A Penn Central Retrospective

WJC member Fred Ciocciola presents his slides of the Penn Central railroad’s trains, yards, stations, towers, and maintenance-of-way equipment from February, 1968 through September, 1975. He includes plenty of GG1 photos, as well as coverage of some of the special steam excursions that ran over Penn Central trackage.
This presentation was recorded live at the October 24, 2022 meeting of the West Jersey Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society held in Audubon, New Jersey.
To learn more about our organization, visit: www.westjersey-nrhs.org/

[@markdiehl1963]

I was born and raised in Bay City Mi. Was very happy to see some pictures. Was a New York Central city

[@artillerest43rdva7]

just amazing catching all the nyc,prr & pc engines and cars, I remember seeing them in my area as a kid, so sad all the flags have fallen, now just a few big ones still running, with a bunch of short lines taking up the slack the big boys do not want to do any more. great video.

[@erikmcc804]

I am new to this site, Thank you, and now I am a subscriber and thanks for the memories 🙂

[@PowerTrain611]

Wonderful shots. I grew up in Ocean County, in South Jersey by the former Tuckerton RR ROW. The tracks are long gone other than the remains of an old trestle, but not far away is the old Southern Secondary that is still being restored. Last I saw, repairs were being made in Lakehurst, but that was 6 years ago at this point.

[@mdlanor5414]

I worked as a Fireman with the Locomotive Engineer that was on the GG-1 Electric Locomotive laying on its side when it derailed at Holmesburg Junction. I wasn’t the Fireman on this GG-1 when it derailed. The Fireman was operating the train when the wreck happened. I would write the Locomotive Engineer’s name but that wouldn’t be right to do. This wreck changed this Locomotive Engineer. He never trusted Fireman after the Wreck. He knew my dad and they were good friends. I was one of the few Firemen this Locomotive Engineer would allow to operate his train. It was so stressful for him,so I would ask him to operate the train himself unless it was an emergency. That I understand why it is so stressful. He wasn’t an easy Locomotive Engineer to work with after the wreck. I’m pretty sure that GG-1 was put back into service. After some minor repairs. The GG-1’s were heavily constrained. There were steel girders in the top frame of the GG-1. These Electric Locomotives were actually enjoyable to operated. No one could operate a GG-1 without being instructed. There was 21 notches on the throttle. You could pull the throttle out by holding the button on the throttle in. If you did that, it would generally trip out the pantograph relay. There was a specific procedure on resetting the Pantograph Relay. If you didn’t follow the procedure exactly . It would never reset. I operated GG-1’s from early 1974 until they were retired in 1983 on NJTRO. The AEM-7 Electric Locomotive that required the GG-1’s and the E-60’s were also excellent electric locomotives. NJTRO purchased ALP-44’s they were okay but not as good as the AEM-7’s. I only operated the AEM-7’s from when they were put in service until the end of December 1982.

[@joehoffman5308]

Well done sir. I grew up in Brewster. We lived between the Harlem and Maybrook lines. There was a big derailment there one winter on the Maybrook, split a box car full of candy open. All the neighborhood kids were bringing their red wagons down and filling them up. 😂Thanks for sharing!

[@Martin98Baumann]

The wrecked GG1 at the start was 4936 and it was scrapped. (In June 1973 4921 became second 4936 and was retired by Conrail March 1979)

[@EmpireBeltRR]

What a great slide show!! Thank you for sharing and presenting them!!!

[@philpots48]

Well done!

[@TroublesomeSlateTruck]

Cool.

[@wwrr98]

A lot of mentioning of visits to tourist railroads when some of these slides were captured. Would love to see a slide show of all tourist railroad slides

[@partspoor]

Thanks for sharing your collection! But why was all the photographers on the East Coast getting pictures and no one was out here in Indiana with their cameras? ugh!

[@craigfazekas3923]

Does anyone remember the SMALL yard in Tacony, right off State Rd. ? (where State Rd. goes under Rt. 95) Did it have a name ? Thank you in advance !! 🚬😎

[@chuckm6486]

At 10:57 I was intrigued to see the EB Duquesne led by four E-units. However I am assuming that level of power was not needed given the the light head-end load (just two cars) and I'm guessing this photo was taken from the vestibule of the fourth coach - the typical max carried by the Duquesne during the PC years. I had to laugh upon hearing that you tried to get reservations to take the train from Chicago but couldn't because the train was fully booked - or so you were told. However, I travelled PRR and PC many, many times and came to believe that the railroad was deliberately not taking reservations while claiming the train was full when in fact it was not. (If the trains were so full - then why the petition to the ICC to discontinue all long distance trains?) One time, however, I somehow was able to nag the PC phone reservation clerk into booking me a roomette on the EB Manhattan Limited from Pittsburgh to Philly only to find Pennsy's Pittsburgh Station and the Manhattan Limited (one sleeper and three coaches - no food service) completely empty. Admittedly this was a single event but it said a lot to me.

[@Martin98Baumann]

14:30 4839 was not repaired. It was retired 2 months before the photo was taken. I can't find any details of what happened to it

[@danielbackley9301]

Those Burlington green SD-45s were not BN locos and were wearing the final CB&Q paint scheme known as the hockey stick scheme. Burlington SD-45s U-23c and the last order of GP-40s were delivered in this scheme . BTW the green is NOT the same as BNs Cascade Green.

[@frederickciocciola4605]

Thanks for the information. To add to what you say, I have a photo of CB&Q GP-40 #629, taken in Chicago on August 7, 1968, freshly painted in that scheme, but lettered for Burlington Northern.

[@paulborri]

1:12:45 It looks like one of the engines says 2005.

[@frederickciocciola4605]

You are correct. Thanks for pointing out the typo.

[@texaspony]

Unwatchable unless the volume is muted.