PENN CENTRAL, 1976. Before the Conrail patch.

Thanks for watching and hope you enjoyed this old Kodak Super 8mm sound movies taken in 1976.
These clips were taken in very early CONRAIL, before the patch work started on all the Penn Central units.
Video clip taken with a 8mm Kodak Ecktasound movie camera.
Please be sure to check out my many other video clips from the 1970's up to today.
God Bless
Please do not use without permission.
All my videos and images are Copyright protected.
God Bless our troops, and, God Bless the United States of
America.
Copyright Jack D Kuiphoff © 11/018/2021
John 3:16
You are worth a Son to God"
Quote is from our pastor at Journey By Grace Church, Pastor Bill Bailey. / @journeybygrace

[@rodvastila7600]

Any PC/early CR footage is always appreciated, especially from those of us who never saw it (I live in the UK)

[@1jackdk]

Glad you enjoyed it Rod, and thanks for watching. Greetings from the States.

[@slashmaster2]

I'm too young to have filmed PC stuff myself but do have a little CR super 8 I plan to put up someday. Hope I can do a decent transfer.

[@robertsiebenrock3997]

I worked for the PC/NYC and really enjoyed my time there. I also enjoy all pictures and videos of all the trains. Those were the good old days.

[@logandetwiler4483]

Good ole PC. Nice seeing black and white

[@1jackdk]

To be sure. Always had a soft spot for the PC.

[@arkie74]

this is what i'm going to model my fictitious short line from. the line was abandoned in the 70s and bought by the TJHX in 2003. (our company, named after my wife and I. the "Troy, and Jessica Hale Rail Company....TJHX) and though a little track upgrades were done, yet it still resembles the days when track maintenance took a back seat to keeping trains running, "deferred maintenance". code 70, and code 55 sectional track, and 10 mph top speed over the entire route. but its an old line fed by an KCS interchange,... bought from KCS. from there it will go about 4 scale miles of our line, servicing a ballast company, a feed mill, and a scrap yard. it is only 2ft wide, and about 15 ft long. a single track main, feeding the companies along the line. not 3-4 tracks taking up all the room, and you cant see the town for the tracks that are crammed into to make a yard thats most of the layout. I cant stand layouts that are 90% track and 10% real estate. this will have a mostly hidden single main. that way there is more real estate for small towns, and room for other things on the layout. like more buildings and businesses, that dont have anything to do with the railroad. the power is a mix of older emd rebuilds. 2 cf7ri's, a gp9ri, an sw7 slug, the scrap company is big enough to have 1 locomotive, an sd7ri. (an old WC sdM) upgraded to 3,000 hp. the bigger power is for taking all empties, and loads to the interchange. they include a sd40-3, though the cab is the same. sd35ri, and 1 u30c ri. the "ri" designation means "rebuilt, and Improved". so even though the power is old, under the hood they are mostly new. modified of course, but improved to the point they are far more powerful. the 2 cf7s are from 2 different yrs of the rebuild program. the older one built in '74 (the year I was born) still has the rounded cab, while the other, built in '77, (the year my wife was born) has a square cab, and both have electronics upgrade. and are now 2500hp. I think it will work out because there is a lot of real estate for other things other than all railroad. all of this is just a fictional backstory for our model railroad. but I have been dreaming about it for years lol!

[@robertbate5790]

A glimpse into a different world. A few memories will be stirred for sure. Thanks for sharing.

[@ZynoxCC]

6:20 Those Penn Central E Units Had A Great Horn.

[@spaceghost8995]

I remember PC first running through my town Laporte, IN on the former NYC mainline. Now it's NS. My Mom talked of getting on NYC trains from Laporte all the way to Grand Central Station in NYC back in the 40's. NYC Passenger service through IN stopped in 1969 I think.

[@dougkubash8673]

Thanks for sharing!

[@thomaslusk7621]

It was great to see this , I think the black and white PC engines looked great.

[@switchpointproductions7927]

The amount of mainline freights wobbling down the line is a prime example of just how relaxed track maintenance had gotten at that point.

[@gunny8978]

Sir i thank you for sharing John 3:16 and the videos which ill be checking out 😎 but i know it very well, my dad is a preacher in Texas,, hope you and your family has a great Christmas 🎄 and new year

[@1jackdk]

Thank you gunny. Only to happy to share this stiff. Hope you and your family have a Blessed Christmas as well, and a safe and Happy New year.

