Eastern Railroad Discussion > The Reading Railroad Lives On --

---- as a theater management company.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-stock-spotlight-reading-20141021-story.html

That was an interesting piece - thank you for sharing it!

A long standing question I have had is why corporations persist vs. being liquidated. In this case, I can see where the real estate holdings and other assets (namely the cash received from transferring assets to Conrail) could be rolled into a new venture or be used to secure financing.

Are there other advantages to continuing an old corporation that I'm missing?

After the break up AT&T there were 7 "Baby Bells" plus the AT&T that handled long distance service. Over the years some of the companies merged. One merger was SWB (SouthWest Bell) and BLS (BellSouth). That company operated using the SWB name. After a few years they ended up merging with the long distance operations of AT&T. SWB was the controlling company but they chose to use the AT&T name because it was more recognizable nationwide. They also liked the NYSE ticker symbol, "T." Not exactly the same as the Reading story but that's how that name lives on.

BTW, I worked for the original AT&T before the break up and transferred to BLS afterwards. I retired before the mergers. The original AT&T was a pretty good company to work for and provided quality service. The New AT&T is AT&T in name only. A few of my friends still work there and none of them say they like their jobs anymore. Just waiting for the day they can retire.

John

The estate of the Jersey Central railroad also continued for years. There was non-railroad real estate, lots of valuable tax carry forwards, and properties not conveyed to Conrail. In contrast, the estate of ErieLackawanna was liquidated relatively quickly.

In the New York New Jersey area, the massive Harborside and Newport real estate developments in Jersey City, the Port Imperial project in Weehawken, and Donald Trump's multi-building Riverside Avenue towers in NY are all on old railroad yards.

wa4umr Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> After the break up AT&T there were 7 "Baby Bells"
> plus the AT&T that handled long distance service.
> Over the years some of the companies merged. One
> merger was SWB (SouthWest Bell) and BLS
> (BellSouth). That company operated using the SWB
> name. After a few years they ended up merging
> with the long distance operations of AT&T. SWB
> was the controlling company but they chose to use
> the AT&T name because it was more recognizable
> nationwide. They also liked the NYSE ticker
> symbol, "T." Not exactly the same as the Reading
> story but that's how that name lives on.
>
> BTW, I worked for the original AT&T before the
> break up and transferred to BLS afterwards. I
> retired before the mergers. The original AT&T was
> a pretty good company to work for and provided
> quality service. The New AT&T is AT&T in name
> only. A few of my friends still work there and
> none of them say they like their jobs anymore.
> Just waiting for the day they can retire.
>
> John

Sounds like certain railroad companies doesn't it? The real American Telephone & Telegraph Company was a great company to work for as I have several friends who worked for them. They gave employees the opportunity to purchase their stock and the folks who did this are for the most part well off today. The major railroads used to be good companies to work for although so many jobs were very hard work. For the record as I have stated before, I do NOT like companies that only use letters for their corporate name such as AT&T, BNSF, and CSX. There is no pride in initials for names. And CSX should have been called the Chessie Seaboard Railroad Company in my opinion.

John a/k/a ClubCar in White Marsh, Maryland very near the Philadelphia Sub of the former B&O corporately called the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Company.

John I also worked for the Bell sys. Started in Reading, Pa. at western electric, then AT&T, Lucent, and finally Agere. Also a ham N3YMX. I also waited for retirement with 35 years, Wasn't the same as the old days.

Want to see the Reading come to the Reading Railroad Heritage Museum Saturday's 10-4 and Sunday's 12-4.

Penn Central Transportation Company became Penn Central Corp after the bankruptcy. Though the new entity did delve in real estate and other kinds of companies, it did pay (a portion) of the back taxes owed.

Victor A. Baird
http://www.erstwhilepublications.com