I recently had an idea regarding if the EL were to indeed take up the Nickel Plate in my TL. What if the EL chooses to use the Erie for its main route to Chicago for higher-speed cargo like inter-modals, then use the NKP line for slower types of trains such as coal and ore trains? Of course, the EL would probably use the lines to Peoria and St. Louis mainly for intermodals, but the NKP Chicago line is still something that does still have some degree of potential even under EL ownership.
That, and I could also see the EL reaching an agreement with the B&O where the former gets the Western Maryland's mainline from Pittsburgh to Baltimore, whereas the B&O in return is allowed to keep the lines that are necessary to keep itself linked to the Reading and CNJ. Just imagine, as a hot-shot intermodal crosses over the B&O trackage several times east bound to Pittsburgh. Meanwhile, a Chessie coal train rumbles furiously along the line on its way to Pittsburgh. Followed soon thereafter by ones of the sections of Amtrak's Capitol Limited bound to Chicago, or the National Limited bound for Kansas City. On the ex-WM bridge above, Nickel Plate #763 eventually passes through with a special excursion; one celebrating a major event in American history no doubt.