Conrail Museum to Open April 1

The Conrail Historical Society plans to open a museum in Pennsylvania on April 1, the anniversary date of the formation of the railroad.

The museum is housed in a former Conrail 86-foot hi-cube auto parts boxcars. The museum is located in Shippensburg, Pennsylvania, and is near the Cumberland Valley Railroad Museum.

The Conrail museum cost $150,000 to create and will contain various artifacts of the railroad that operated between April 1, 1976, and May 31, 1999, when it was divided by Norfolk Southern and CSX.

The Conrail museum sits on a section of panel track adjacent to the Cumberland Valley Rail Trail, which itself uses a former right of way. The abandoned Cumberland Valley Railroad was operated by the Pennsylvania Railroad, Penn Central, and Conrail.

“We’re approaching 25 years since Conrail was divided and the legacy of Conrail — if not for an organization and museum such as this — would just disappear into history,” CHS President Brock Kerchner told Trains magazine.

Some former Conrail lines continue to exist in New Jersey, Philadelphia and Detroit as the Conrail Shared Assets Organization, which handles terminal switching for NS and CSX.

Artifacts at the Conrail museum include an ex-Erie Railroad semaphore signal and an interlocking tower model board from Virginia Avenue Tower in Washington.

The museum also contains various railroad work materials and documents.

Conrail Group Fails to Save SD80MAC

Efforts by the Conrail Historical Society to save a former Conrail SD80MAC have fallen short.

The society was hoping to save one of 23 of the units that Progress Rail acquired in 2020 from Norfolk Southern.

But Progress instead removed the engines and repurposed them for use on boats and scrapped the remaining frames and shells of the locomotives.

The Conrail Society said  in a Facebook post that it tried to reach an agreement with Progress to save one of those shells but the company instead scrapped all of them.

Saving an SD80MAC was atop the Conrail Society’s wish list because Conrail was the only railroad to buy that model of EMD locomotive.

“We completely understand Progress Rail is a business and respect and appreciate their considerable time spent conversing with us trying to make preservation a reality,” the Society wrote on Facebook. “We were talking until the very last moments of the final SD80MAC. While we are heartbroken by the result, we made every effort possible to make preservation a reality.”

The Conrail group indicated it will seek to save one of six SD80MACs that are on the motive power roster of Canadian Pacific, which has used them as a parts sources in an SD70ACU rebuild program.

For more information visit https://railfan.com/rare-sd80macs-scrapped-despite-efforts-to-preserve-one/

Conrail Society Moves Boxcar to New Home

The Conrail Historical Society moved last weekend a 86-foot-long boxcar that is slated to be the next home of the society’s museum and archive.

A local moving company helped move car 243880 within Pennsylvania from Chambersburg to Shippensburg.

The car was built for Penn Central and acquired from CSX, which had used it to move auto parts.

Located next to the Cumberland Valley Railroad Museum, creating of the museum and archive in the boxcar is expected to cost $134,000 of which $100,00 will be covered by a grant from the Cumberland Valley Visitors Bureau.
The CVRM is located within a former PC boxcar adjacent to the Cumberland Valley Rail Trail.

The Conrail society plans to restore its boxcar to a Conrail scheme and give it insulation, heating and air conditioning.

Officials said there is no timeline for the museum’s opening. 

CA&C Article Appears in Conrail Quarterly

An article by Dennis Fravel about the Cleveland, Akron & Columbus will be published this month by Conrail Quarterly.

The article is titled The Main Line That Never Was and included numerous photographs made between Hudson and Orrville,

Fravel said those were provided by the Conrail Historical Society were easier to obtain than images made on the Akron/Mt. Vernon Secondary.

The article is focused on the Conrail era and the line’s eventual demise. However, the article has some history and discussion of the line’s legacy.

Fravel, a Columbus resident, presented a program on the CA&C at the Akron Railroad’s Club’s end of year dinner in December 2018.

CSX Donates Historic NYC Hopper Car

A former New York Central covered hopper car is being preserved by the Conrail Historical Society and a Connecticut railroad museum.

The Flexi-Flow hopper car was built by ACF Industries in 1966 as one of 220 such cars.

A Flexi-Flow hopper allowed easy unloading of the contents by applying air pressure inside of the car.

