Conrail bandwagon

[conrail6055]

-Steve
(i have no idea what i'm talking about - but i did stay at a Holidaysburg Inn)

I've read some pretty funny stuff over the last hour or two on various groups but this, Steve, has got to take the cake! I nearly lost it when I read it

~Kris

[Wlal13again]

I think "mission accomplished" best sums up Conrail. I got to see the EL, CNJ and The Valley close up. My Dad was an old LNE guy so he still had friends on the job. It went from a failure, to a ward of the state to a solid citizen in the end. Failure? hardly, You dont go for $11 Billion and have 2 other roads jockying for your routes if you`re a failure. I love Conrail, I grew up with it, it was my railroad. It went from elderly Alcos staggering down rotting track to wide cabs with double stacks flying down welded rail. I never jumped on the bandwagon, I was here before the bandwagon was built...

[ljudice]

One small point - GP30's, GP35's and U23B's lasted on Conrail until 1993-1995. They were stored from time to time, but during power shortages, they could be seem all over the place.

[Dave V]

While I grew up on Long Island, we made many trips a year to Lancaster, PA, to visit both sides of the family.  Sometimes we went via LIRR and Amtrak, but often we just drove.  Either way, the glimpse of a Conrail train on the way to and while there was always a treat; something different than the (now) equally exciting MP15ACs with short freights punctuated by orange or yellow cabins I was used to at home.

So I mostly associate Conrail with childhood memories of my grandparents on my mother's side (long since gone) and other family members we only saw in Pennsylvania, many of whom have also since passed.  Because my father always took us railfanning and hobby-shopping within hours of showing up at "Grammy and Grampy's" house, I can't help but associate Conrail with some of my fondest childhood memories.

Probably now at 33, with young children of my own, with a PhD defense looming (and stress levels equal to my time in Iraq), I find myself wanting to retreat, mentally, to those days when we could go to "Grammy and Grampy's," my brother and I could play down at the creek below their house, and Dad would take us to Strasburg and to chase trains on Conrail's former Reading branches in Lancaster.

Perhaps that's why now I'm buying blue trains.  Whatever the reason, it sure feels right!!!

[Atlanticflier]

 A most interesting Read..... and informative.

While not a Conrail modeler, it does have some simularities with my beloved SEABOARD SYSTEM, which I model for many of the same reasons some of you have stated about conrail. 

[FrankCampagna]

new revenue was not coming from the Northeast - the EL was losing the battle

If not for tropical storm Agnes, EL might not have joined Conrail. At the time everyone thought railroads were a bad investment, so the only money for available for repairs were from the fund for railroads joining Conrail. Could the line have survived? At the time the line was running 60 MPH intermodals and fast freights. When the double stacks started, the old Erie main was the only line on Conrail with the clearances. Their on-time performance was exemplary. It was the most profitable railroad to join CR. I think this is a line that could have made it, but we will really never know.

Frank

[3rdrail]

new revenue was not coming from the Northeast - the EL was losing the battle

If not for tropical storm Agnes, EL might not have joined Conrail. At the time everyone thought railroads were a bad investment, so the only money for available for repairs were from the fund for railroads joining Conrail. Could the line have survived? At the time the line was running 60 MPH intermodals and fast freights. When the double stacks started, the old Erie main was the only line on Conrail with the clearances. Their on-time performance was exemplary. It was the most profitable railroad to join CR. I think this is a line that could have made it, but we will really never know.

Frank

Having been intimately involved with the western end of the old Erie (Lima, Ohio and West), I have got to disagree. Being the last railroad built from the East to Chicago, and originally of a different gauge (6 ft.), it missed almost all of the major industrial centers West of Youngstown and had very little traffic other than overhead. Lord knows we tried to develop some traffic on it, but deregulation would have chased all the overhead traffic away.

[ljudice]

I loved the old EL, but they had some really serious problems in the east as well... The ex-DLW route was in very bad shape and they had serious approach issues into the Northern NJ terminal due to agreements of how many freights they could run on the Boonton line. The ex-Erie had issues too - and the killer was that it took 2-3 more crews to take a train over the EL than the PC routes.

Lou

[Chris333]

Seems like as you get further to the West that Erie was just taking over control of smaller lines and ended up with their "Mainline" So I don't think it was planned much other than "we need to get to Chicago, etc."

Also most of the "High and wide" was PA and east, we don't need no stinkin' tunnels over this way.

Every time Youngstown (Steel mills) is mentioned in relation to the Erie RR it is said that town was the single largest source of revenue of the entire Erie RR.

http://erielackhs.org/Erie/ErieLargeMap.html

[asciibaron]

-Steve
(i have no idea what i'm talking about - but i did stay at a Holidaysburg Inn)

I've read some pretty funny stuff over the last hour or two on various groups but this, Steve, has got to take the cake! I nearly lost it when I read it

i have my moments.  you have to read my posts carefully, you never know where the gem will be hidden...

soemtimes it's very subtle, others, not so much.

-Steve

[Ian MacMillan]

I'm still waiting for the gem Steve!

[ljudice]

The old Erie had a good market it never tapped:  the spelunkephobic!!

[asciibaron]

I'm still waiting for the gem Steve!

i have to be at the gym in 26 minutes

[Ian MacMillan]

I'm still waiting for the gem Steve!

i have to be at the gym in 26 minutes

I can wait.