Norfolk Southern History

[NW Mailing List]

I don't remember which magazine had an interview with Mr. Lee, who ran UP's 
Steam program at the time but Mr. Lee stated that he had to justify the 
expenditures for the steam program. It isn't carte blanche. If the steam 
program didn't benefit UP from a business point of view it wouldn't exist. I 
live in Albuquerque and every summer I take my grandson on UP's Frontier 
Days Steam excursion from Denver to Cheyenne and back. Nothing like getting 
coal ash in your face. There are over seven hundred seats available at a 
minimum of $325.00 per seat with dome cars costing about $375.00 and that 
doesn't even come close to what it costs UP to put on that shindig. Repeat 
riders get first dibs, but still all the seats are sold out within two hours 
of being made available to the general public. Also remember who got the US 
Government to put a hold on CN from grabbing up a number of small U.S. 
RRs.........NS.
John Lisica #2073
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "NW Mailing List" <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org>
To: "NW Mailing List" <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org>
Sent: Thursday, January 28, 2010 2:51 PM
Subject: Re: Norfolk Southern History



> NW Mailing List wrote:

> > Many of my dealings with Norfolk Southern show me that they are

> interested in history. They often support our historic organizations.

>

> Not to be too cynical about it, but I have trouble believing that Norfolk 

> Southern cares about ANYTHING other than the bottom line and quarterly 

> dividends for the shareholders.  If they are supporting historic 

> organizations, it is because it's a great way to make the bottom line look 

> good at the end of the quarter.  They made low interest loans available to 

> employees who lost their homes in the Atlanta floods.  Was that corporate 

> goodwill, or trying to keep from having to re-hire and re-train to replace 

> employees who had no place to live?  Being "good" can often be 

> profitable - it's still good, but the motive is less so, and deplorable 

> when the result is presented to the world as charitable.

>

> By contrast, Union Pacific makes an effort to display, share, and take 

> pride in its own heritage.  I'm sure it costs money, but I think the 

> public, and definitely the model railroad and railfan communities, 

> appreciate the heritage paint schemes and active steam program.  I cannot 

> comment as an insider there, as I can for NS, but I get the impression 

> that they value their image in the world, and actually do care about their 

> own history.

> -- 

> Kenneth Rickman - krickman1 at carolina.rr.com

> Salisbury, NC

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