with ExxonMobil, you make sure your website shows that we have  
only used up 17 percent of the world's oil reserves even though some  
of the best brains in the industry are saying we've already used half  
the world's oil.  No matter who you work for, you do exactly what you  
are told to do.

The Resident Cynic

On Jun 11, 2008, at 9:19 PM, John Swindler wrote:

>
> Far too often board of directors tend to be not much more then a  
> collection of 'empty suits'.  Just ask David Gunn.   For the most  
> part, they are beholden to the politicans that appointed them to  
> the board.  And doesn't seem to matter too much whether public or  
> private.
>
> Harley Swift was the initial Executive Director.  He was an ATE guy  
> from Harrisburg Railways, but he did favor retention of some rail  
> lines.  He had PAT contract with Gorden Thompson for a study on  
> available rail rights of way in the Pittsburgh district that could  
> be used for rapid transit.  The write-up on the Harmony line  
> is .......  rather sickening.  It was, for most part, all there.   
> That was a real  'shoulda, coulda, would....'
>
> Swift was succeeded by John Dameron from St. Louis.  There is a  
> story that he met privately with a judge on the initial PAT board,  
> and the rest is history.  This was from either Tennyson or Grant  
> McCoy.  Dameron presided over the conversion of most of the rail  
> system, but it was going to happen anyway.  The private rights of  
> way just weren't there.
>
> The question no one seems to want to ask is why did PRC rail lines  
> last as long as they did.  Check out the PUC decision for the west  
> end rail lines.  Essentually the highway department made PRC an  
> offer they could not refuse.  Railfans tend to ignore all the small  
> municipalities in Allegheny County with street trackage.
>
> Just an opinion.
>
> John
>> From: mtoytrain at bellsouth.net> To: pittsburgh- 
>> railways at dementia.org> Subject: [PRCo] Shoulda, Coulda, would>  
>> Date: Wed, 11 Jun 2008 20:39:17 +0000> > If in fact there were  
>> people with a mind for Rail Transit on the initial PAT board of  
>> directors like some> of you good men, what would the PAT PRCo be  
>> like today as far as street car lines, what would or> should have  
>> been kept, a streetcar line to Oakland, Wilkensburg, North Hills  
>> or to the West End? With the gas costs so high today, would in  
>> fact modern street cars have been less expensive to operate, just  
>> was> wondering what should, coulda or would have happened if the  
>> right people were in charge.> Your comments are appreciated. > -->  
>> From the RIVER CITY by the Sea! > Jerry "Matt" Matsick > J A C K S  
>> O N V I L L E, Florida ! >
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