In Memory of Conrail - 20 years gone - PART ONE

The 20 year anniversary of Conrail’s split between Norfolk Southern and CSX is/was on June 1st, 2019. Here is part one of a 3 part series showing Conrail in Eastern & Central Massachusetts to mark the occasion. With so much material filmed since 1987, we never did fit it all into our commercial line of DVD’s. This part features action in Charlton & Spencer, MA. Most of his material actually had been in one of our older (and no longer available) programs, “Conrail’s Mountain Main Lines”, but there is some footage which was never used.
Charlton (CP 57) marks the east end of a controlled siding for westbound trains. The west end of the siding is at East Brookfield, MA (CP-64). A grade of about .88 percent will make heavier eastbound freights work hard. Some westbound trains can make noise too as they have just finished climbing a grade that began since departing Worcester, MA.
A personal comment… I can’t stand the graffiti that has turned every modern manifest freight into something that belongs in the ghetto or junkyard. I also fondly remember the days when there were many railroads displaying their names and logos on the rolling stock. Therefore in this show, many trains are shown in their entirety. Enjoy the wide variety of road names and logos along with some pretty rare stuff, even for the early 1990's!
Please subscribe to our channel if you haven’t already. There is plenty more to come featuring Conrail and other railroads throughout North America!
Visit the BKVP website and see the 56 programs that we have produced in over 30 years!
www.bkvp.com
Watching the ad(s) that you may see, helps to support & encourage BKVP’s KZbin creations!

[@BaltimoreAndOhioRR]

Wow, great old footage! Thanks for uploading! 👍👍

[@mrjsanchez1]

I am modeling Conrail during the 80's to 90's in N scale, this video was a big help seeing the mix of power and various road names on freight cars used at this time. I agree with you about the graffiti on today's trains, wish it was gone!

[@KBuckyRailVideo]

Thank you! On my HO layout of the Lehigh Valley and Chessie System, there's no graffiti to be found either.

[@charlesbolduc2796]

That's sad to see and hear that Conrail is gone now I grew up in Fitchburg Massachusetts and Conrail ran just up the street from where I lived in Fitchburg and I was a train fan from the late 60s to the late 80s and I am still today at 62 and I only believe in Conrail and I always look for Conrail model trains locomotive and rolling stock cars

[@KBuckyRailVideo]

That was the Fitchburg Secondary. WAFR-10 was the normal symbol if I recall correctly. The line also ran very close to my home in Northboro. I caught many trains on it.

[@BNSFSantaFe603]

It was a great Railroad rip Conrail.

[@alexandertucker6140]

My dad worked on the Michigan/Indiana rails for 40years. Retired 8years ago...he has more conrail merch than i can count...I could watch this over and over. Reminds me of my childhood...Thanks

[@KBuckyRailVideo]

Thank you for watching!

[@deanbentlee298]

a tip : watch series at Flixzone. Me and my gf have been using them for watching all kinds of movies recently.

[@alancairo6216]

@Dean Bentlee Yup, I have been watching on Flixzone} for since november myself :D

[@caseyvanboxtel2279]

92 GE's to 5 EMD's. Counting only CONRAIL units.

[@tombaum5506]

Those SD40-2s were a sight to see. Baumer

[@ZaksMuscleMotors]

The days before everything was all tagged up.

[@robertcampbelljr.3195]

The train at 15:43 must be a haul of empties because putting that many empty flatcars in the front of a loaded train would risk string lining the train and having a major derail incident.

[@KBuckyRailVideo]

Good thought but it shouldn't be an issue unless climbing a grade and a lot of tight curves. That would be the Berkshire Mountains in western MA. My guess is that the cars were on the front of the train because they are going to be set off before reaching the grade. Likely at Palmer, MA or Springfield, MA.

[@oldsrocket8841]

I miss those days back in the 80s. Hot and sunny summer afternoons hanging out around the Water Level route, the smell of the railroad ties, and the tracks very busy with Conrail trains roaring through at top speed. Now it's CSX roaring through which I'm fine with but I miss the old PC & Conrail days.

[@spaceghost8995]

Yo NO ONE should miss the Penn Central disaster. lol

[@mytrainhobby5318]

Liking Conrail more and more lately.

