The Penn Central Era. On June 5, 2018, Norfolk Southern Corp Train 38Q (Conway, PA to Hagerstown, MD) was passing through Altoona, Pennsylvania with NS 1073 (SD70ACe, EMD, 5/2012, Penn Central heritage) leading. This unit, one of 20 heritage units painted by Norfolk Southern in the scheme of a predecessor railroad, has the "home rails" flavor as it passes by the long shuttered Alto Tower on tracks where the PC once operated. The Penn Central Transportation Company, initially a merger of the Pennsylvania and New York Central Railroads and later the New York, New Haven, and Hartford, operated from 1968 to 1976. A variety of factors led quickly to what was then the largest bankruptcy in American history putting the railroad industry of the Eastern United States into serious jeopardy of failure, but the creation of the Consolidated Rail Corporation (Conrail) in 1976 ultimately started the road back to today's profitable private companies assuming control. Adding to the retro-authenticity of the scene, leased GECX 7544 (née-CSX 7544, C40-8, GE, 8/1989) trails in a non-matching paint scheme.
