CR on the L&HR

In the early 1980s Conrail would run the local up the old L&HR from Allentown to Franklin and back on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. After getting out of school, it would be off to see what kind of power they had sent up for the days run. Alot of GP30 and 35s where used, but it could be anything from an SW switcher, an SD9 or GP9 on up. One day, three SD40-2s wheeled a train of 15 mine hoppers north to Franklin. My time with the camera did not start till after the ALCOs where gone, but I did get to see alot of Reading, EL and PC paint on EMD locomotives. On this day, CR 7550 is heading back west before the sun goes down. The picture at Huntsville tells that the end is near; about 3 months before the line shut down, Conrail's C&S department painted the grade crossing warning devices at each crossing.

love this stuff, thanks for posting

Great stuff!

Goes to show that many times it was a "kiss of death" when any sort of upgrades like that
were done under Conrail!

Charlie

That crossing in Allamuchy started my love for trains!! Do you have any other pics in the Allamuchy/Alphano area?? I used to live 2 miles from there in 1970-1980.

great shots! sad to see how overgrown they let that line become. please....more photos!

I remember right near the end seeing CR trains crossing in Belvidere. The lights would sometimes stay on for days after the train went through.

More photos from the shoe box;
The end of the Conrail era on the L&HR is rapidly approaching as CR 7557 and a GP-15 have a cabin car in tow heading west at Great Meadows.
Next is a slightly older pic of of a pair of GP-35s or 38s sitting at Andover, NJ as the train crew takes their meal break at the Andover Diner. After the crew returns, they will back down and pick up their train which they have cut off east of the RTE 206 grade crossing, short of the crossing flasher approach circuit. Funny how crappy photos like this that almost got tossed in the dumpster are now a cool find.
And finally, CR 5412 heads east at Airport Road, aka Long Crossing, Huntsville, NJ. Again, the Conrail C&S Department has done a fine job of getting a new coat of silver paint on the flashers, with the black paint on the General Railway Signal light heads to come next month, just before Conrail shuts down the line.