[@bubblelvr1]

I started with them in 1990 and was a engineer for them best damn company to work for they took care of their own and respected the workers and didn’t dog out the men with micro management that slowed perforemance they took interest in the workforce not like CSX lord I wish they stayed away conrail was a reliable dependable corporation to customers and employees

[@rickydrone9274]

Amen!! I retired in 2014 after 41 years on the rails. Started in 1973 with Penn Central in Philadelphia as a brakeman and eventually a conductor. Eventually became qualified on most of the northeast corridor. As far south as D.C., north to NYC, and west to Harrisburg, Pa. Also, was qualified on the Port Road Branch, along the Susquehanna River. Early on, the RF&P was still in existence and our southbound trips ended up at the old Potomac Yard. What a job and career and feel lucky to have made it to retirement. Saw so much, including a lot of deaths. You are so right about taking care of each other like family. Unless you have lived it, no one can understand the lifestyle. Not having any social life whatsoever, working insane hours, during holidays, through all kinds of weather because the freight had to go through. The funny thing is during my first few years, a lot of vets were hired. A lot were battle hardened guys, just back from Vietnam. A big majority of them quit after about a year. I was friends with a lot of them and they told me I deserved a lot of respect. I asked them why and they said the job was nuts and they actually had it better in the service. The job on the railroad was not for everyone and you had to have a certain knack and ability to do your job and be good and enjoy it. The funny thing also is once you work there, it gets in your blood and you really have a hard time working somewhere else. The last part of my career was spent with the SEPTA rail division as a yard master. This is the local commuter service in Philadelphia.

[@bubblelvr1]

@@rickydrone9274 your 100 on that I’m having a hell of a time adjusting brother and it’s hard I have dreams of working there yet since Csx took over I watched thing just go downhill it never was the same now the hump in buffalo has now been taken out it’s just sad how they destroyed the place just shamefully

[@anthonyangotti4250]

I wonder if these trains went threw whiting Indiana Chicago line my grandpa live next to those tracks

[@christophercarey3232]

One thing to enjoy about Conrail is, of course, the horns.

[@tommythomason6187]

Almost no video available of the Conrail E units in the standard blue scheme. I'd sure love to see that. They had a great Office Car Special.

[@jmo6889]

i remember the good ole days of Conrail rolling though buffalo new York

[@PeninsulaTrainFan]

I miss conrail. I will never forget it.

[@ryankruchowski1951]

Was Conrail federally owned or not? I am just curious, I heard it from someone a while back ago. Please let me know in the comments section below. Conrail stood for Corporate rail network.

[@KBuckyRailVideo]

Conrail stood for "Consolidated Rail Corporation" conrail.com/about-conrail/history/

[@bhproductions1061]

I caught my own ex Conrail unit a couple weeks ago

[@christophercarey3232]

Did it have a Leslie RS3L horn on it?

[@JohnR.1968]

Loved the boxcar traffic,instead of boring stack trains.

[@LeeDfined]

Norfolk and Western at that

[@LeeDfined]

I miss Boxcars

[@tommythomason6187]

Lots of GE power heading up those trains. C30-7s, B30-7s and what looks to be U23-Bs.

[@jeffreymcfadden9403]

B-23-7s actually. 1900+2000 series were B-23-7 the U23Bs were 2700 series and by this time these U-Boats were either stored or sold off.

[@tommythomason6187]

@@jeffreymcfadden9403 Thanks. I'm not as good at spotting GE units. The older ones often did not have the dragster-like flared vents on the long hood. That's the only spotting feature I can pick out.

[@bubblelvr1]

@@jeffreymcfadden9403 well to say B-36-7 And some C-36-7. Also I’ve had B-39-7 units we called them kidney shakers because they shook the piss out you literally lolo but good strong units very dirty and smoky loved them

[@KevlarVTX]

Back when they used to run freight in and out of Boston.

[@jmo6889]

the last part i saw a safety kleen tanker way cool probley carrying solvent

[@seediddy]

Will you be releasing any more full DVDs of Conrail?

[@KBuckyRailVideo]

Hi. BKVP is likely done producing new DVD's or Blu-rays as the market has shifted too much to streaming video. There is plenty of unused Conrail and other video in our "vault" so please support us via KZbin (watch an ad once in awhile! ;-) )

[@seediddy]

@@KBuckyRailVideo excellent thank you for the info. I just purchased a few of your DVDs (from another site) and am looking to buy a few more. Do you have fast shipping?? I would be shipping to Niagara falls NY.

[@KBuckyRailVideo]

Shipping is usually within one business day and is normally via USPS first class, so it would be pretty quick (we're in NY state also). Feel free to email if you have any questions about our many Conrail programs. Thanks for your support!

[@kylesnider1784]

Funny thing about conrail is that they were made up of 6 different bankrupt railroads. Penn Central, Erie Lackawanna, Jersey Central, Lehigh Valley, Reading, and Lehigh and Hudson River and did better than anyone ever expected. But ended up being bought out by CSX. Its still nice to see some Conrails out on the tracks today and ive only seen 1 so far a couple years ago. Hope to see another soon

[@bubblelvr1]

Conrail also had these railroad’s you didn’t mention. The Niagara junction. The buffalo creek And monongalia

[@spaceghost8995]

Yes but half of Conrail was bought by NS.

