PATRICK B. McGINNIS
AND
THE NEW HAVEN RAILROAD
"Always assume as I do, that our territory and our country are going ahead. If the New Haven goes broke under my management, it will go broke with all the flags flying and not from cannibalizing itself." - Patrick McGinnis, 1954.
Coming soon from White River Productions, Marc Frattasio's first book, Patrick B. McGinnis and the New Haven Railroad, tells the complete story of Patrick Benedict McGinnis and his association with the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad company.
Patrick McGinnis was one of the most fascinating and controversial characters ever to hit the American railroad industry. He was only president of the New Haven Railroad for the twenty two months between April 14th, 1954 and January 20th, 1956. However, the impact of the McGinnis administration on the New Haven was so profound that historians generally consider the latter-day history of the railroad in terms of pre-McGinnis, McGinnis, and post-McGinnis periods of time.
Patrick McGinnis brought many revolutionary changes and promises of change to the New Haven Railroad. Under his administration, the New Haven was placed on public display to a degree that no other railroad company in the world has ever been. An articulate, enthusiastic, and often volatile concept man with an unusual talent for self promotion, Patrick B. McGinnis electrified the general public and his colleagues in the railroad industry with an array of grandiose schemes for the New Haven Railroad the likes of which nobody had ever heard before.
McGinnis became president of the New Haven Railroad during a time of great change and uncertainty for the American railroad industry. The postwar consumer and travel boom had essentially bypassed the railroads in favor of the truck, automobile, and airliner. As a result, the optimism embraced by railroad management after the Second World War had been replaced by a growing consensus that the industry was in serious and possibly irreversible trouble. By the middle of the 1950s, America's railroads collectively suffered from a lack of credibility, poor self esteem, and no true sense of direction. The malaise of the railroads was not invisible to the general public either. Many people had come to consider the railroad train to be a form of transportation that was well on the way to becoming obsolete. Under these unhappy circumstances, the future of America's railroads seemed nearly hopeless.
Then in April 1954, the depressing railroad situation changed dramatically. Patrick B. McGinnis suddenly took control of the New Haven Railroad and changed the tone of discourse. Unlike many of his contemporaries, who seemed to have given up on the business, president McGinnis was an optimistic 'true believer' who loudly proclaimed that he had revolutionary ideas which would not only save America's railroads but also bring them into the space age. McGinnis told people that the railroad industry was not doomed to go the way of the horse and buggy. He said that there was hope for the future. McGinnis's formula for success and prosperity was simple. All the American railroad industry had to do was follow the lead of Patrick B. McGinnis and the New Haven Railroad.
Not merely a slick talker, president McGinnis backed up his words as much as possible with action. Under the McGinnis administration, the New Haven Railroad became an experimental laboratory which was used to test bold new concepts which Patrick McGinnis believed would lead a revitalized American railroad industry into the future.
Read all about:
The great 1954 proxy battle
against Buck Dumaine!
The
high-speed lightweight passenger trains!
The
corporate image design program!
The incredible new station proposals!
Terminating passenger service outside Boston and
NYC!
Replacing freight trains with conveyor belts!
The commuter revolt!
Nuclear powered locomotives!
Radio controlled trains!
And much, much more!
For more information about Marc Frattasio's first book, Patrick B. McGinnis and the New Haven Railroad, contact:
Kevin EuDaly
White River Productions Inc.
PO Box 1
Ethel, Mo. 63539
(816) 695-4433