On this date in Rochester rail history...

[the cowboy]

To CP Smith - that westbound LV train with the 502 in the lead that you caught at Geneva avd Manchester on Sunday , March 28, 1976 is the same one that we followed all the way from Sayre that afternoon. You must have been standing right next to us on the Route 96 overpass. (same shot appears in our book "Trackside Around Rochester" on page 41) We were able to beat him to Victor, but he got ahead of us and we saw the caboose go by Rochester Jct. We completely missed the eastbound Apollo which was sitting at Quaker Interlocking. It was DEFINITELY getting dark, so we broke off the chase and headed for home. The Lehigh put on a great show that Sunday (I think we saw 5 or 6 trains altogether), with trains to chase on the way down to Sayre, as well as on the way back!

[CPSmith]

Yeah, I thought it was the weekend before, but didn't have the exact date. Now we know.

We "saw" them in Victor, but a caboose pic shot out of the rear of a Pinto wasn't that great to include. Just glad we didn't end up in a fireball somewhere.

Dang, now I'll have to change all those dates ...

[Matt Langworthy]

4/1/1976: among other things on the first day of Conrail, the D&H ran on the Southern Tier Mainline for the first time. Apollo 2 departed Bison Yard in the morning with a quartet of GP39-2s leading.

I'm not sure whether it happened on the 1st or the 2nd, but the B&H also assumed operations on the former EL Wayland Branch. SCIDA had originally intended for Conrail to operate that segment but changed their mind at the last minute.

[TB Diamond]

Arose early on this day 40 years ago. Ascertained that the first ConRail train JN-5 (successor to NE-1) Was out of Corning heading towards Lyons. Caught up with the job a few miles south of Glass Factory Bay and followed it to Lyons. There was a crew change at GY making the chase a bit easier. For power the job had three LVRR GP38-2 units, lead by the 324. The weather was little improvement from the preceding day but some good photos were obtained by using Kodak Tri-X and High Speed Ektachrome. Watched the caboose disappear to the west at Lyons then called it a day.

[Matt Langworthy]

Arose early on this day 40 years ago. Ascertained that the first ConRail train JN-5 (successor to NE-1) Was out of Corning heading towards Lyons. Caught up with the job a few miles south of Glass Factory Bay and followed it to Lyons. There was a crew change at GY making the chase a bit easier. For power the job had three LVRR GP38-2 units, lead by the 324. The weather was little improvement from the preceding day but some good photos were obtained by using Kodak Tri-X and High Speed Ektachrome. Watched the caboose disappear to the west at Lyons then called it a day.

Nice catch! I have seen photos of JN-5 and JB-3 (I think) operating via the Corning Secondary. Neither train lasted long on that routing, according to what I've read. Those trains moved over to the Tier.

Speaking of the Tier, the D&H ran it's first Apollo 1 (westbound) on the Tier on 4/2/1976. The train had several RS3us for power, including #1976- which led the train. She was later renumbered to #506 by the D&H. This engine still exists, and is owned by the WNYP. In fact, the bicentennial paint scheme was stripped and replaced just recently. Folks in the Olean area should expect to see #506 operating there soon.

[Matt Langworthy]

Wish I knew about March 31 and April 1st... I was young at that time and wasn't aware of what's going on.

First time I found out that EL was no longer was when I visited my grandparents in Syracuse. And I asked grandpa to take me to his old workplace - EL Fayette yard- for the ride. As he drove up the ramp and I saw the new CR sign replacing EL sign. I was shocked and torn... That's the first business of any kind that I knew of that other company can take over other... lets see... 1976.. I was 8...

Born a bit too late....

Same here. I am a year younger than you. Now this was probably the 2nd time your grandpa went through a change in ownership at Fayette Yard. Assuming he'd been with the RR for a while, he'd probably been through the EL merger, too. Did he ever compare the differences between EL's and Conrail's respective arrivals?

[CPSmith]

... lest the EL fans get their noses out of joint ...
...
http://rrpicturearchives.net/archivethu ... ?id=115265

[sd80mac]

Wish I knew about March 31 and April 1st... I was young at that time and wasn't aware of what's going on.

First time I found out that EL was no longer was when I visited my grandparents in Syracuse. And I asked grandpa to take me to his old workplace - EL Fayette yard- for the ride. As he drove up the ramp and I saw the new CR sign replacing EL sign. I was shocked and torn... That's the first business of any kind that I knew of that other company can take over other... lets see... 1976.. I was 8...

Born a bit too late....

Same here. I am a year younger than you. Now this was probably the 2nd time your grandpa went through a change in ownership at Fayette Yard. Assuming he'd been with the RR for a while, he'd probably been through the EL merger, too. Did he ever compare the differences between EL's and Conrail's respective arrivals?

No. He and his family side worked for DLW at Scranton, mostly at the shop. He went for opening position in Syracuse and moved to there. I guess that he was only one who flew out of Scranton. Went thorugh Erie & DLW merger. He retired in 1970. But he still always took me to there whenever I'm at his house, even in winter times, in rainy days, HOT DAY.... nothing can be in my way of exciting to go to Fayette yard.
guys at there were awesome! Grandpa trusted these guys to leave me with them to go on rides to Tully or to Baldwinville. I would see his yellow Torino GT following us when I was in either caboose at top window or in GP7 cab.

Sadly, being mugged twice in area that was great beautiful with many huge houses turned into bad neighborhood took care of his mind. So I didn't had chance to talk to him about his history with RR. I know that family were sharing stories of what he did at work. That's only thing he would talk about, I believe. He wouldn't want to talk about job or companies.

I know that with CR's arrivals, the crews are probably the same one. To be honest with you, I don't remember anyone. I didn't took a time to memorize their faces in my face or their names. ALL I want is get on engineer's lap and run the thing! I know that everyone knows me and my grandpa. They were very cheerful whenever they see us coming. Even without my grandpa, my mom would drive up to there on our way to home and they know who I am. If Conrail shuffle crews around (DeWitt and Fayette), then my grandpa probably wouldn't take me to there.

PS. Don't u find it odd that I never knew about DeWitt until 1994, huh? I guess that Grandpa knew that if he took me to see DeWitt, then I would be in Heaven Cloud.. He did his best to avoid DeWitt...

[Matt Langworthy]

I think your grandpa knew what he was doing.

Thanx for sharing those stories, too.

[Matt Langworthy]

Monday 5/31/1999: this was the final day of Conrail operations in upstate NY. Traffic seemed rather brisk on the Chicago Line as I headed westbound from Rensselaer to Rochester on Amtrak. The Maple Leaf was about an hour late because a coach had to be dropped from the consist in Schenectady due to mechanical issues.

[Matt Langworthy]

Tuesday 6/1/1999: first day of official CSX and NS operations on the former Conrail lines in upstate NY.

[psb128]

My Uncle Bill Hunt had 16mm movies of riding that NYC line into Attica. He worked for the NYC, PC and Conrail. Before he passed, he gave me a VHS copy of those movies. It was some very interesting viewing. They were taken just before the line was removed in the 30's. I'd like to someday get them transferred to DVD. I'm sure he passed out more than one copy of that movie too.

Hi, this is Paul Bohn - did you ever get this tape converted to DVD ? I am originally from Attica and have become very interested in Attica's history. I would gladly convert the VHS tape over, free of charge (of course).