Railroading as it Once Was: Youngstown Was the Place if You Wanted to See Alco Power in Action

There was some magic about the early years of Conrail, a blending of old and new. OK, so there was more old than new, but Conrail combined both by taking veterans locomotives and giving them some minor changes to show who operated the locomotive now even if the previous operator was still obvious.

And if you wanted to watch old Alco locomotives in action, Youngstown was the place to be. Motive power assignments saw large number of Alcos roaming the rails in the Mahoning Valley.

The former Erie Lackawanna Brier Hill locomotive shop was a mandatory stop to check out what was laying about, particularly in the early years of Conrail.

In the photograph above, former Lehigh Valley, Penn Central and Erie Lackawanna units gather at the EL Brier Hill locomotive shop in Youngstown in 1977.

The old and new is apparent with this former Lehigh Valley C-628. The LV name has been painted over and the initials “CR” applied to the nose. But the heritage of the unit remains unmistakable.

Photograph by Roger Durfee

Tags: Alco C-628, Alco locomotives, Alco motive power, Brier Hill locomotive shops, Conrail, Conrail locomotives, early Conrail locomotive power, early Conrail motive power, Railfanning in Youngstown Ohio, Railroads of Youngstown Ohio, Roger Durfee photographs