Conrail Two for Tuesday

In the top image Conrail No. 3218 is using the wrong main as it goes through Louisville near Alliance in January 1985. In the bottom image, Conrail 2016 is part of a helper pair in Limaville on Aug. 19, 1986.

Photographs by Robert Farkas

Conrail in Massilon at CP Mace

Conrail C40-8W No. 6272 is eastbound in Massillon in August 1998. The unit was built in November 1994 as No. 746. During the Conrail split it was assigned to CSX which later sent it to General Electric leasing.

Photograph by Robert Farkas

Strange to See Pure TOFC Trains

Conrail B36-7 No. 5011 is in Alliance on Aug. 19, 1986. How strange it is to see pure TOFC. The unit was built November 1983 and later was assigned to CSX. It has since had a series of owners/operators.

Photograph by Robert Farkas

Conrail Museum Sets Grand Opening for April 1

The Conrail Historical Society has reiterated its plans to open a museum in Pennsylvania on April 1 with a grand opening event.

The museum will be housed in a former Conrail boxcar on static display in Shippensburg, Pennsylvania.

This year marks the 47^th anniversary of Conrail although most of the network was devided by CSX and Norfolk Southern in 1999.

The museum is located alongside the Cumberland Valley Rail Trail and near the Cumberland Valley Railroad Museum. 

The Conrail museum contains artifacts and documents from the Conrail era. It will be open daily from sunrise to sunset.

Splitting the Signals in Orrville

Conrail SD50 No. 6778 splits a pair of Pennsylvania Railroad position light signals at Back Orrville Road in Orrville in June 1984. The train is operating westbound. These signals were later were removed by Norfolk Southern. No. 6778 was built in May 1984 and later wound up on the NS motive power roster.

Photograph by Robert Farkas

Working in Massillon on Conrail

Conrail GP8 No. 5724 works in Massillon on May 1, 1978.  The unit began life as an Erie Railroad GP7. Conrail initially assigned it roster number 5404. It later become one of nine GP7s that were rebuilt by the Illinois Central Gulf shop in Paducah, Kentucky, into GP8s. At Paducah the 1950s built locomotives had their short hood chopped, were given new prime movers, and their control stands were revamped for short hood operation. This work was performed in 1976.

Photograph by Robert Farkas

Vestiges of Massillon Railroad History

Conrail SD40-2 No. 6467 leads an eastbound in Massillon on May 25, 1996. To the left of the train are the remains of the right-of-way of the then recently torn out former Wheeling & Lake Erie line to Dalton which curved to the left here and crossed what is now the RJ Corman.

The W&LE line, which was operated by the Nickel Plate Road, Norfolk & Western, and Norfolk Southern, was the original path of the Wheeling before the bypass route was built via Orrville.

The Corman line was once a Baltimore & Ohio secondary mainline that ran from Warwick Tower in Clinton to Bridgeport, Ohio.

Photograph by Robert Farkas

Cruising in North Lawrence

Conrail SD40-2 No. 6400 is eastbound in North Lawrence, Ohio, on March 26, 1985, on the Fort Wayne Line. It is located between Massillon and Orrville. No. 6400 was built in August 1977 and would later service CSX. The train has a load of covered hopper cars.

Photograph by Robert Farkas

Conrail GP38 in Wooster on the Ft. Wayne Line

Conrail GP38-2 No. No. 8178 leads a train in Wooster on the Fort Wayne Line in March 1987. The Geep was built in June 1977 and would later serve on the CSX motive power roster.

Photograph by Robert Farkas

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.