Aaah, here we go again..........
I wish that I had the name of every surly ticket collector, rude
dining car attendant, and person on the right hand seat that
could not handle air or slack, inadequate dispatcher, or
disgruntled supervisor....., so lets blame someone.
Yep, Menk took off passenger trains, so did Budd and Murphy.
Menk took off branch lines and locals, so did Budd and Murphy.
Under Murphy's watch, the Nebraska and KC Z's. became twenty
car trains that were hard to handle and required multiple station
stops. "Excuse me lady, but your car to Brookfield is twelve cars
ahead and you will have to board in the mud." Like the Twin City
Zephyrs? Where did the Afternoon Z's wind up under Murphy?
The answer is buried in the Empire Builder, which now made
more local stops. When the mainline locals came off, guess
how many more stops the DZ was required to make. It is hard to
make Denver OT when you stop to set Gramma of at Mendota.
To those of you with strong feelings about the CZ, where were
you when the head end cars of the former Coloradoan were
added to the CZ at Lincoln for the trip to Denver? That move
occurred under Murphy's direction.
OK, Menk took off trains. What you may not like is his style. The
sad fact is that passengers (the reason the trains were
established in the first place) were not buying tickets to ride the
trains. Businerss people were flying and vacationers driving in
larger and larger numbers.
Do I miss the trains, locals, or branches,? Oh, yes, but I also
understand why the business changed - to survive. We can
argue about the rights or wrongs, but while we do that someone
is on-line buying a ticket that will take them from Chicago to
Denver in half the time of the best Zephyr, including the two hour
dwell at O' Hare, and an independent trucker is doing his best to
keep his business.
Just my $0.02.
BTW, look for a book on the Zephyr fleet by Zimmerman from MBI
later trhis year.
Regards,
Ed DeRouin
> that! The temptation's mighty hard to withstand!
>
> So, enough about dog metaphors...
>
> Lou Menk didn't get his "Fink" nickname for nothing! The man
HATED
> passenger trains. He loathed them so much that he was
willing to do
> ANYTHING within his power to destroy them! Profoundly
enough, he
> was given a seat on the original Amtrak Board of Directors
(until
> 1974...or [to look at it another way] until it became obvious that
Amtrak
> was NOT going to live down to his original timetable, which
called for it
> to be dead and gone within three years).
>
> Look back at his Presidential tenures with various roads and
compare
> those dates to the period in which their passenger services
were
> decimated. It ain't coincidental!
>
> His primary claim to fame was being one of the original Kings
of
> Merger-mania. He was given a great deal of credit for the
success of
> the Burlington Northern marriage. What he actually did to aid
the
> combination of four historically associated lines and their
existing
> subsidiaries is subject to debate. The addition one decade
later of the
> Frisco wasn't surprising either, considering his background.
>
> Speaking of his background:
>
> He followed in his father's footsteps and began working for our
industry
> as a teenager, shortly out of High School. His first job was with
the UP
> as a Messenger Boy. To his credit, he learned telegraphy in
his spare
> time while under their employ, eventually becoming qualified
as an
> Operator before leaving Uncle Pete for the Frisco (not too long
before
> the
> beginning of World War II).
>
> He worked for the SL-SF a quarter of a century, eventually
being named
> President and Chairman in 1962. Yes, that's right...he honestly
worked
> his way up from the bottom - and, to give the Devil his due, a
man just
> doesn't go from Telegrapher to President in one score years
with nothin'
> on the ball! [N.B. His story was a real rags-to-riches tale - so
much
> so
> that one of the honours he received later in life was the famed
> Horatio Alger award.]
>
> At the time he was named President of the Frisco, he was the
youngest
> ever to hold such a position (although that distinction was
short-lived,
> since Ben Heineman took over the C&NW shortly thereafter).
>
> He definitely helped to recreate the role of Railroad President
for the
> 1960s through 1980s era: that of a bean counter, who was
always in
> search of the elusive Holy Grail - in the railroad's case, a
panacea for
> all that ails 'em. It might be called the "If Only We Could Get
Rid Of
> It"
> Blues. If only we weren't saddled with those bad ol' passenger
trains
> anymore. If only we didn't have so many branch lines. If only
we could
> eliminate the Fireman's position. If only, if only, if only...
>
> It can be argued, perhaps even successfully, that such an
approach was
> required in the generation prior to deregulation. The main
problem today
> is that his type of leader has now become a discredited model,
yet we
> haven't really seen a new presidential archetype come forth.
Every time
> I hear a road publicly state (for example) that they wish to trim
their
> route mileage by a certain fixed percentage every year in order
to
> reduce costs (thereby increasing profits), then turn right around
and
> complain of insufficient capacity, I consider his legacy.
>
> He penned a semi-autobiographical tome called "A Railroad
Man Looks
> at America" after his retirement. I'm afraid I've never seen a
single
> copy,
> but the book ostensibly reviews his beliefs concerning railroad
> operations
> and the free enterprise system (among other things).
>
> At any rate, I digress. During the mid-60s, he was asked by the
> Burlington Route's owners (GN and NP) to come over and run
the Q.
> After doing unforgettable things to the Zephyr fleet, he took the
NP's
> helm. He sat on the NP/GN managerial merger committee
from day
> one. Once the "Great Northern Pacific and Burlington Lines"
> combination was consummated, he was given the title of
President and
> C.O.O. of the fledgeling BN. The Great Northern's John Budd
became
> the new company's Chairman / C.E.O. and, once he retired on
the day
> of Amtrak's birth, Lou Menk took his position, too.
>
> He finally retired to his ranch in Montana about a year after
BN's
> takeover of the Frisco.
>
> I trust there were some who mourned his death - at least his
family
> (and perhaps some of the charities to which he was
characteristically
> generous, including the Boy Scouts of America); yet, I know
there
> were also many others - including your's truly - who considered
> Mr. Menk just one step above Ol' Scratch, himself...and who
> understood that the man's demise didn't somehow endow him
with
> any new virtues.
>
> To put it bluntly, my official "Wall of Shame" in my home office
has had
> several inductees over the years; but the original image was
that of a
> certain Louis Wilson Menk - "The Fink," the man with the
bloody hands.
>
> Garl
>
>
__________________________________________________
______________
> The best thing to hit the Internet in years - Juno SpeedBand!
> Surf the Web up to FIVE TIMES FASTER!
> Only $14.95/ month - visit www.juno.com to sign up today!
Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CBQ/
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
CBQ-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
|