Conrail at 31

[Noel Weaver]

Regarding the last post, if Conrail had been bought up by the Santa Fe, I
think it would have been turned into an even higher speed extension east
of the Santa Fe main line for fast, fast van trains and probably through
freight trains too. I suspect the by-pass via Kankakee (Streator
Connection) would have been beefed up as wall. Good things that could
have happened.
Noel Weaver

[Brad Smith]

It would be nice if we didn't speculate what could have been, but concentrate on what was...

Next post:

now anyone have there ideas what Conrail would have been Like if it had been baught out by Santa Fe or Norfolk Southern when they first went up for Sale in the 80's? As Both Roads tryed to buy Conrail but failed to do so.

"R-E-S-P-E-C-T, find out what it means to me. Sock it to me"

[Ironman]

Tell you what, the Boston & Albany has definitely changed since CSX! No where near the volume or ontimes of intermodal, especially pigs and doublestacks. Mass Central's loss of K-Line realy hit the Palmer area, where TV-6 used to make some huge drops. during the day. Trains like TV-100, TV-99, TV-10B, TV-24........just a few I can think of no longer having their own decicated moves. The latter two used to be ones that fans looked for. Got a couple WC units on "10B" one day! Several of the mainfests have seemed shorter on average as well. One that comes to mind is SEFR/Q436. Times change I guess, but Selkirk is still busy!

Some of the traffic changes on the B&A are due to a rejuvenation of PAR's District 4 with an upsurge in NS/CP interchange traffic (a daily pair of manifests, a daily pair of intermodals, and a few unit coal trains/week) plus a pair of CSX interchange trains via Rotterdam Jct. Competition is a good thing for shippers!

If you really have hole in your heart for Conrail go here and get yourself a nice dress shirt or some "drinkwear"

http://www.conrailstore.com/

I agree with the point johnpbarlow is making. It's is a very good point which most people either don't know or tend to conveniently forget.

PAR is no longer a CR captive, therefore there are a few less trains on the B&A.

NS even kicked in money to upgrade the tunnel on PAR's west end.

[Andyt293]

What does "PAR" stand for?

[Dick H]

PAR = Pan American Railways, formerly Guilford Rail System (GRS)

These are only parent company corporations. The three railroads are Boston and Maine (BM), Maine Central (MEC) and Springfield Terminal (ST).

Dick H

[Andyt293]

Didn't even think of that. Thanks.