I found a Conrail bumper sticker in my stuff, somehow gathered during my career. It dates from 1985/1986 and there's a story here. Through billions of public dollars and former SOU CEO Stanley Crane's able leadership, CR had found financial footing by 1984 and powerful business interests began to assert their influence on CR, including NS. In view of Crane's long history with SOU and his preliminary work in assembling NS prior to his retirement, most observers assumed that NS's bid to buy CR would be a fait accompli, a shoe-in. To the surprise of everyone, Crane strongly resisted NS's embrace and put forth his earnest belief that the nation would be better served if CR remained independent. This bumper sticker was produced as part of Crane's effort to sell his plan. To the astonishment of many, Crane prevailed and CR became a public corporation with a successful stock offering in 1987. With CR independent and on course for growth, Stanley Crane retired a year later in 1988.
