Early Conrail and its predecessors

ANN ARBOR: Atlantic 1611 brings Frankfort–Toledo train 50 past Ten-Wheeler 121 at Owosso in July 1950.
Robert A. Hadley photo

ANN ARBOR: Two FA’s roll an eastbound freight through Durand in fall 1960.
Russ Porter photo

JERSEY CENTRAL: CNJ Camelback 4-6-0 786 heads out of Jersey City with a commuter train as H16-44 1515 waits to back an empty consist into the terminal in July 1951.
John F. Endler Jr. photo

JERSEY CENTRAL: Baldwin “Babyface” freight diesel 78 is fresh out of the paint shop as it heads a freight under PRR’s Greenville freight line in February 1952.
Ed Theisinger photo

JERSEY CENTRAL: Camelback 2-8-0 680 works the B&O connection at Cranford, N.J., in 1950.
Classic Trains coll.

JERSEY CENTRAL: Pacific 833 digs in at Elizabeth, N.J., with a westbound passenger train in June 1936.
Robert L. Lewis photo

JERSEY CENTRAL: A Baldwin double-end diesel rolls a Bay Head–Jersey City train near Red Bank on New York & Long Branch in the mid-1950s.
Bert Pennypacker photo

CONRAIL: Rock Island officials at Chicago struggle with a banner the road made to welcome Conrail on the new carrier’s first day, April 1, 1976.
Bill Fahrenwald photo

CONRAIL: Just a few days after Conrail’s start-up, ex-Reading Alco diesels 5204 and 5302, still in full RDG livery, enter the ex-PC/PRR ore yard on Cleveland’s lakefront.
Eric Hirsimaki photo

CONRAIL: No. 4800 — the first GG1 — shows off its Bicentennial paint scheme, applied at Harrisburg in early April 1976.
Paul Carpenito photo

CONRAIL: Road-switchers of PC, EL, and RDG heritage display four paint schemes at Collinwood, Ohio, in 1977.
Todd Miller photo

CONRAIL: Ex-PC U25B 2620 leads two U23Bs on a westbound train near Rochester, N.Y., in May 1977.
Art Peterson photo

ERIE LACKAWANNA: Three units hustle hot piggyback train Second NY-100 east at Port Jervis, N.Y., in September 1974.
Ray Threlfall photo

ERIE LACKAWANNA: Three RS3s lead 100 cars east out of the yard at Marion, Ohio, in June 1970.
Robert L. Davis Jr. photo

ERIE LACKAWANNA: Behind U25B-C424-RS3 power, “Dayton 97” moves west past the station at Marion, Ohio, in June 1970.
Robert L. Davis Jr. photo

ERIE LACKAWANNA: U34CH 3356 stands for a portrait at GE’s Erie (Pa.) plant in 1970 before going to work on commuter trains out of Hoboken, N.J.
GE photo

ERIE LACKAWANNA: Former DL&W F3A 8411 leads a former Erie F7B and three other EMDs across the Delaware River at Mill Rift, Pa., in the early 1960s.
John Buchanan photo

LEHIGH & HUDSON RIVER: Mountain type No. 11 charges west at Sugar Loaf, N.Y., with a Maybrook–Allentown freight in August 1945.
Donald W. Furler photo

LEHIGH & HUDSON RIVER: RS3s roll right past the coal chute at Warwick, N.Y., with the eastbound hotshot Central States Dispatch in the early 1950s.
Wallace W. Abbey photo

LEHIGH & HUDSON RIVER: Two-month-old C420s — the first examples of the long-nosed Alco model — mingle with veteran RS3s at the big shop in Warwick, N.Y., in summer 1963.
J. David Ingles coll.

LEHIGH VALLEY: Mikado 275 storms east past the CNJ station at Bound Brook, N.J., in the 1940s.
Wayne Brumbaugh photo

LEHIGH VALLEY: Featuring Alco PAs up front and heavyweight solariums on the rear, the eastbound (left) and westbound Black Diamonds meet at Pittston, Pa., in August 1950.
John F. Endler Jr.

LEHIGH VALLEY: Pacific 2033 leads the dapper Asa Packer (named for an early LV financier) west of Easton, Pa., in June 1940.
Donald W. Furler photo

LEHIGH VALLEY: An Alco RS3/RS2 duo departs Easton with a freight in October 1960.
Dick Steinbrenner photo

LEHIGH VALLEY: RDC2 No. 41, standing at the Hazleton, Pa., depot in September 1951, was a regular on the Hazleton–Lehighton local service.
John F. Endler Jr. photo

PENN CENTRAL: At Baltimore, a Metroliner from Washington rolls into the station as GG1 4865 stands at a platform with a southbound train in September 1970.
Mike Farrell photo

PENN CENTRAL: Bedraggled E8 4300 (the only PRR E unit with dual headlights) stands under the shed at St. Louis Union Station with train 4, the Penn Texas for New York.
K. L. Bird photo

PENN CENTRAL: A GP35 and GP38 bring freight BF-3 through Marion (Ohio) Union Station in June 1970.
Robert L. Davis Jr. photo

PENN CENTRAL: A train of MP54 cars stops at Lansdowne on a commuter run into Philadelphia in April 1974.
Bob Trennert photo

PENN CENTRAL: Three E44s power a long eastbound freight at Frankford Junction, Philadelphia, in November 1971.
Bob Trennert photo

PENNSYLVANIA READING SEASHORE LINES: A Reading 4-6-2 and PRR-design 4-4-2 lettered for PRSL doublehead a train across the salt marshes into Ocean City.
Granville Thomas photo

PENNSYLVANIA READING SEASHORE LINES: A shiny RDC and a timeworn PRR Atlantic share the platform at Cape May in 1955.
Philip R. Hastings photo

PENNSYLVANIA READING SEASHORE LINES: Baldwin AS16 6014 and PRR K4s 7279 await their next assignments at Atlantic City in March 1955.
Frank C. Kozempel photo

PENNSYLVANIA READING SEASHORE LINES: At Woodbury, an M.U. train to Millville stands across the platform from gas-electric M-401 in early 1948.
E. F. Wiegand photo

PENNSYLVANIA READING SEASHORE LINES: Two AS16s head a southbound freight at Glassboro in 1955.
Frank C. Kozempel photo

READING: Reading Company Technical & Historical Society’s C630 5308 and GP30 5513 pose outside the old RDG shops at Reading, Pa., in June 1987.
Robert S. McGonigal photo

READING: On the Harrisburg–Reading line, T-1 4-8-4 2108 storms east past the station at Wernersville, Pa., with a fast freight in the 1950s.
John Pickett photo