John Joseph Bernet

Infobox Person
name = John Joseph Bernet
birth_date = February 9 1868
birth_place = Brant, New York
death_date = July 5 1935
death_place = Cleveland, Ohio

John Joseph Bernet (February 9 1868 – July 5 1935)cite web| url=http://www.trainweb.org/wnyrhs/rohinducteesFrame1Source1.htm| title=Roll of Honor Inductees: John J. Bernet| publisher=Western New York Railroad Historical Society| author=Jandura, Greg| accessdate=2007-05-29| ] cite journal| journal=Time| url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,729799,00.html| title=Out and In| date=1926-12-27| accessdate=2007-05-29 ] was president of the Nickel Plate Road, Erie Railroad, Chesapeake and Ohio Railway and Pere Marquette Railroad in the United States. He was known for bringing railroad companies back from bankruptcy to solvency, earning him the nickname "Doctor of Sick Railroads".

Youth and education

Bernet was born in Brant, New York, on February 9 1868, to Bernard and Emma Greene Bernet. John's father, Bernard, had emigrated from Switzerland and had taken up the blacksmithing trade. After a public school education, John entered an apprenticeship at his father's blacksmith shop, but John was not able to perform the craft as well as his father had hoped.

Railroad career

When the blacksmithing apprenticeship didn't work out, Bernet learned telegraphy and was hired in 1889 on the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railroad. He worked his way up through various positions with the railroad to eventually become a Vice President for New York Central Railroad where he was in charge of the lines west of Buffalo.

Soon after the Van Sweringen Brothers purchased the Nickel Plate Road from the New York Central, Bernet was asked to lead the Nickel Plate in 1916. By the time he left the Nickel Plate, the railroad had grown considerably thanks to Bernet's work at upgrading the system. He is credited with doubling the railroad's total freight tonnage and average speeds systemwide while cutting fuel consumption in half.cite journal| journal=Classic Trains| publisher=Kalmbach Publishing| url=http://www.trains.com/ctr/default.aspx?c=a&id=83| title=Nickel Plate History| date=2003-07-25| accessdate=2007-05-30 ] Bernet was succeeded at the Nickel Plate by Walter L. Ross at the end of 1926.

Bernet served as president of the Erie Railroad, another of the Van Sweringen's holdings, from January 1 1927, through May 1929. [cite web| url=http://erierr.railfan.net/eriepres.html| title=Presidents of the Erie Railroad| author=Stratton, Fred| work=Fred's Erie Railroad History Page| accessdate=2007-05-29| ] His presidency of the Erie was characterized by a series of cost-cutting measures that included replacing much of the railroad's by then outdated rolling stock with new, more efficient equipment such as the Erie's Berkshire 2-8-4 steam locomotives, which were larger and more powerful than Lima's then current L-1 model Berkshires. Erie's Berkshires were of a design that included in to mm|70|abbr=yes|wiki=yes drivers, larger boilers and full-length locomotive frames; these locomotives helped change the Erie from a drag-freight railroad to a fast-freight railroad.cite web| url=http://www.trains.com/trn/default.aspx?c=a&id=518| publisher=Trains Magazine; Kalmbach Publishing| title=The Berkshire: Steam's fast-freight legend| author=Drury, George H.| year=1997| accessdate=2007-05-29| ] After leaving the Erie Railroad, Bernet became president of Chesapeake and Ohio Railway. [cite journal| journal=The Diamond| author=Brown, Randolph R.; McCourt, John P.; and Obed, Martin E.| title=Erie's Heavyweight Steel RPOs: 1927 Through Retirement| pages=p. 4–5| volume=21| issue=1| year=2007 ] [Hungerford, pp. 235, 242 and 244.]

The Van Sweringen brothers had gained control of the C&O and its then subsidiary Pere Marquette Railroad in the 1920s, so Bernet was already familiar to the rest of the management team there. Under Bernet's guidance, the C&O was one of the very few profitable railroad companies during the Great Depression, even going so far as earning and paying dividends in 1932. In 1933, he returned to the Nickel Plate Road's presidency. In that position he ordered the Nickel Plate's first 80 Berkshire locomotives. He served in that position until his death on July 5 1935; he died at his home in Cleveland, Ohio. He was succeeded as president of the Pere Marquette, C&O by George D. Brooke; [cite web| url=http://www.cr.nps.gov/history/online_books/steamtown/shs2o.htm| title=Nickel Plate Road (New York, Chicago and St. Louis) No. 759| author=Steamtown National Historic Site| date=2002-02-14| accessdate=2007-05-30| ] Bernet was succeeded at the Nickel Plate by W. J. Harahan who served until 1937 before himself being succeeded by Brooke. [cite web| url=http://www.nkphts.org/organization/organization.html| title=Comparison of NKP Leadership Through the Years| publisher=Nickel Plate Road Historical and Technical Society| accessdate=2007-05-30| ]

Legacy

Bernet very strongly encouraged John Carroll University to build a dormitory rather than a gymnasium and when the first dormitory on the university campus was completed in 1935, Bernet Hall was named in his honor. The residence hall still carries his name. [cite web| url=http://www.jcu.edu/Studentl/reslife/halls/bernet.htm| title=Residence Life - Residence Halls: Bernet Hall| author=John Carroll University| accessdate=2007-05-29| ]

References

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Further reading

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External links

* [http://www.chessieshop.com/gallery/showphoto.pl?id=40684 Photo circa 1935] at the C&O Historical Society's Digital Images Gallery.