[@HenrikSweden1]

ah to me me , modelling the Erie Lackawanna and the early Conrail , this makes my day. Look at all these different boxcars, and no grafitti ! bad track but friendly railroads...Thanks !

[@iusetano]

I did enjoy watching very much. Thank you for the upload. Excellent as always Jack.

[@charlesferebee263]

Great Video. 🇺🇸 👍

[@kurt8986]

Greetings from winchester

[@ronniefarnsworth6465]

Great stuff here, I know PC had many "faults" and hurt the whole NE Railroad scene with it's late freights, but as a Railfan I always enjoyed it's much diverse power !! And these rural locations so close to the concrete jungle of New York City and just north of the Pine Barrens and the "Jersey Devil" !!! Lol

[@1jackdk]

Thank you Ronnie. I always like the PC and model it in the 1970's. We use to live our summer months in southern Jersey. When we was young, we always looked for the Jersey Devil in the barrens behind Ocean View NJ in South Denis Twp. Some of the guys I hung with, swear they saw it, but I'd never lay claim to that. LOL

[@ronniefarnsworth6465]

@@1jackdk Lol, Good fun in the woods until someone "Disappears" !! : D Yeah I model PC also for my New England connections especially the rolling stock. Always enjoy your videos Jack. : )

[@new_comment]

They definitely had a healthy mix of power

[@new_comment]

Man, do your videos put me in a nostalgic mood!

[@georgebenson6036]

In 1976, I was a sophmore in college. I remember those days well. Thanks for sharing.

[@michaelfullerton3626]

3:05 and 6:40 There's something about the sound of those old diesels as they approached. As kids, we could hear that sound coming when we played on the tracks. Great anticipation! I know people shouldn't be on the tracks at any time, but I think it's more dangerous now to be on the tracks than when I was a kid. The new engines are too quiet. You really don't hear them until they're right on top of you.

[@nexttime960]

The electric juice jacks very quiet

[@davidbouchard3193]

Wonderful video of a bygone era. Thank you very much.

[@1jackdk]

Thank you David, and thanks for watching.

[@b3j8]

I remember in the first weeks of Conrail, they still ran former EL trains NY-100, and 2NY-100. These were UPS trains primarily.

[@1jackdk]

Yah, remember that. Some of the original symbols lasted several months into Conrail.

[@b3j8]

@@1jackdk Man it was sad to see those EL units w/"CR" painted on them. And now alot of folks miss Conrail too. LOL

[@jeffreymcfadden9403]

@@1jackdk But routing through OHIO and Indiana was not EL. The west end was trashed immediately upon CR day.

[@b3j8]

​@@jeffreymcfadden9403 Yeah, Conrail couldn't wait to get rid of it. Most of the ex-EL traffic initially went via the PC Fort Wayne Division, which was in worse shape than the Erie was. And also were many of the EL Tower Operators also landed.

[@northpennvalleysteamrailroad]

Awesome footage!

[@1jackdk]

Thanks NPSP.

[@stevenmetzger3385]

Hello from Arizona Thanks for the video 🚂

[@1jackdk]

Hi Steve. Glad you enjoyed the video, and Hello from SW Pennsylvania. Thanks for watching.

[@EmpireBeltRR]

Thanks for posting this Jack. Another classic video from your catalogue!

[@1jackdk]

Glad you enjoyed it John. Every once in a while, I dig into the archives. LOL Thanks for watching, and hope you and the family has a Merry Christmas and a safe New Year.

[@EmpireBeltRR]

@@1jackdk Thank you Jack. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you and your family.

[@Bob-ed9tc]

Very cool.

[@MetraF40C607]

Great stuff as always Jack. Thanks for sharing.

[@1jackdk]

Thank you MBM, and thanks for watching.

[@daniellaubach7544]

Enjoyed watching these early films of the Penn Central in the mid 70's. Seeing the Pennsy's electric's in PC's pea soup green!

