The Men Who Loved Trains: The Story of Men Who Battled Greed to Save an Ailing Industry

Well received gift

This reviewer had just finished reading "Set Up Running" about a steam train engineer on the old Pennsylvania Railroad. That was very much concerned with the operating side of railroading. "The Men Who Loved Trains" is directly about the cold, often frigid business side of the industry. Author Loving walks his readers through the creation and tumbling breakup of the Penn Central, the lashup of Conrail and its maturation into a serious railroad and the uncoupling of CR twixt between the Norfolk Southern and CSX. Loving lays it all out-the wheeling, dealing, back-stabbing, double dealing, broken promises, and shifting "commitments" as the major eastern railroads jockey for regional and even national position. Given the mega-mergers and "fallen flags" that have beset the industry, one may forgive the higher-ups mentioned herein for an occasional glance over their shoulders. The old saying "uneasy sleeps the head that wears the crown" is in full force. Loving also introduces the relevant government officials, though only Claude Brinegar one of Richard Nixon's Transportation Secretaries, impressed this reader-and he came from the oil patch. The bottom line is that Loving has seized hold of a complicated, often bizarre business tale and made it fascinating reading. There is one rant from this reviewer: The personalities! The roster of the dramatis personae herein is overwhelming. Hopefully, future printings of MLT will include a scorecard to help track the players. That would elevate MLT to full 5 star status. For those who are unfamiliar with the term "fallen flag", it's a railroad which no longer exists as a corporate entity but lives on in the hearts of railfans and historical societies. The activities described in MLT created a few noteworthy fallen flags!

I was remotely involved in the action covered by this book and it is a reasonably accurate report of what occurred.Was also pleased to learn that I was not the only person to agree that one of the players was theworst person I ever worked for, an egotistical jerk.

The focus of this book is the struggle between CSX and Norfolk Southern to control Conrail. As background, it describes the failed mergers of northeastern U.S. railroads the late '60s and early '70s which led to Conrail. While this subject is covered in great detail in " The Wreck of the Penn Central " and " No Way to Run a Railroad " those books were written well before the Enron and WorldCom scandals.However, unlike Enron and WorldCom, this story has a happy ending. Between deregulation during the Reagan years and more sophisticated management, North American railroads are again a vibrant and viable industry - which leads to this drama and the fight for Conrail.John Snow, Chairman & CEO of CSX at the time (former lobbyist and later Treasury Secretary), comes off as a politician out of his element who is primarily concerned with obtaining high political office. His cost cutting at CSX was a goal unto itself and resulted in damage to the company's competitive position. David Goode, CEO of Norfolk Southern, is portrayed as a dedicated railroad man with no hidden agenda.For those interested in American business histories, this book is every bit as dramatic as " Barbarians at the Gate: The Fall of RJR Nabisco ." For railroad history buffs, it's a good reflection on northeastern railroading today and how it came to be where it is. If you think you know the full story, this book will prove you wrong. Hopefully someday somebody will write a similar book about the railroad merger battles in the west.

I bought this book as a primer on how the disaterous NY Central and Pennsylvania railroads merger occurred and what was the reasons for the collapse of both railroads. The book starts out with that history lesson, but then delves into the larger railroad industry as a whole, which was of less interest to me.

While reading this book in the Fall of 2006, I realized I needed to pursue my life-long dream of working in the railroad industry. I know it's in my blood. This book helped me realize that and inspired me to make it happen. So, despite my comments below, this book certainly had a profound impact on me personally.Overall, I found this book to be a very fascinating, well-researched, and enjoyable read. I'll defer to the insiders who, in other reviews here, have commented on the accuracy of the history (kudos to anyone who tries to capture 50 years of eastern rail history in under 500 pages). So, read it with a grain of salt, and in light of other pieces on the same subject (not many to be found). There were a few places in the book, when discussing mergers and major shifts, where Loving rushed past without much detail (i.e., these two railroads were talking, yada, yada, yada, they were merged). Again, the trade-off would have been a hundred more pages to cover all the details. While it should come as no surprise, loving railroads is not the only requirement to make it to the top floor of the ivory tower. Most if not all of the rail chieftains depicted in this book were Ivy League MBAs, lawyers or bean counters. Nonetheless, leaders who actually love and understand their industry are likely more effective. In the end, if you have an interest in the business aspect of running a railroad, you should definitely read this book.