CONRAIL

We will begin along the New Jersey waterfront at Hoboken.  Basically from this point ( but not in reality ) everything headed west from here.  Either up the old West Shore to Selkirk or west via the old Lehigh Valley.  While Conrail was obligated to maintain the former Erie main via Port Jervis and Binghamton, it was never used to any great degree.  In fact it was said that Conrail simply ran a train of empties back and forth just to appease the State of New York officials that they were still using the line.

    Train SEOI passes under the former Lackawanna main to the Hoboken station on December 26, 1988.  Conrail used letter symbols for their freight numbering system.  SE is for Selkirk, NY while OI is for Oak Island yard in Newark, NJ.

   GP15 1608 works a small yard at Comminpaw Ave. in Jersey City.  The remains of the once very busy Jersey Central mainline are seen here.  Today this area is occupied by the Liberty Science Center and very little remains.  January 13, 1980.

  SEOI is up on the old National Docks branch of the LV.  Conrail assembled a mix of old lines to form a through route along the Jersey waterfront to connect the old new York Central West Shore line to the old LV at Oak Island.  Due to various reasons, this line is no longer in use today.

  GP40 3208 leading SEOI begins to swing west at the south end of Jersey City onto a new alignment built to connect the old LV with the former Pennsylvania line leading over Newark Bay.

      Crossing the Newark Bay on a former PRR lift bridge.  This was taken from the NJ Turnpike bridge.  (Disclaimer) As you see in almost every car commercial today, don't try this at home folks.  It was a very quiet Sunday morning with virtually no traffic.  Anyway the bridge today sees very minimal rail traffic with the rerouting now in place.

       The Doremus Avenue terminal is on the east end of Oak Island yard.  The PRR and the LV operated portions of the very east end of the yard, hence the old catenary poles visible.

  Some former LV GP9's work the Oak Island yard in 1977.

        Some views of SD40's at the engine terminal.

  A line up of EMD switchers at the engine house in 1989.

  A SD38 in fresh paint.  These units were used mainly in yard service.

  A new GE unit, 6100 sits in the yard in 1991.

    Norfolk Southern units were common during the 1990's.

  An old Louisville & Nashville U30C probably enroute to scrap at Naparano's in Newark.

   A Union Pacific SD40 pays a visit in 1991.         

On to the former Lehigh Valley Mainline

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