By Dennis Wilmot
Challenges of Change
When I started on the railroad in 1974 I assumed I would remain working for the railroad for my entire career. After getting my associates degree and taking a robust 2-year program on traffic management (as it was known then) I began to sense that the future opportunities at the railroad and my own plans were not aligned. A change was in order.
If you have ever conducted a job search while working full time you know the challenges. Sending out resumes, going to job interviews (including travel to locations far from home), and eventually considering offers is stressful. Moving away was not ideal, and thankfully an opportunity arose locally to join one of the largest scrap metal companies in North America, Luria Brothers in their traffic department. Luria had grown so large that after WWII the government forced them to breakup as they monopolized the scrap markets.
Staggers Act and Deregulation
During my fifteen years with Luria Brothers I managed rail, truck, barge and ocean shipping. The Staggers Act deregulated certain areas for railroads. What were some of the results?

Rates and pricing- Prior to Staggers rail rates were regulated by the Interstate Commerce Commission. Carrier rates had little to do with market conditions and more to do with government oversight. Removing those regulations allowed shippers like me to negotiate rates to increase rail volumes and opened entirely new markets. Carriers tried various creative options including providing a list of rates subject to a monthly increase or decrease depending on what market factors existed and strategy was being deployed. Or short term contracts, as short as one month, while others provided a master contract and added, changed and expired rates as needed.
Railroad mergers- These changed the landscape of the North American rail network. These are some of the major mergers since I joined the railroad in 1974.
1976- Consolidated Rail Corporation (ConRail) merged Penn Central, Erie Lackawanna, Lehigh Valley, Reading, and others.
1982- Southern Railway merged with Norfolk & Western to form Norfolk Southern (NS).
1986- Seaboard Systems and Chessie merged to form CSX Transportation (CSXT).
1992- CSXT purchased Pittsburgh & Lake Erie RR.
1996- Union Pacific merged with Southern Pacific. (This one almost shut down the entire rail system and the industrial economy overall.)

1999- ConRail was divided between CSXT and NS with ConRail Shared Assets areas in Detroit, MI, North Jersey, and South Jersey/Philadelphia, PA.
2000- Canadian National purchased Illinois Central.
2021- Canadian Pacific purchased Kansas City Southern.
Short Line sales- Prior to Staggers to option to shut down or sell any branch line was next to impossible, even if that line was a huge cash drain. In 1980 there were maybe 250-260 railroads under Class II or III, in general terms shortlines. Staggers allowed Class I’s to sell off low or non-performing branch lines to smaller railroads, typically nonunion with no legacy costs and low overhead. Shippers regained quality service, and everyone won! Today that number is closer to 600 shortlines!
Track abandonment- In some areas branch lines had such little if any business that even a shortline had no interest. Under Staggers now the Class I’s could officially abandon that line and sell the track, ties, and other track material (OTM) and even the land itself. End result? An influx of cash and a more efficient and streamlined system.
Higher Education and Going Global
During my tenure at Luria Brothers I was able to return to college and complete my bachelors degree plus took a course in ocean shipping. In the 1990’s the metals industry joined many others in “merger mania”. Some mergers were unsuccessful and went belly up. Philip Services was a company based in Hamilton, ON that had acquired some scrap companies in Ohio, Tennessee and elsewhere in the 90’s, and in 1996 acquired Luria Brothers. Together we became one company, Philip Metals, now PSC Metals.
Unfortunately, due to a variety of issues, the company filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
Everyone’s future was in question. We had a great commercial team that worked very closely together of which I was privileged to consider myself a part. But in April 2000 an opportunity arose that was “an offer I couldn’t refuse.” CFF Recycling (now Derichebourg Recycling) opened a scrap trading company based in Houston and asked me to head up the transportation/logistics. Within a couple years the company grew exponentially. We kicked it off with an invitation to meet at the company HQ in Paris, France, after which the owner took us on a 4-day break in Corsica. Now that was an experience I will never forget nor likely ever repeat!
A Day That Changed the World

Then there was one of those days that changes the world forever- “9/11”. I was in my office when someone came in and told me to look at news reports online about a plane crash in Manhattan. We all sat in silence with mouths agape when the 2nd plane crashed and it was obvious we were under attack. Suddenly the economy was reeling, and my position was eliminated in a cost-saving attempt. I talked to my contacts in the industry and heard the same story from everyone. “We can’t hire anyone now. We are laying people off.” The future began to look bleak for me and my family with only unemployment as income and no one hiring. I was at the right age for a mid-life crisis but didn’t expect this.
As a Christian I had always prayed, but it is hard times like these that tend to drive us more often to our knees, and that is where I went figuratively if not literally. Answers I never planned for or expected started to arrive. A cousin stopped by with bags of groceries to feed us. Siblings left an envelope with money under my pillow after a visit. Friends handed us large amounts of cash unsolicited. We learned how being on the receiving end is so much harder than giving and learned lessons I will never forget.
Taking a Leap of Faith
I returned to conversations with my network contacts to hear the same ongoing story, no hiring, continuing to lay off people, and then a couple suggested just maybe they could use some consulting help. That was an idea germinated years before in mind. Was this now the time to consider that?
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