[@spaceghost8995]

Yeah Erie Lackawana all the way across IN was sadly torn out.

[@northernrailphotography9057]

Gone-rail

[@termitevomit]

conrail 20 years gone christ i'm gettinin old!!!!!

[@jeffreymcfadden9403]

PC gone for almost 44 years. I am old.

[@bubblelvr1]

Hey I remember them when I was a kid Erie Lackawanna black rock line was the playground in those days boy the trains back then now look nothing much left that tells the truth about our economy as a manufacturer or exporter I’m tied of china

[@DistanceNsVeterans]

I just now realiz but did conrail ever had sd70ace's

[@KBuckyRailVideo]

Nope, SD80MAC's were as close as they came

[@DistanceNsVeterans]

@@KBuckyRailVideo ya

[@xDiamondzx]

@@DistanceNsVeterans And EMD started making the SD70ACe’s in 2004 and Conrail was split between CSX and NS in 1998

[@DistanceNsVeterans]

@@xDiamondzx yes ik that

[@ktsp2538]

What happened to Conrail, did they merge with another company or did they go bankrupt

[@KBuckyRailVideo]

Conrail was split between two other railroads (The Norfolk Southern & CSX) on June 1st, 1999. Small parts of the system did remain and were shared between the two railroads (known as "Conrail Shared Assets". Look up "Conrail" on the internet for much more info.

[@LeeDfined]

If I'm not mistaken, didn't NS get slightly more of the Conrail system and old locomotive power? If so, that explains why NS feels more "railroady" than CSX. I mean CSX has great predecessor lines (especially Chessie Systems.) But nobody beats The Pennsylvania and Southern which forms NS.

[@bubblelvr1]

@@LeeDfined well the NS has 64% the rest went to CSX all the newer power the NS took and they mostly had gotten all of the pigtail Conway yard etc. CSX made a big mistake as they were to bigheaded by not getting off their duffs and physically looking over the territory there idiots took out old maps to make valuable territory decisions when they split the Chicago line at Berea Ohio. What a big mistake they made giving the NS the lakefront as it was shared asset they gave it away as they didn’t want to pay taxes and to maintain the Cleveland draw bridge so the took the short line thinking they could double track from collinwood to berea lolo the tunnels that bottle necked the short line Cleveland told CSX officials no you cannot bother the tunnels this choked everything not just that the idiots fueled the trains on the mains as well then the NS being the cutthroats they are pulled one of the mains out on the lakefront from collinwood yard up to downtown Cleveland Amtrack station now from that point there is a line that leads to Conway which was double track that ties into the lakefront it a NS mainline that was once part of the pigtails main to Conway and from there is high speed that crosses the Cleveland drawbridge up to berea onto the Chicago line leading to Toledo Ohio and to Chicago

[@spaceghost8995]

@@LeeDfined Actually the Norfolk and Western and the Southern formed NS.

[@twizzler309]

No graffiti!!!!

[@americanrf5925]

Yeah that bastard dash 9 destroyed conrail and dash8 yeah i hope they dash 9 already scrapped and dash 8 can be continued to 2021

[@dwayneday6097]

Conrail on the move as to beacon Hill yard under Conrail consolidated international shipping rail RR plus data of the mortgage company an bid to buy

[@xfiles-thetruthisoutthere8038]

Don't feel sorry for them at all. They and only them caused their downfall ! Pitiful that the railroads that formed Conrail where around since the steam days and this railroad lasted 20 years.

[@KBuckyRailVideo]

Your history is a bit mis-guided. Conrail was quite healthy from the mid 1980's until it was split in a bidding war between CSX and Norfolk Southern. The value of Conrail stock rose quite a bit. Many railroads that are financially strong can still get bought out by other railroads. The end of Conrail had nothing to do with its financial status. Look at the recent KCS example. The railroads that formed Conrail had become bankrupt, including the disastrous Penn Central. Please do some research. Thanks for your comment!

[@fairportrails107]

I wouldn’t call it a celebration

[@KBuckyRailVideo]

Good point! It's a celebration of what once was? hmmmm, maybe I'll change the title

[@fairportrails107]

BrokenKnuckleVideo ok 👍

[@brianbooher7318]

I hAte graffiti also they outa start cutting off thoose lil bastards fingers and they would stop that.nice video

[@spaceghost8995]

Graffiti doesn't bother me at all.