I just wanted to let all of you railroad enthusiasts who live east of the mississippi river to know that as of Dec. 29, 2005 there are currently 751 out of 1,964 total Conrail units, that have been repainted into either the CSX or NS schemes. Of the 1,151 total CR units NS acquired on June 1, 1999 336 have been repainted. Of the 813 total CR units CSX acquired on June 1, 1999 415 have been repainted.
Here lately, I’ve seen a lot of former Conrail units through here on the NS (Southern) St. Louis line. Of all the NS units that come through at least half are former Conrail units. What I find kind of odd is the fact that there are several more former Conrail units through here on this NS line than there are on the former CR line through Effingham. The line is now CSX, and everytime I’m up there I almost never see any former CR units there. I would think that a former Conrail line would still see a lot of former Conrail locomotives running on it. I guess that’s just not the case with the Conrail Indy-St. Louis line. Back in the 1990s, all that I saw up there was Conrail. It’s kind of odd in my opinion of how CR has simply disappeared from Effingham.
Anyway, don’t take what’s left of Conrail for granted, some day they’ll be gone so get as many pictures as you can.
I still find it amusing to see black units on CR rails again 
Anyway, there used to be quite a few floating around Pittsburgh on various trains…now they’re pretty rare. They’ve either been repainted, or sent to other locations. However, the only place that I’ve seen just one ex-CR unit was Grafton, WV.
Thanks, those numbers are interesting. Perhaps I should arrange a trip down east…
we saw a bunch of former conrail units around conway yard near pittsburgh pa.but that was in june. there is one on csx #8803 that still has a spirit of altoona and is conrail blue. its been floating around this part of ohio the past 6 months.
stay safe
Joe
Thanks for the replys, I guess I’m pretty lucky getting to see a ton of Conrail units here. I would never dream that NS would send so many “Big Blue” units through here on this old Southern line. I figured they’d keep them up there in Pennsylvania or up there somewhere. We don’t have much trackside industry here in town, but we do have a small grain loading facility. The local train handles the grain and here recently the local has two locomotives that are used, and one of them is a former Conrail SD50 or 60 in the CR Quality paint scheme and I think the other one might have been a former CR SD40-2 in the New NS Scheme. I don’t go to the tracks to watch trains around here all the time, but everytime that I do find the time to watch trains there’s always a Conrail unit. I also want to add that back in 1997/1998 when I lived at Sims Illinois, I remember seeing a small passenger train with a very strange looking Conrail car and a weird locomotive of some kind. I remember thinking how unusual it was to see this because back in the 1990s all I remember seeing is black and white NS locomotives and just a few UP or BNSF units. The first Conrail locomotive I ever saw was CR 6285 at Effingham in 1995. I was only about 7 years old then and I thought it was really awesome to see an engine painted in Blue. If you all have any links to pictures of Conrail or NS please post them on here if you could.
Thanks, for the replys.
You think that you need to get Conrail pics quick? Look at my dellemah,
WC and SOO Line. Now that my friend, is what needs to be captured before some 900 un painted CR units do. My opinion.
Alec
Ex CR units in blue were and still are a common sight on the former SR (CNO&TP) line through Ky. I’ve seen some repainted units, but most are patched blue units.
I did some research on the internet, and here are some pictures of the first Conrail Locomotive that I saw when I was about 7 years old.
Go to these links:
http://www.nslocos.com/ns8451.jpg
http://64.246.11.82/images/8/8451excrashevillenc.jpg.27726.jpg
http://64.246.11.82/images/1/15K24M.jpg.63291.jpg
http://64.246.11.82/images/8/8451_31A_145_121705_rpa.jpg.21732.jpg
http://64.246.11.82/images/n/NS23GNS8451EWaddyA091204rdm.jpg.16266.jpg
http://crcyc.railfan.net/locos/ge/8c40w/cr6285qef.jpg
http://crcyc.railfan.net/locos/ge/8c40w/cr6285qcf.jpg