Nostalgia & History > 35 years ago today: ConRail's Conway

April 17, 1976, a Saturday, was the first opportunity I had to do any 'fanning of the newly formed Conrail, and it was, fortunately, a nice day. Here's a selection from the day's results, presented in the order they were taken:

First, a drive-by of Conway Yard, to check for any imminent departures; this turned up PC 2275 and 2772 sandwiching RDG 5207/06 at Freedom, where the new bypass was still under construction [ Photos 1 and 2 ].

Then it was back to the engine terminal for the variety there [ 3 ].

To be continued.....

SZ

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Two tele shots from the hillside above the Conway engine terminal: The roundhouse fan appears to be exclusively occupied by EMD switchers or Alcos, while a draft of RS3's seems to be passing through [ 4 and 5 ].

Then it was on to Baden [ the east end of Conway ]: PC 6043 and EL 3630/3636, having been recrewed, accelerate east [ 6 ].

SZ



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/17/11 07:20 by Steinzeit.

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More at Baden:
7/8: A wb Trailvan, which will stop at Freedom for its crew change, overtakes a freight entering the yard; the latter has PC 6284, CNJ 3066 in blue, and PC 2888 for power.

9: PC 8085/2356/2371 and RDG 5202 departing east on a cabin hop.

SZ

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Still at Baden:
10-11: PC 2371, ex-NYC, and RDG 5202 [ see '9' in previous post ]. Cabins included 24010, 21705, 23641 and 21007, all PC.

12: Looking south [ rr east ] with PC 8075 leading a consist that includes RDG 3623 and 5311 and PC 2425, and overtaking a frt with a C630/C628. It's not early West Colton, but it's not bad.

SZ

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Still at Baden:
13: A wb van train with PC 6196 and EL 3664 breeze through

14: The wb frt that had been awaiting its turn to enter the yard finally does, so we can head off to dinner: PC 6323 and LV 633 lead.

I hope TO'ers enjoyed this retrospective look. And to paraphrase a Western Board poster, "It's all NS now...".

Best rgds, SZ



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/17/11 09:09 by Steinzeit.

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Outstanding photos, thanks for posting.

Fantastic stuff...what a fun time you must have had!

Great stuff...

From a cave, under a glacier, yelling "it's all crap now."

Yukon Yeti

Excellent photo's. Thanks very much for sharing these with us. A bygone era that I for one must say, was the best era for watching railroads with their eclectic motive power and their rainbow paint schemes.

Thanks again,
James

cp9122 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Great stuff...
>
> From a cave, under a glacier, yelling "it's all
> crap now."
>
> Yukon Yeti

YY, absolutely fell out of the chair laughing at your response!

As an aside, is the roundhouse in the fourth photo still around?

Regards,
Burlington John

Steinzeit
I enjoy your postings!! This is so cool!!
Please show more!! I like my WP, SP, Santa Fe, and other Midwestern railroads, however I fully appreciate the diversity of motive power and railroads in this post.

Christopher Clipper
Amtrak Conductor
Portland, Oregon

All i can say is Wow....
Gotta love Rainbow era Conrail.
Thank you for posting!

MILW86A

burlingtonjohn Wrote:
> As an aside, is the roundhouse in the fourth photo
> still around?
>
> Regards,
> Burlington John


Yes. Conrail, thankfully, put some money into it to make it a reasonably decent working environment [ well, by RR standards, anyway....].

As an aside, NS proposed prior to the CR breakup even more grandiose changes, with an expanded facility and of course expanded employment. Once the unmerger took place, all that went away, not surprisingly. The plans did have a fantasy air about them anyway: To shoehorn all that building into the constrained space available, transfer tables were used as though Whiting were having a "Buy one, get one free" sale....

Best, SZ

Outstanding coverage of the CR transition at Conway. Thank you!

THAT-L-DO

The next day, Sunday, April 18, allowed only limited 'fanning in the afternoon; here's a selection of three shots, all taken at Baden:

1) An SD on trimmer duties backs up with EL, LV and PC cabins; the latter are 24508, 23349, and 21077
2) PC 2368 leads RDG 5308/09 eb with a van train
3) F units were around of course; here PC 5854, 1711, and 1677 lead a train into the yard past a standing train with a third F.

You will have noticed the relatively many RDG units encountered in these photographs; thanks to the caring maintenance these had received at Rutherford by RDG personnel, they were certainly in better condition [ in all respects ] than anything PC could field. Crews would probably have preferred them leading too but things like cab signals, radios, or 'agreement seats' might have precluded that in most instances.

Best rgds, SZ

Edited to add: That PC 5854 not only had the "4th [ cooling ] fan" removed, but the d/b fan [ and thus grids but not blister ] as well.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/18/11 07:58 by Steinzeit.

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Outstanding! What incredible variety, and nifty cool reefers in there too! Thanks for sharing with us these wonderful memories.

Cheers,
Harry