Penn Central RS1 9926

[Joetrain59]

A lesson to be learned here. Don't forsake what's in front of you now.
 Joe D

[unittrain]

Love that PC power they look great excellent job  I have had a lot of PC power creeping into my locomotive roster lately  . Going to get an Arnold U28C in PC when they come out.

[MichaelWinicki]

Nice Ed. I'm with ya on the PC. Back in the 70's I despised it and rarely trained my camera towards anything black unless it was an oddball. Now I find myself with a growing selection of PC rolling stock and have a real soft spot for it.

Bob

The PC (and railroading in general) was so different from what railroading was to become after Conrail.

Around here there was so much trackage still in existence that dated back to the glory days of the PRR that would soon be erased. 

The PC was sloppy, dirty, disorganized and incredibly interesting. 

I remember someone posting something on here about building a switch and there wasn't one-sound made as the train passed through it so smoothly...

Well I watched a lot of PC freights passing through switches and there was lots of noise, ties moving up & down in the mud and cars swaying back & forth.

I look back on it today with much fondness.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Love that PC power they look great excellent job  I have had a lot of PC power creeping into my locomotive roster lately  . Going to get an Arnold U28C in PC when they come out.

Oh yeah, I need to grab some of them. I held off on the CR unit because it didn't really fit with what I'm doing, but the PC one? Oh baby. Mix that up with my RS11, F7b and away we go.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

The PC (and railroading in general) was so different from what railroading was to become after Conrail.

Around here there was so much trackage still in existence that dated back to the glory days of the PRR that would soon be erased. 

The PC was sloppy, dirty, disorganized and incredibly interesting. 

I remember someone posting something on here about building a switch and there wasn't one-sound made as the train passed through it so smoothly...

Well I watched a lot of PC freights passing through switches and there was lots of noise, ties moving up & down in the mud and cars swaying back & forth.

I look back on it today with much fondness.

Yep. Exactly. I was talking with my dad about my recent interest in the PC, and that's pretty much exactly what I said. Yes, it was a complete mess, but it was an interesting mess.

[Bob Bufkin]

Oh yeah, I need to grab some of them. I held off on the CR unit because it didn't really fit with what I'm doing, but the PC one? Oh baby. Mix that up with my RS11, F7b and away we go.

One of those we are not mad at anyone lash ups I always liked.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

One of those we are not mad at anyone lash ups I always liked.

Lol, I like that!

[MichaelWinicki]

Yep. Exactly. I was talking with my dad about my recent interest in the PC, and that's pretty much exactly what I said. Yes, it was a complete mess, but it was an interesting mess.

Here's just one example of how RR existed prior to CR, Staggers and the desire to cleanse & simplify the industry...

The house I grew up in overlooked the Harrisburg/Buffalo main, and about a block from there was a spur– a rather long spur that was about a 1/3 of mile that use to go to a tannery that burned down in 1931. 

The PRR never lifted the rails after the fire, so the spur became this tree/weed filled ROW that unless you looked closely you would never have known there was trackage there... The PRR/PC kept the switch for this spur in place until CR pulled it in the early 80's.

The only time I knew of it being utilized was once when a journal on a hopper caught fire and the car was dropped off on the spur, which was only clear for about 60' before the tree/weed growth took over. 

There were examples like this all over the area... Trackage not used in 10, 20 or even 40 years but still existed. 

And even when the rails had been pulled on spurs, the PRR/PC generally wouldn't pull the ties so you could find sidings & spurs everywhere.

[randgust]

Most modelers today would be aghast to try to model the PC the way it was 'out in the boonies' off the big main lines.  This was before the FRA, and track standards, and sure as the world before weed spraying.

Just west of here, the 'main line' of the PC from Harrisburg to Erie went through a flat area, with a highway overpass.   That had resulted in some poor drainage and siltation of the ballast.  Grass grew thick, and lush, over the track.  Frame high, a hayfield by any other name.

Yet the trains still went through at 40mph, if they went slower, they'd probably rock off.  I have a wonderful shot from that overpass of a train passing through, and you can actually see the 'wake' of the air rush from the passing train in a pattern through that grassy hayfield.   That's the PC I knew.   Today that's the Buffalo & Pittsburgh and that same spot is ballasted, tight, and overall a solid FRAIII line again.   Did a major tie program out there this summer as well.   

Same thing over in Ansonia, where the Wellsville, Addison & Galeton came into PC.  This is '74, and the grass was so thick the only way you could find the junction was a sign in the middle of what appeared to be a farm field.  Both railroads were thigh-deep in lush grass, and this was 'main line' trackage on what had been the NYC line down the Pine Creek Gorge. 

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Oh man, I love it.

I'd love to see that photo.

[milw156]

Oh man, I love it.

I'd love to see that photo.

+1!!!

[Mike C]

Just west of here, the 'main line' of the PC from Harrisburg to Erie went through a flat area, with a highway overpass.   That had resulted in some poor drainage and siltation of the ballast.  Grass grew thick, and lush, over the track.  Frame high, a hayfield by any other name.

 

  When I was young I lived in Crossingville , about 45 min from Erie .  I think I remember PC running through Meadville ( the locos were black anyway ) and I remember something running through Cambridge Springs .

[unittrain]

A typical awesome PC lashup missing the left windshield also    http://208.69.231.186/showPicture.aspx?id=1478631

[OldEastRR]

The ICG in Illinois in the PC time period was in the same condition. In the farmland there were rails still running to every dinky town that had an elevator, even the abandoned ones. At main road crossings there were electric crossing signals that remained silent for months or years. I never saw any trains running on the branches and I had a truck driver job that took me all over east-central Illinois.  And where several of these feeders converged at one place on the main (usually a large town) there were small yards, wyes, multiple interchange tracks, and even spurs to abandoned freight houses -- all rails rusty except the mainline. Driving on country roads I'd usually see an ICG track parallel, weedy, ragged ballast, tilting telegraph poles (some still with wires), rotting ties ... tracks that were making no revenue just sitting there. But it was interesting to actually witness the faded glory of what once were great railroads.

[Mark5]

A typical awesome PC lashup missing the left windshield also    http://208.69.231.186/showPicture.aspx?id=1478631

Windshield appears to be intact ...