• U.S.

TRANSPORTATION: New England Inkling

2 minute read
TIME

Unapportioned among the big four Eastern railroads—Pennsylvania, New York Central, Baltimore & Ohio, Nickel Plate-Chesapeake & Ohio—was the New England rail territory in their huge Eastern merger agreement of last month (TIME, Jan. 12). Last week came an inkling of what these systems proposed to do with this important trackage when William H. Boyd, personal counsel for the Nickel Plate’s Van Sweringen brothers, addressed 400 potent New Englanders at Providence. Mr. Boyd, who would not have conceivably spoken out of turn on such a delicate matter, outlined the following distribution of New England roads to the big four:

To New York Central: Boston & Albany, Rutland (minus the Rouses Point-Ogdensburg line).

To Nickel Plate: Boston & Maine, Maine Central, Bangor & Aroostook.

To Pennsylvania and Baltimore & Ohio, jointly: New York, New Haven & Hartford.

Kept open for all four systems would be the “bridge lines” across the Hudson into New England—Delaware & Hudson, Lehigh & Hudson. Lehigh & New England. New York, Ontario & Western and the Rutland’s Ogdensburg branch. Undisturbed was the trackage of Canadian Pacific and Canadian National in the U.S.

Meanwhile in Washington opposition to the four-system Eastern merger plan was strengthened last week when William C. Green, special counsel for the Senate Interstate Commerce Committee to probe rail consolidations, filed a report flaying the proposed unification scheme. Committee Chairman Couzens who seeks to block all mergers welcomed the Green report because it declared that the Big Four Plan threatened labor.

More Must-Reads from TIME

Contact us at letters@time.com