Conrail at Alliance Ohio incl. ore jennies train (SB loads) 1988

June 27, 1988: An interesting afternoon at the Ft. Wayne sub's junction with the Cleveland-Pittsburgh line in Alliance Ohio. Includes a couple of C39-8s with turbo problems, a power move with an SW9, lots of fallen flags and few, if any, tags. Note: There are no SD60's in this video (many SD50's).

[@nancyhodges444]

Nice video, boy I miss old “big Blue “. Awesome paint scheme. CR was my railroad growing up.

[@e-train765]

Same here, being born in 1990 I was lucky enough to see CR before the NS/CSX takeover

[@tommyhunter1817]

I miss the days of numerous Class I’s and wide cabs being a novelty.

[@tommythomason6187]

Awesome video of when hood units ruled and there was lots of 4-axle power - GP40s, GP40-2s. Those brand new looking 6-axle EMDs seen a lot here must be SD60s, but I can't tell, externally, the difference between a 60, or an SD50. Conrail had a striking paint scheme - kind of a Royal Sky blue. Chessie System, in the 70s/80s, also had a great scheme.

[@vidwilzvids9587]

If you see a Conrail 6-axle EMD 6000 series with Flexicoil trucks, that nails it as part of the first order of SD50's. It's the only Conrail SD50 spotting feature that I know. Thanks for the positive comment.

[@stevenikitas8170]

I've always loved the Conrail "can opener" logo. It was designed by a guy named Tony Palladino, who passed away in 2014.

[@RailFan1981]

Awesome! I like how the 6004 threw out some fire right as it passed by :D

[@vidwilzvids9587]

That was fairly common with early Dash-8's. Some kind of turbo lubrication problem. Thanks for the comment.

[@TrainsOhio]

@ 23:00

[@TrainsOhio]

The fire and tanks at 23:00 are awesome! Loved the whole video and seeing Alliance from a few decades ago! Thanks for sharing!

[@NS9213]

Conrail sure favored putting SD50's (6700-6834) on their Coal and Ore trains. And why not! They were great pulling engines!

[@vidwilzvids9587]

They also had good extended range dynamic brakes, Thanks for the comment.

[@hunterriley9904]

Another great video. Man some of them conrail locomotives were beauties. That blue and black looked good.

[@thekittenofwar4421]

Its weird seeing how much has changed since 1988. I've only ever known the yard as a gravel lot, the double track running to Cleveland, and even the old Pennsy signals are gone.

[@vidwilzvids9587]

In the Penn Central days trains used to crawl through the junction because of deferred maintenance. Thanks for the comment.

[@judpowell1756]

it's all relative....so much has changed since the late 60's

[@brilliantman79]

I grew up next to the tracks in Brilliant, Ohio! I miss those days of seeing Conrail and Cleveland Electric trains with the yellow bird locomotives!

[@vidwilzvids9587]

Is that the Brilliant near Mingo Jct? I have a video about Pike Island that included some shots at Beech Bottom. I remember seeing the Yellow Birds up closer to Cleveland. Thanks for the comment.

[@brilliantman79]

vidwilzvids it sure is next too Mingo Junction, Ohio.

[@harrisonblake1978]

From Whiskey Island to Mingo Junction. I probably saw this Ore rig go past the WWTP in Toronto, OH. This was my fictional railroad, the "Whiskey Island & Yellow Creek RR"

[@vidwilzvids9587]

I always regret not making it to Mingo. Thanks for the comment.

[@harrisonblake1978]

I also was a contract driver out of Collinwood Yd to Ft Wayne, Buffalo, Detroit, Belfountain, Columbus, Mingo, Pittsburgh, and anywhere else Conrail had a crew out of time, in 1984. Also saw many W&LE down around Rayland and Dillonvale.

[@switchpointproductions7927]

Was surprised to see that Penn Central hopper at 1:31

[@phuturephunk]

Man, they hit that turn fast back then.

[@400exNick]

Great footage!! I miss conrail !

[@vidwilzvids9587]

Thank You. Conrail is missed: at least it was split into two class 1's, Thanks for the comment.

[@sashajohnson1119]

Notice how this only happens on dash 8s & 9s, it's somewhat odd

[@vidwilzvids9587]

It was particularly common in the B39-8 & C39-8 "Super 7s".caused by a design flaw in the cooling system. Thanks for the comment.

[@camsmith7651]

The engines look new.

[@FGC-mx7qt]

Question "turbo problems" re C39-8. GE's are equipped with free-spinning (not geared like EMD) turbos and emit more smoke for a short time when spooled-up to a higher speed.

[@vidwilzvids9587]

That's true. And EMD's turbos freewheel once they reach a certain RPM. But the early Dash 8's were actually banned in California because of their incomplete combustion and turbo lag caused by a lubrication design flaw.

[@RailroadMediaArchive]

Was there still a block operator in the station at this time?

[@vidwilzvids9587]

I'm fairly sure that it was all CTC out of Pittsburgh at the time.

[@robertbraeuner2031]

Did the crew member of the rear unit give you a unfriendly gesture?? Sure looks that way after he initially waves.. but great video!

[@vidwilzvids9587]

I really couldn't tell... one way or the other. In those early days of video railfanning the crews were generally friendly and would wave from the cab or caboose. I used to when they were being safe and not trespassing. Happy Holidays!

[@rearspeaker6364]

23:02-flames!

[@vidwilzvids9587]

Thanks for the comments.

[@DoubleSpikeProductions]

and tanks!!

[@vidwilzvids9587]

...on DOD 6-axle flats.@@DoubleSpikeProductions

[@matthewdempsey6583]

lesley super typhoons or lesley k5la and turbo or fuel issue

[@imacgra1]

26:05 that is one BIG tank wagon. Seen double bogies on Russian wagons (videos), but not Conrail!

[@logandetwiler4483]

That’s a super tanker

[@beeble2003]

Yeah, ACF made a few of those.

[@scoobycarr5558]

Just wondering - where is Alliance in Ohio?

[@vidwilzvids9587]

www.google.com/maps/place/Alliance,+OH+44601/@40.9060214,-81.1186958,13z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x8836b3af5ebf49f5:0xe731c3efbc00b34a!8m2!3d40.9153362!4d-81.1059309?hl=en

[@allgr8429]

With only one track going around the curve toward Cleveland, this spot must have been a bottleneck during this era. NS corrected that deficiency.

[@vidwilzvids9587]

It was a bottleneck and I may be wrong but I think Conrail had already initiated the engineering on the second track upgrade before the split

[@jeffreymcfadden9403]

@@vidwilzvids9587 up until about 1980, this was alco country. with a few Fs too.

[@jeffreymcfadden9403]

so, this was 12 years after CR formed, and it looks like CR can run trains. almost 40 years now since CSX and they are as SCREWED UP AS EVER. CSX is in terminal decline. btw, i remember seeing PC and CR black run through alliance.

[@vidwilzvids9587]

Thanks for the comment.

[@Alex-tk2ru]

look at CSX's stock price, them and norfolk southern are doing great. but that's what they thought about the pennsy LOL

[@video0s310]

hopefully they won't burn...

[@vidwilzvids9587]

Early Dash-8 turbo woes.

[@kaibrown6204]

Shared assets don't sell collective you are twenty percent of Conrail consolidated how many locamotive are we as consolidated rail company need a number of locamotives to even frieght demand on Norfolk an CSX or we can pull produce line of frieght to market on time at fourteen cent a mile if Norfolk can't meet demand

[@vidwilzvids9587]

Thanks for the comment.

[@patricknoveski6409]

Sketchy at best. Help. $$$ please.