Word: railroads
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1940-1949
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...trend in railroad earnings showed up in the June figures. For the first time since 1938, net income of Class I railroads failed to show an increase in June over the" year earlier. Though operating revenues of $747 million were the best for any June in railroad history, and exceeded last June's by $124 million, the net profit of $71 million was down $7 million. One reason: the railroad tax bill for the month was $169 million-more than twice as much as their profits, 52.7% more than they paid last June...
This was the worst month the Long Island ever had. But even in a good month there are close to 2,000 trains late on the road, which has the heaviest commuter traffic (and lowest fares) of any railroad into Manhattan. Trains, always full, run nose to tail morning & night. But last fortnight Long Island suburbia was thrilled by a glimpse of a better future, a vision of clean, fast and comfortable trains, clicking off their schedules with streamliner punctuality. The Long Island would like to be such a railroad after the war, and said so, in a pamphlet issued...
White Corp.'s rejuvenating tonic is compounded of many ingredients, and is expensive. For example, the Long Island is the only U.S. railroad now using double-decker coaches (it has three, low-slung to slide into tunnels); White Corp. recommended construction of a whole new fleet of them. Other medicine: electrification of 141 additional miles of line, improved riding comfort through installation of draught-proof windows, better car ventilators and lights, seats shaped to fit the human form, and heavier ballasted roadbed; in short, all the things other railroads have. The cost: $30 million...
...Catch is that the Long Island cannot afford to spend such important money to improve a passenger service on which it lost $20 million in the seven years from 1934 through 1940. The Long Island states its case with complete candor. Its open books show that the railroad has avoided bankruptcy only through credits totaling $9.3 million from its rich parent, the Pennsylvania. Thus the promise of Utopian commuter service on the 364-mile Long Island is hedged with two provisos: 1) a 20% fare increase for 55 million commuters, which White recommended; 2) easing of the crushing property taxes...
Most men are satisfied with one career. Judah Benjamin had five. Before he died at the age of 72 he had been 1) a great U.S. lawyer; 2) a railroad promoter; 3) a U.S. Senator; 4) Confederate Cabinet officer and Jefferson Davis' right-hand man through the Civil War; 5) a great lawyer in Great Britain. The careers are as neatly divided as the acts of a well-made play...