The many faces of Conrail
Conrail, the amalgamation of many financially struggling Eastern railroads both big and small, was born April 1, 1976. When it began, the system operated thousands of locomotives on about 19,000 route-miles in 15 states and two Canadian provinces. Its mandate: to revitalize rail service in the Northeast and Midwest as a for-profit company. Within five years, a slimmed-down Conrail began turning a profit.
By 1998, with Conrail now a successful operation, it was officially acquired by Norfolk Southern and CSX. The two systems restructured it as a switching and terminal railroad with about 1,200 miles in three regions: Northern New Jersey, Southern New Jersey/Philadelphia, and Detroit. Later operations included Staten Island, N.Y.
The most visual aspect of Conrail over the years was the many paint schemes and patch jobs its equipment received. With a myriad of slapped-on logos, for many years lineside observers were regularly treated to a rainbow of fallen-flag paint schemes. Eventually the railroad settled on a blue design with white lettering and logos.
While corporate identity was extremely important to solidify the nascent system’s forward-looking plans, dozens of individual railroads had to be brought under one banner. The major players included Penn Central (itself a merger of majors New York Central, Pennsylvania, and New Haven) Monongahela, Lehigh Valley, Reading, Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore Lines, Lehigh & Hudson River Railway, Central Railroad of New Jersey, and Erie-Lackawanna Railroad. Smaller short lines and regionals rounded out the list.
An item many outside the merger were not familiar with is that while there was a tremendous commonality among locomotive builders on the consolidated roster, there were other factors to be considered.
A former Pennsylvania EMD GP35, for example, that survived Penn Central may look externally identical to a New York Central unit, which may look like one from another of the merged railroads. But they may not be equipped with the same accessories. Some units might not have dynamic brakes, others would. Fuel tanks could be of different sizes, and signaling equipment and certain controls might vary from unit to unit. Those factors also had to be considered when putting together the right units for a specific freight train. Management and crews eventually worked everything out, but it was never as easy as it might have appeared from afar.
For years there were dozens of Conrail paint schemes all mishmashed together providing a plethora of hues leading almost every train. If you never had the opportunity to see it yourself, just ask anyone who experienced it. For better or worse, we all thought it was an incredible display. Here are some examples:
Conrail paint schemes gallery
Looking for more on Conrail, check out Conrail history remembered.
The sixth photo, the 4 units “going away,” is not at Conway but at Rochester, timetable 3.4 miles west of Conway. True, the train has most likely just departed Conway Yard. Looks like the train might be headed across the Beaver River bridge onto the Bayard Branch that parallels the Ohio River rather than the Chicago and Youngstown lines that curve off to the right.