Conrail Portland Coal

[@Baileygeep7]

Your videos are more like documentaries at a professional level, I haven't seen one yet that isn't outstanding in content, camera vantage points, editing and whatever else goes into doing this, amazing.

[@fmnut]

+Baileygeep7 Thanks for your comment. The real trick is to keep the scenes short to maintain interest level, cutting long scenes down into smaller segments and cutting out the zooming whenever possible. Having done a lot of editing in the old days of tape-to-tape transfer, I find doing it on the computer to be a joy instead of hard work.

[@FrasierMedia]

Good lord, thanks for uploading this video! This has been my favorite line to chase, it's just too bad on how the traffic dwindled down to just a few locals a week now.

[@craigkai86]

i was born in east stroudsburg and can remember when they started to fix the tracks up there for the coal trains. me amd my dad used to fish at the portland power plant

[@xerotolerance13]

I remember in the 80’s. 86 or so. The coal trains for Portland always had Chessie System power.

[@NS9213]

I actually remember the article and pictures of this in a 1997 Railpace issue.

[@alexandergrube6437]

Great to see some old conrail near where I live! Great job!!

[@michaelpowell5266]

In my neck of the woods, as a kid, it was always Conrail vs Chessie System. Nowadays, it's Norfolk Southern vs CSX on the main rail lines!!!

[@kevinbrady2863]

There is another video out there somewhere, rather well done, of the Conrail days on this branch, probably back in the late 80s. I have it on VHS somewhere. Features a female hogger in fact. Very good shots of sanders working against wheel slip on a couple of those tough curves. Well edited, much as this is. Don't know if it ever made it to KZbin though.

[@DelayInBlockProductions]

I sure do love your videos.

[@TheRrxing]

Had to save to favorites! Love the horn!!

[@EdmontonRails]

All that 4 axle power on those coal trains, must of been high fuel bills.

[@alexandergrube6437]

its sad to say that the Portland secondary is now closing... NS will be using the Buffalo line to deliver freight to the DL via steamtown. (Edit) the DL still operates trains to stroudsburg on the portland secondary to serve the industries and NS still operates occasional trains to the conagra mill in Martins creek

[@brilliantman79]

I miss seeing big blue and those long strings of Conrail coal cars.

[@iusetano]

Excellent video.

[@Justahellhound429]

Wow! 6 locomotives!

[@robkrasinski6217]

NS should sell the line from Phillipsburg, NJ to Belvidere to the Bel-Del tourist operation, or Black River. It would be nice to ride the line north from Pburg.

[@1940limited]

Great video. It's the only one on U tube about Portland. Enjoyed it. Are there any videos of the coal trains over the D-L?

[@fmnut]

not that I have seen or heard of.

[@1940limited]

One would think the railfans would have been all over that. Somehow I missed it, too.

[@fmnut]

+g bridgman if I remember correctly it was around the Christmas holidays and perhaps family commitments prevented many from covering the detours.

[@1940limited]

I know I missed it too. It wasn't clear exactly when they'd be coming through. I did get to one point a little too late and just missed the train but saw the flattened rust on the rails. I think there was still a little smoke lingering in the air.

[@tommythomason6187]

GP40s were good engines. Read in Wikipedia where it was said the original, non Dash-2 models had "stability" problems that were corrected. I don't know what was meant by "stability," though.

[@fmnut]

The original GP40s were slippery as were their GP30/35 predecessors, as back then (mid 60s), going over 500 HP per powered axle was getting beyond the capability of the tech of contemporary wheel slip systems. Later high HP 4 axle models had "power reduction" in high throttle low speed conditions. This progressively reduced the power going to the traction motors until a GP40 became a GP38 in slow drag service. The early C430s had the same issues, as did some GEs. I think that is what's meant by "stability issues", the tendency to go into uncontrolled wheel slip when conditions were ripe for it.

[@tommythomason6187]

@@fmnut Thanks! Much appreciated!

[@RubbleByte]

Does the line to Portland, PA still see rail traffic in the present day fmnut?

[@fmnut]

Yes. There is no longer any coal traffic as the power plants at Martin's Creek and Portland have closed. There is a large grain facility at Martin's Creek as well as the interchange for the Delaware-Lackawanna at Slateford that provide most of the traffic today.

[@ToddReuterOutdoors]

Is this line still active? Or a bike trail?

[@fmnut]

Still there, but not much use beyond Martin's Creek account the power plants that got coal trains were shut down and NS changed the Delaware Lackawanna interchange to Scranton instead of Portland.

[@kge420]

Will he stop at Hot Dog Johnny?

[@jw4620]

Splendid!

[@kaibrown6204]

Hear the thotlle of connrail

[@TheWaveanalyst]

Six units, a little too easy to hit the throttle a bit hard.