The cars were typically used to haul cement or other dry bulk goods and helped railroads regain business that had been lost to trucks.

The 46-foot car will be donated by CSX to the Conrail historical group and displayed at the Danbury Railway Museum.

The museum is seeking donations to help restore the car and repaint it in its previous Conrail livery.

CSX Donates Caboose to Conrail Group

CSX has donated a caboose to the Conrail Historical Society.

Extended-vision caboose No. 22130, which still wears its Conrail livery, was retired by CSX earlier this year.

It was built in August 1970 by by International Car Company for the Reading Company and is was one of just 10 class N-20 cabooses among the more than 2,500 waycars on the Conrail roster.

The Conrail group began talking with CSX in 2018 about acquiring the caboose and the railroad agreed to donate it once the car had been retired.

CSX also agreed to make some repairs and provide transportation of the car from Tennessee, where it was in service before retirement.

The caboose is now on the New York, Susquehanna & Western and is expected to be moved to the Delaware, Lackawaxen & Stourbridge Railroad in Honesdale, Pennsylvania.

The DL&S plans to restore the Conrail livery and use the caboose on excursions starting in 2022.

Boxcar to Become Conrail Museum in Pennsylvania

Drawings show plans for how a boxcar will be transformed into a museum and archive by the Conrail Historical Society.

A former Conrail boxcar will be transformed into a museum operated by the Conrail Historical Society in Shippensburg, Pennsylvania.

The 86-foot auto-parts boxcar, Conrail No. 295644, was donated by CSX.

Built in 1970, the car will be repainted into Conrail markings and its 10,467-cubic-foot interior will become a museum and archive.

The bulk of the funding of the project will be a $100,000 grant from the Cumberland Valley Visitors Bureau.

The remaining $34,000 will come from the society funds and in-kind donations of local contractors for material and labor.

The boxcar is now in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, and will be moved by truck. The museum is projected to open in 2021.

Durfee to Present at Conrail Group Meeting

Akron Railroad Club member Roger Durfee will be among the headliner presenters at the fall 2014 quarterly membership meeting of the Conrail Historical Society on Nov. 1 at the Berea Union Depot Taverne.

Durfee will show slides of Conrail operations. Also showing image of Conrail in action will be Jerry Jordak of Macedonia, Ohio.

Attendees are invited to gather before the meeting for an afternoon of railfanning in Berea.

The combination dinner/membership meeting will begin at 5 p.m. inside the restaurant’s historic Pullman passenger car.

This membership meeting is free for all CRHS members to attend. For those wishing to dine, a special buffet has been arranged at $20 per person.

The capacity of the Pullman car is limited to 24 adults, so would-be attendees should RSVP soon.

If more than 24 members wish to attend the event, dinner and the meeting will be held inside the station.

For further information or to RSVP, send an email to coordinator Brenda Long at koala5082002@yahoo.com.

For more information visit the CRHS website at:
http://thecrhs.org/events/Fall-2014-Quarterly-Membership-Meeting-Mini-Banquet

 

 

Conrail To be Focus of Marion Group Meeting

 

The Marion Railfan Society will be having its July meeting this Saturday (July 26) at the Marion Union Station at 7 p.m.
This month the group is meeting jointly with the Conrail Historical Society, which is having an all-day regional meeting at the depot.

Slides shows devoted to Conrail will be presented by Rich Behrendt, Dennis Nehrenz, Roger Durfee and Jerry Jordak. The shows will begin at approximately 7 p.m. in the baggage room.

The August meeting of the MRS will be on Aug 23 in conjunction with the Everett Nelson Train Show.

All railfans are welcome at these meetings. Some members meet before the meeting at the Shovel Restaurant next to the depot for dinner and railroad talk, starting at 5:30 p.m.

 

 

Conrail Historical Society to Hold Marion BBQ

The Conrail Historical Society will be having its annual BBQ on July 26, 2014 at the Marion Union Station in Marion Ohio.

The grill will be fired up fired around 11 a.m. The society invites everyone to join them for a day of watching trains, good food.

That evening Akron Railroad Club member Roger Durfee will be showing slides. Also showing photographs will be Jerry Jordak.

Anyone else who cares is invited to bring a slide presentation. The society provide lunch for everyone attending and that evening will have drinks and snacks.