My name's Mike and I've lived outside of Lancaster all my life. I was into trains as a kid; the fondest memories I have was the times my dad took me to Lancaster Station where I watched numerous FP40s, E60s and AEM-7s everyday. Occasionally, I'd get to stop by the Conrail [now NS] operated Dillerville Yard and talk with some of the engineers. And I clearly remember the time I was out at the Strasburg RR and I had [and took] the chance at operating a real diesel locomotive when I was still in the single digits of age.... the Operation Lifesaver demo in the trailer counts, right?
And of course, I remember the numerous times of riding the Blue Mountain & Reading and the Strasburg railroads, along with the Gettysburg railroad [pulled by #76 no less].I recently found myself back into trains. If I'm out for the evening railfanning, I'll either be somewhere on the Port Road, the Keystone Line, around Dillerville Yard or somewhere along the branchlines in Lancaster County, with the occasional trips to the Middletown & Hummelstown or Strasburg. I pretty much just takes pics, but recently have started with video [wrailfan on youtube].
So, there's my short bio......
Sometime around 1974, SEPTA took over control of the ex-Reading passenger services. That included not only the electric trains, but also the diesel survivors of what was once intercity service. The only perceptible change for the public after April 1, 1976 was that the trains were still SEPTA's but Conrail was the new contract operator. That arrangement remained until the tragic discontinuance of all diesel passenger services in July 1981.
