Here are two from Pennsylvania made a decade apart. In the top image, the remains of Penn Central EP-5 No. 4976 are in Harrisburg on Aug. 22, 1978. The unit was built for the New Haven by General Electric in April 1955.
In the bottom image, a bevy of Conrail locomotives are leading a freight west on the Rockville Bridge over the Susquehanna River in Marysville on June 27, 1988. Note that one of the units is a Norfolk & Western locomotive in, perhaps, a bit of foreshadowing of what would happen to Conrail a little over a decade later.
AC Tower in Marion originally stood on the north side of the Conrail tracks. It would later be moved to the south side and reduced in height by the group that also preserved Marion Union Station. Shown is an eastbound Conrail train on the Indianapolis Line on May 23, 1999. At the end of the month these tracks will be taken over by CSX. In the foreground is the Sandusky District of Norfolk Southern.
RoadRailers were a common sight in Crestline in the latter years of Conrail. These trains originated in the east in either Rochester, New York; Elizabethport, New Jersey, or Rutherford Yard near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. The Rochester trains terminated in Crestline while other RoadRailers operated through to Fort Wayne, Indiana, and Sandusky.
I didn’t record the train symbols of the RoadRailer trains shown above. The top image was made from the Ohio Route 61 bridge and shows a train on the Fort Wayne Line crossing the Indianapolis Line at Crest Tower. The view is looking northeastward.
The Crestline passenger station would have once stood in the northeast quadrant of this crossing. The image was made on Sept. 12, 1998.
The bottom image was made at ground level, and shows GP40-2 No. 3277 pulling a westbound RoadRailer on the Fort Wayne Line. The unit was built in December 1973 for the Reading and would later serve CSX. The image was made on Aug. 15. 1998.
Let’s go out on the Fort Wayne Line during the Conrail era to see trains captured a decade apart. In the top image GP35 No. 2340 is in Massillon on June 24, 1978. The unit was built for the Pennsylvania Railroad in February 1965.
In the bottom image, B40-8 No. 5060 is leading an eastbound through Sebring in October 1988. This unit was built for Conrail in April 1988 and later worked for CSX.
Conrail B36-7 No. 5005 leads an eastbound trailer train in Alliance, on March 5, 1988. Built by GE in November 1983, the 5005 wound up on the CSX motive power roster after the Conrail breakup in 1999.
Former Conrail SW1500 No. 9566 is off to a new assignment. Its Conrail markings have been painted over and a line drawn through its roster number indicates it has been retired by Conrail. Next to it is SD40-2 No. 6456. The train is passing through Berea on the Chicago Line in May 1997.
Conrail B36-7 No. 5046 is pulling an intermodal train in the Cleveland area in August 1984. The unit was built in December 1983 and later wound up working for the Eastrada de Ferro Vitoria-Minas railway in Brazil.
Conrail SD50 No. 6714 is on the point of a manifest freight in Danbury on Aug. 23, 1986. Danbury is located on the Chicago Line just west of Sandusky and Bayview. The 6714 later wound up on the Norfolk Southern motive power roster.
Today is the annual Akron Railroad Club Dave McKay Day outing in Berea and those who attend will, no doubt, see some interesting sights on CSX and Norfolk Southern.
But here are two things they won’t see. In the top image, a westbound Conrail train led by an SD60M No. 5514 passes Berea Tower in May 1997. Conrail, of course, was split between NS and CSX in 1999. Some former Conrail locomotives on still on the motive power rosters of both companies, but all have been repainted into the liveries of their current owners.
NS ES44AC No. 8098 has been repainted into the Conrail livery as part of the Class 1 railroad’s heritage unit fleet, but whether it will pass through Berea today is uncertain. It was last spotted and reported to the website HeritageUnits.com on Aug. 1 at Hudson, Pennsylvania, leading train 10Z in the Northeast quadrant of the Keystone state.
But at least there is a possibility of seeing a locomotive wearing Conrail paint in Berea. There is no chance of seeing an open auto rack car unless it is being moved to a museum. Yet in 1999 it was possible to see such a car in revenue service even by then it was uncommon.
Shown is a CN car on May 15, 1999, passing through Berea. Note the different between that car and the adjoining enclosed auto rack car.
Eastbound Conrail C40-8W No. 6111 has just split the westbound Pennsylvania Railroad position light home signals at CP Mace on the Fort Wayne Line in Massillon in August 1998. Built in March 1991, this unit later was assigned to CSX as part of the Conrail split in 1999. It later would be dealt to General Electric leasing.
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