Brutal Cold, Hot Pictures

I was staying in Cresson, Pennsylvania, for a Conrail Historical Society planning meeting and generally spent part of both days out in the cold and snow. It was bitter cold, below zero at night, and not getting much above 10 degrees during the day. There was a good breeze, which is typical of winter on the mountain. I remember it took almost six hours to make the normally three- hour drive from Ohio. The Jeep came in handy more than once on that trip.

Article and Photographs by Roger Durfee

NS 3347, at the time the last Conrail blue SD40-2 in helper service out of Altoona, passes under the Route 53 bridge in Cresson. It has since been painted NS black.

NS 7211, a former Conrail SD80MAC, loads coal at Portage.

NS 9947 has a colorful train 227 in tow at Cresson.

NS 6717 with empty hoppers meets empty TTX flats at Cassandra.