Since its inception, Amtrak wanted to get freight trains off of the Northeast corridor. A fatal 1987 collision between an Amtrak train and a set of Conrail light engines in Gunpowder River, Maryland forced the issue. NS quickly began upgrading the quiet former Southern Harrisonburg branch between Manassas to Front Royal, allowing Conrail-bound traffic from the ex-SR main to bypass Potomac Yard and the NEC by taking the branch to Front Royal, and the former N&W Shenandoah Valley line to Hagerstown. One of the first run-through trains to use this new routing was Conrail symbol SRAL (Southern Railway – Allentown), and its counterpart ALSR. Here train SRAL, with SD40-2’s contributed by both roads, rolls through Belt Line Junction in Reading, PA as it begins the last leg of its journey.
Not
just heritage schemes, not just commemorative schemes - this album is devoted to some of the world's most interesting paint schemes, past or present.
