RAILROADS: A Bill for Bob

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What did it cost Robert R. Young to win control of the New York Central? In a footnote to a financial report, Young's Alleghany Corp. last week gave the answer: more than $1,000,000. Alleghany listed $1,400,000 in deferred expenditures, "represented substantially by amounts spent in connection with the solicitation of proxies of the New York Central Railroad Co. . . . It is anticipated that Alleghany Corp. will be reimbursed for them during 1955." Bob Young & Co. can well afford to pay the debt. Their Central stock, worth $25 million at the time of the fight, has since risen to a paper value of $37 million.

The Central announced last week that its main line from Buffalo to Cleveland will be the first in the system to be cut from four tracks to two for maintenance economy. A new signal and traffic-control system (with several sidings along the way) will permit operation of trains in both directions on each of the two tracks. Cost of track removal and signal installation: $7,500,000.