[@CSX8873]

More like early Conrail. 1976 is when Penn central was completely taken over by Conrail. All of the Penn central locomotives you saw in this video were owned by Conrail but not patched or painted Into Conrail colors. Early Penn central in my books is 1967-1973

[@railfanningpoints2.045]

0:15 CSX turned this section into 3 tracks circa 2004. Two pass tracks. You can see on Google Maps satellite.

[@shaneb.2464]

9:11 Bay Head, Sam Freeman's ex Florida East Coast ALCo steamer #148 is shown having been turned around for the return Blue Comet fan trip north. That was in mid December 1975.

[@cbalducc]

We’re those E33s and E44s reliable motors?

[@northpennvalleysteamrailroad]

It’s more like the Fall and Fall of PC.

[@1990sRailfan]

5:00 They ran TOFC trains down the east shore? Where was that train headed?

[@1jackdk]

Not sure. It is the first and only one I ever saw. A long while ago, someone mentioned at a slide show, there was a derailment on the Riverline, and that this was a mail train. That they car floated these across the Hudson down toward the city. Not sure if that was true or not.

[@vincentzablocki4930]

Greetings, in the Bronx, just north of Yankee Stadium was the small Highbridge Yard (now a Metro North maintenance facility). As a kid back in the mid 1970's, we lived across from it up on the hill in Washington Heights (165th street). I remember a little bit of seeing quite a bit of trailers parked in the yard with the general freight but never got to see an actual trailer train come in or go out. Be well...VZ

[@dc9345]

@@1jackdk don't forget they have the rail yard in Manhattan before

[@anb740]

Nice footage. Never could bring myself to like this railroad though. Its pain scheme was just as bleak and dull as its very existence. And the railroad version of the future Enron accounting scandal.

[@CSX8873]

The railroad was horrible, but the logo was pretty futuristic for the time it was created

[@slashmaster2]

Jack this is great!.. Been a while since I've looked at your channel by GLAD you still have more super 8 I haven't seen yet!... Did you do this with a 200 foot cartridge or multiple 50 footers? Cause your camera does have the door that flips out on top for the optional 200 footer right?

[@1jackdk]

Thanks slashmaster. They were all 50 footers.

[@bobbybrisk643]

Im going to model the CR patched GP40s since they lasted till 86. Wasnt this video uploaded 12 yrs ago or so? I remember some of the E Unit footage

[@1jackdk]

Some was Bobby. I grabbed some of the E units as it fell in line with the other stuff I edited out. Thanks for watching.

[@bobbybrisk643]

@@1jackdk Because i did remember as a Kid and knew you filmed that footage and Thank You for uploading the footage you have. I wonder do you have any Amtrak Footage 1980 to 1988

[@CSX8873]

I thought Conrail was done painting all of the CR patched engines in 1984

[@tommyhunter1817]

Never understood why everything around northeastern railroads looks dirty, grundgy, and old.

[@douglasskaalrud6865]

I’ll tell you why: it’s because everything WAS or IS dirty and grungy and old. I live in a suburb of Minneapolis that once looked very dirty and old and which finally started to look good about a dozen years ago. The things that made it look old were the dated relics of the past that were no longer in use: railroads that hadn’t seen trains in decades, buildings that had been empty and were simply abandoned, houses that had fallen into disrepair or were just plain shanties, schools that had not been modernized, the list goes on and on. The city started to spend money to get rid of these things and sell the land to developers. We have new buildings and new housing. Our schools have been brought up to date and building codes are enforced. Most houses have new siding, doors and windows. Those disused railroad tracks are gone and have been converted to trails that see heavy usage. Almost, to go with the flow, nearly every single railroad in the city has seen track rehabilitation. The transformation has been amazing, the city no longer has that gritty and dungy look to it. Trying to buy a house in this city is nearly impossible, they’re on the market for less than a week. We had two superfund sites that are now wetlands with all kinds of wildlife. I want to say it all began with getting rid of those rails rusting away in the weeds and giving that land back to nature.

[@tommyhunter1817]

@@douglasskaalrud6865 which ‘burb?

[@douglasskaalrud6865]

@@tommyhunter1817 St. Louis Park.

[@royburns651]

THE G.S WERE NOT AS THE BRICKS.

[@user-db2qv2ub4h]

Back when trains needed 4 engines now there only 10 cars to pull minus caboose

[@user-db2qv2ub4h]

Who stoled the cabose