An eastbound Conrail manifest rolls past the site of the Lehigh Valley’s Calypso Yard in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. The need for Calypso was eliminated when the Jersey Central pulled out of Pennsy... (more)

An eastbound container train waits for a signal at Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. This is just west of the Hill-to-Hill bridge, at the one-time location of the Lehigh Valley’s Calypso Yard. After the ... (more)

Bringing Home the Hook

On the Saturday one day after Conrail’s first birthday, I planned to spend the day recording Conrail at age one. The day turned out to be very dismal, but ... (more)

On a beautiful late winter morning, two SD50’s with Oak Island-bound tonnage, including an EMD switcher on a ferry move, come eastward from Allentown. The train is seen crossing the Lehigh River... (more)

Amtrak 145 leads the two Veterans units past the remains of Bethlehem Steel on a fall foliage excursion.

A pair of Philadelphia, Bethlehem & New England SW7’s work the yard in south Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Of interest are the strings of new Bethlehem Steel (BSCX) hoppers for coke service. These ha... (more)

The EMD SD45 the most powerful single unit diesel owned by the Reading, developed 3,600 horsepower from its twenty cylinders. The Reading acquired its five SD45's in 1967. Reading's SD45's were g... (more)

On a rainy August morning, the American Freedom Train shuffles its cars to get ready for public display in Bethlehem, Pannsylvania.

A pair if impressionable young railfans look on in awe while the American Freedom Train’s ex-Reading T-1 4-8-4 positions its train for display at the former Jersey Central passenger stat... (more)

Occupying adjacent turntable leads at Bethlehem are locomotives of two Conrail predecessor railroads that have found their way to two different successors. Lehigh and Hudson River railway C420 24 ... (more)

After the formation of Conrail, it was not unusual to see former Erie-Lackawanna units at Allentown, or in the Bethlehem engine terminal, but they were almost always GP35’s or SD45/SDP45/SD45-2�... (more)

Idling next to a wrecked tank car that is in the Bethlehem engine terminal for unknown reasons (perhaps to be cut up), Lehigh Valley “hammerhead” RS3 #211 waits for its next assignment. The un... (more)

On a dreary autumn day, an Oak Island-bound Conrail freight with a pair of Lehigh and Hudson River C420’s bracketing two Lehigh Valley RS11’s rolls through Bethlehem Union Station. The lead Al... (more)

Over a year after Conrail’s formation, sighting a blue unit, especially in the lead, was a welcome change from the predominance of former Penn Central black. Here a freshly repainted GP40 leads ... (more)

The progression of Conrail’s power for high speed intermodal service is seen in this photo of train Mail-9.The newest power is represented by two month-old B40-8’s, followed by one of the B36-... (more)