David Baer / photos by the author
April 1, 2026 marked creation of the Consolidated Rail Corporation, a.k.a. Conrail, with six bankrupt railroad companies folded into one with the help of the United States government. The major railroads included the Erie Lackawanna, Lehigh Valley, Lehigh & Hudson River, Central Railroad of New Jersey (CNJ), Reading Company, Penn Central and Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore Lines. The largest component of Conrail was Penn Central, created in 1968 when the Pennsylvania Railroad merged with New York Central. In 1969, the New Haven Railroad was added to PC. Barely two years later in 1970, Penn Central declared bankruptcy, which started the chain of events that created Conrail. In 1982, Norfolk & Western merged with the Southern Railway to form Norfolk Southern, which together with rival CSX, divided up most of Conrail in 1999. A small portion of Conrail continues as Conrail Shared Assets Operations (CSAO) in northern and southern New Jersey and Philadelphia, and in the Detroit area.
ABOVE: Norfolk Southern motive power assigned to NS’s Haselton Yard in Youngstown, Ohio, is constantly changing, as units are swapped in and out for various reasons. By the middle of April 2026, units working Haselton locals C25 and C43 included former Norfolk & Western SD40-2 6095. On April 21, 2026, northbound NS local C43 passes the closed Cemex cement plant in Wampum, Pennsylvania on the Koppel Secondary with an unusual three-unit consist on the north end of the train, with SD40-2 6095 working with SD40E 6317 and SD40-3 6453. C43 is approaching CP–Wampum interlocking in Wampum, where the Koppel Secondary connects with NS’s ex-PRR Youngstown Line, as the train heads toward Haselton Yard to tie up the day. C43 normally has units on both ends of the train, but on this afternoon the crew moved all three units to the north end, due to a large train.
May 31, 2026, marked the 26th anniversary of the dissolution of most of Conrail. NS received most of Conrail’s lines in western Pennsylvania and eastern Ohio, which included former EL, NYC and PRR lines. A half century ago – has it really been that long?
ABOVE: Norfolk Southern’s Haselton Yard is a former Pennsylvania Railroad facility on today’s NS’s Youngstown Line, situated just south of the CSX diamonds at Center Street in Youngstown, Ohio. North of Youngstown, the Youngstown Line utilizes the former New York Central Youngstown Branch between Youngstown and Ashtabula, Ohio. NS’s Meadville Line diverges from the Youngstown Line north of Youngstown at CP–Hubbard interlocking in Hubbard, Ohio and extends northeast toward Sharon, Pennsylvania. Splitting the northbound signals for CP–Hubbard interlocking, NS northbound local C25 approaches the Bell Wick Road grade crossing behind a matched set of former N&W SD40-2s with the 6157 leading 6122 and 6105, at 11:28 a.m. While the Youngstown Line is oriented primarily north-south between Youngstown and Ashtabula, the line turns briefly eastward at Hubbard, enabling a good sun angle during the morning hours.
EMD developed the SD40-2 in 1972, which turned out to be one of the locomotive builder’s best locomotives, with over 4,000 units produced between 1972 and 1987. Over those 15 years, N&W purchased 163 units, Southern purchased 128, and Conrail picked up 167. Upon the Conrail breakup, NS received 96 SD40-2s along with 23 rebuilt SD40s that Conrail had rebuilt into SD40-2s. In the early 2010s, NS purchased an additional 137 SD40-2s, from leasing companies. In total, NS has had 547 SD40-2s on its roster. Many of the remaining NS SD40-2s are approaching or have reached their 50th anniversary, a remarkable achievement…