CSX locomotive consist noteworthy for its rare Blue paint

In the Consolidated Rail Corporation (Conrail) breakup of 1999, CSX Transportation and Norfolk Southern Railway acquired the assets of Conrail, and began repainting the Blue CR locomotives in their respective colors as they came in for maintenance or overhaul. The repainting process has been steady but slow for both railroads, and as of this post, over 11 years later, only 37 Blue units remain on CSX rails. Finding a Blue unit in a locomotive consist is noteworthy, and finding  a Blue unit leading a train is special.

Here we see CSX 7374 (ex-CR 6229, blt 8/93) and CSX 7836 (blt 12/92) on the head end of a CSX unit ethanol train, with Conrail Shared Assets crew PR-19 in charge as they pass CP-PD on the CSAO Chemical Coast Secondary in Port Reading, NJ.

Image recorded June 21, 2010.

CSX locomotive consist noteworthy for its rare Blue paint

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Two Blue ‘CRQ’ units work small, busy Port Reading yard

With Conrail Blue hard to find in the year 2010, some 11 years after the Consolidated Rail Corporation breakup, and with only a small percentage of the Conrail fleet ever painted in the ‘Conrail Quality’ scheme, it was with great surprise, and much delight, to find on this day not one, but two Blue ‘CRQ’ units working small, but busy, Port Reading yard in Port Reading, NJ, on the Conrail Shared Assets Operations Chemical Coast Secondary.

This is “Shared Assets” territory, where CSX and Norfolk Southern both supply power to serve the customers of the central and northern New Jersey area, so that some semblance of competition is preserved in this very busy market. Here we see CSAO yard job PR-6 switching the yard with veteran power, with NS GP38-2 5281 (ex-CR 8078, nee-PennCentral 8078, blt 2/73) and CSX GP40-2 4428 (ex-CR 3345, blt 6/78) easily handling the assignment for the crew on this beautiful spring day.

Image recorded June 2, 2010.

CSAO yard job PR-6 switching the yard with veteran power, with NS GP38-2 5281 and CSX GP40-2 4428 easily handling the assignment

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CSX and Norfolk Southern in unusual locomotive lashup

No, CSX and Norfolk Southern haven’t merged (at least not at the time of this posting!), and yes, this is an unusual locomotive lashup, even in Conrail Shared Assets territory.

The two NS units (NS 2612, an SD70M, and NS 6771, an ex-CR SD60M) brought train 68Q to eastern New Jersey yesterday, and proceeded to the storage facility for unloading. The two CSX units (CSX 7865, a C40-8W, and CSX 7585, a C40-8) brought their own loaded ethanol train in yesterday, and then cut away for an overnight stay in Port Reading Yard.

To help facilitate todays movements, local CSAO crew PR-19 took the CSX power a mile south on the Chemical Coast Secondary to tie onto the now-empty NS train, and brought everything north to Carteret, NJ, where the two CSX units would then cut away and return to their train waiting on the west siding.

The NS units will receive a new road crew and head west as this afternoon’s NS 69Q, while the CSX train would now be spotted for off-loading by the PR-19 crew … all in a days work for the busy crews of the Conrail Shared Assets Operations in central NJ.

Image recorded May 20, 2010.

CSX and Norfolk Southern found in unusual locomotive lashup

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Rare locomotive deserves many photographs

Some might say that there are too many pictures of EMD SD45-2 locomotives on this website, but considering the rarity of this particular model in the US, I say “Bah, humbug”!

With only 136 units ever produced (although Southern Pacific/SSW received 247 of a variation of this model, the SD45T-2), the sight of two of these monsters coupled together in 2010 is an image worth recording, especially in New Jersey. The only northeast railroad to order this model was the Erie Lackwanna Railroad, with 13 units built in late 1972 at the famed General Motors ElectroMotive Division plant in LaGrange, Illinois.

After the Conrail split-up of 1999, Norfolk Southern acquired six of the ex-EL SD45-2’s, and they are frequently seen on Conrail Shared Assets trackage, both in northern NJ, and also in southern NJ, operating out of Camden’s Pavonia Yard; NS 1703 is ex-CR 6662, nee-EL 3677, built 11/72, and trailing unit NS 1700 is ex-CR 6654, nee-EL 3669, built 11/72. On a beautiful spring day in May, 2010, we see southbound Conrail Shared Assets train OI-16 at the ‘Hess’ crossovers, approaching CP-PD on the CSAO Chemical Coast Secondary, about to make a set-out at Port Reading Yard.

Even though these locomotives were rebuilt to SD40-2 specs during their time on Conrail, 38 years on the rails is a long time in RR years, and before long these veterans will become a distant memory, so let us enjoy them while we can.

Image recorded May 5, 2010.

Rare locomotive deserves many photographs

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Classic EMD locomotives work hard into their golden years

These two classic EMD locomotives continue to work hard into their ‘golden years’. Norfolk Southern GP38-2 5271 started life as Penn Central 8061, built in February of 1973, and she kept her original number through the Conrail years. CSX GP38-2 began as Conrail 8724, leaving LaGrange, Ill., in June of 1979, to go to work for Big Blue.

This is the Conrail Shared Assets Chemical Coast Secondary, so NS/CSX lashups are common operating procedure in this area; today we have local CSAO crew PR-8 in charge of their short train, making good time on a beautiful spring day, passing CP-PD.

Image recorded April 14, 2010.

Classic EMD locomotives continue to work hard into their golden years

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