>>1234429>The Milwaukee people were either inordinately stupid or actively malicious!A little bit of both, more of the latter.
>My guess it was a failed asset strip. Some bigwig probably bought into the "trains are obsolete" meme, and wanted to get at the land without actually keeping the railroad.This seems to be the case based on an actual understanding of the system and its politics. Although, it was in the end a successful asset strip, since they eventually sold their trees fro nearly $200 after the final bankruptcy. Well, top management profited at least, thousands of employees lost their jobs and dozens of communities permanently lost their rail connection to the outside world.
>After the BN merger, Milwaukee Road Lines West traffic more than doubled in three years, rising to four trains each way by October, 1973, even five when the grain rush was on. During this 3-year period, the revenue growth rate for the Milwaukee Road system exceeded that of Union Pacific and all other Class Is. Nonetheless, the overall financial situation of Milwaukee Road deteriorated because of declining traffic on its short-haul, fixed-cost Lines East network.