Good article Otto.....but it's funny what a difference a generation makes. As an ex EL employee and a railfan, in 1976 I saw the coming of Conrail as the end of an era. No more trips to Allentown where you could see trains of 5 or 6 different railroads in the same day....no more seeing NY-100 coming through Suffern with 3 SD-45's at 50 mph between two commuter trains powered by an E-8 and an RS-3.....no more trips to Altoona where just about any power Penn Central had would be at the front and the rear of the train climbing to Horseshoe Curve. Everything turned boring blue. Variety took a permanent leave. The trips with my Dad when I was 10 or 11 to Warwick, NY on a Sunday afternoon and seeing L&HR power along side of D&H RS-3's and CNJ Trainmasters in front of the shops were over. Today I understand the economic reality of what happened and why, but back then, it was like having your color TV taken away and having it replaced by a B(lue) & W(hite) one. My only salvation back then was seeing a yellow and black GP-18 or 2 pulling the grade through Butler on the way to Green Pond Jct,, and then 10 years later the start of the NYS&W stack trains. The only constant in life is change....whether we like it or not.
Hard work is never easy
