Category: Conrail

Consolidated Rail Corporation (Conrail for short) was created by the US government, as a result of several major eastern railroad bankruptcies in the 1970’s. The end result was a well-run, profitable railroad; a true ‘rags to riches’ story, which the government then sold to the other two major eastern roads, Norfolk Southern Corporation and CSX Transportation, in a 58-42 split. Conrail does still survive, as Conrail Shared Assets Operations, serving as a terminal switching entity only, owning no locomotives or railcars.

Welcome to New Jersey, eh?

Conrail

As you can see, power from almost any North American Continent Class 1 railroad can be seen on the daily unit ethanol trains arriving in New Jersey (yes, there was a Ferromex unit sighted in 2011!). In this scene, we find local Conrail Shared Assets crew PR-19 in charge of two Canadian National units, as they shove south (away from the camera) to begin off-loading; CN units were once very rare here, but they have been making an almost monthly appearance this year and are a welcomed splash of color in this area. With modern horsepower on the head-end, CN 2561, a GE C44-9W, and CN 5707, an EMD SD75I, supply 8,700 horsepower to move the approximately 2.4 million gallons of product in this train; by far the most efficient manner of transportation for bulk commodities such as this, without spending billions of dollars for pipelines across hundreds or thousands of miles.

Image recorded June 14, 2011.

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Two former Conrail units head for the Linden Industrial Track

Conrail

They didn’t name it the “Chemical Coast Secondary” for no reason at all; this busy line along the North Jersey coast plays host to oil refineries, chemical plants and tank farms along its short route from Woodbridge northward to Newark, NJ. Tank cars are the predominant rail cars in this region, and today we see Conrail Shared Assets local crew PR-8 as they leave busy Port Reading Yard in Port Reading, NJ, shoving north (away from the camera) with a short train destined for the Linden Industrial Track, just a little over a mile away. Norfolk Southern 5292, an EMD GP38-2 built for the Penn Central RR as their number 8096 in February of 1973, still wears her Conrail colors on this bright summer day, while her partner for today, NS GP40-2 3022 (ex-CR 3315, blt 5/78) has been repainted, and sports her ‘basic black’ work attire. The old Conrail Blue has been fading fast in 2011, and only about three dozen units remain as of this day in June; soon they will all be black, and another chapter in railroad history will be closed.

Image recorded on April 14, 2011.

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Nothing beats a new pair of shoes

Conrail, Norfolk Southern

Transitioning from the Conrail Shared Assets Port Reading Secondary to the Conrail Shared Assets Chemical Coast Secondary, Norfolk Southern loaded unit ethanol train 66Q negotiates the west leg of the wye at CP-PD for staging before final delivery, just a mile away.

The lead unit, NS 9577, a GE C40-9W, appears to have rebuilt trucks underneath her, as nothing else on either locomotive is as clean as her new ‘shoes’! The best guess is that she was very recently released from the Juniata locomotive shops, out in Altoona, Pa, where major work is done on NS locos; with road units acquiring grime fairly quickly, this must have been just her first or second trip after servicing. This is also a good comparison of the two Dash9 models; the leader has the now-standard wide cab, with additional room for the engineers ‘desk’, as well as an overall quieter environment for the crew, while the trailing unit has the ‘old standard’ spartan cab, seen on most units built before the very early 1990s.

Image recorded on April 14, 2011.

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Train’s mechanical trouble provides great photo op

Conrail

It doesn’t happen very often, but today’s edition of Conrail Shared Assets train SA-31 is sitting in Farmingdale, NJ, unable to continue its journey as a result of a mechnical problem with Norfolk Southern GP40-2 3022 (ex-CR 3315, blt 5/78). This short local would sit here under beautiful sunny skies for almost 4 days, before a ‘rescue’ locomotive was sent down from Browns yard, in Sayreville, NJ. Due to its very accessible location, and the great weather during this time, number 3022 must have been the most photographed locomotive in the country in early January, 2010, as railfans from near and far paid a visit to see this wounded warrior.

Image recorded January 9, 2010. Click on the image to display it at a larger size. Use your browser’s Back button to return to this page.

In Lakehurst, NJ, rails are quiet for first time in 149 years

Conrail

It is the end of an era as Conrail Shared Assets Symbol WPSA-31, with NS 5281 (EMD GP38-2, ex-Conrail 8078, built as Penn Central 8078 in February 1973) in charge, sits on the runaround track in Lakehurst, NJ, for the final time. The railroad was first built into Lakehurst when the Raritan & Delaware Bay RR came to town in 1861, as competition to the already established Camden & Amboy RR. Difficult financial times for the Raritan & Delaware Bay found itself reorganized into the New Jersey Southern Railroad in 1869, and 10 years later, in 1879, the line was acquired by The Central Railroad of New Jersey (CNJ) as their Southern Division Mainline. For the following 97 years, the CNJ moved passengers (until 1957) and freight on the line from northern NJ to extreme southern NJ, until the formation of Conrail in 1976.

Conrail severed the Southern Division in 1978, with the southern terminus now here in Lakehurst, and referred to this line (now Red Bank to Lakehurst) as the Southern Secondary. The line remained in this configuration until December, 2010, when a new runaround track was built in Lakewood, NJ, some 5 miles to the north, to cut travel time and save money for new operator Conrail Shared Assets Operations (so designated after Conrail was split up between CSX Transportation and Norfolk Southern RR in 1999). With the new runaround completed just 2 weeks before this photo, it would be put into operation on the following run of SA-31 the very next week.

It is with great sadness that I officially report that, for the first time in 149 years, there will be no trains in Lakehurst, New Jersey.

Image recorded December 3, 2010.

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