Nostalgia & History > What we lost on April 1, 1976

Today marks the 45th anniversary of Conrail's start-up.  For whatever reason, I didn't go out in the last days of the local railroads to capture "the end".  Presented here are a few very random images of Conrail's predecessor roads.  Some were previously posted some time ago.

1.  My local "home" road was the CNJ.  Here, an extra sand train meets train JS-1 at Lakehurst, NJ.

2. One of my regular hangout spots was Princeton Jct, NJ.  The activity was endless.  Two E-44 powered trains meet back in 1974.

3.  Southern New Jersey was home to the Penn-Reading Seashore Lines.  They ran a coal/oil train out to the Beesleys Point power plant on a daily basis.  Seen here making a setout for the CNJ at Winslow Jct.  From a print, February 1973.

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4.  A few miles west of East Stroudsburg, PA was this modest place known as Henryville.  To reach this spot required a substantial climb up the fill.  I tried this recently and I was obviously in better shape back then.  An eastbound descends the steep grade on the former Lackawanna main.  

5.  Making an almost weekly trip to the sacred place commonly known as the Bethlehem Engine Terminal, required a visit to the tower at Easton, PA.  Charlie Bealer was the Sunday day trick operator and he always welcomed fans.  Here is the Valley's flagship train, the Apollo, heading east as viewed from the tower window.

6.  Sometimes one daytrip stands out and November 23, 1974 was definitely one of them.  With several of us crammed into two cars, including George Berisso and Rich Taylor, my buddy and I spent the day chasing trains around the Reading.  This is westbound AH-9 at the Schlossburg Road crossing west of Allentown, PA. That was l-o-o-n-n-g-g day.

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Lastly the little Lehigh and Hudson River.  Since they ran only at night during the week, especially after the Poughkeepsie Bridge fire, the only images most of us could get were the C-420's parked in front of the Warwick, NY shops.  From a print, 1973.
 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/01/21 11:11 by thebluecomet.

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We lost plenty for sure but you've got some great shots there!

Great scenes!

Nice photos!

I always liked how EL placed its horns along towards one side of the cab roof, rather than centered in the middle.

CNW8531 Wrote:
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> We lost plenty for sure but you've got some great
> shots there!

I'll agree!