The Big Blue Conrail | The Hero of the American Railroad Industry | History in the Dark

When Penn Central collapsed in the beginning of the 1970's, the future of the northeastern United State's rail industry was uncertain at best. The government responded by forming the Consolidated Rail Corporation: better known as Conrail, to clean up the mess. It took some time, pay cuts, layoffs, and branch line abandonment, but by 1981 Conrail was generating a profit and would continue to do so right up until the end.

0:00 - Intro
0:55 - The Backstory
10:16 - Formation
15:54 - Righting the Wrongs
21:42 - Final Act

"Conrail (reporting mark CR), formally the Consolidated Rail Corporation, was the primary Class I railroad in the Northeastern United States between 1976 and 1999. The trade name Conrail is a portmanteau based on the company's legal name. It continues to do business as an asset management and network services provider in three Shared Assets Areas that were excluded from the division of its operations during its acquisition by CSX Corporation and the Norfolk Southern Railway."

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[noahdavidson]

My stepfather put in 30 years at Conrail/NS Conway Yard, how far the bar has fallen today. Was at a Halloween party with my family a few years ago and one of his old buddies happened to be around. I was wearing a Conrail shirt, he commented on it and said "You can't wear that around me, it makes me think of better times and makes me sad."

[EngineTruck]

Conrail was the best, and should’ve stayed around to this day. It should’ve been sold in a way that prevented CSX and NS to gain control of it so that it would allow for more competition. A few friends of mine work in a steel mill in various departments that interface with the railroad. Some deal with the raw materials coming in and some deal with product going out. Because of the old Virginian interchanges in the area, the mill actually dealt with all 3 railroads (and others like PC and obviously VGN, but before their time). They’ve all said that Conrail was by far the best and easiest to work with. Their railroad-customer interface was the smoothest to navigate, and if they promised 8 trains at 1 hour intervals between 8am and 4pm, unless something major happened those trains arrived as scheduled on schedule. NS was not that good, but not really bad. They’ve said several times that CSX was by far the worst to deal with. One said he remembered finished product that was supposed to be hauled by CSX laying around for almost 2 weeks without getting the promised train. Finally they ended up asking Conrail if there was any way they could get that product to its destination. Naturally Conrail pulled a train out of its ass for them, and the mill called CSX and told them to get lost.

[DEBOKRI]

My grandfather was a employee of Conrail, he worked there for many years. He retired when Norfolk Southern bought them out. He sadly passed away years ago but seeing a video on them gets a like from both me n him.

[Interestingenough]

The funny thing about Penn Central was how in the late 1990s, the merger ended up essentially being undone when Conrail was split between CSX and NS.

[therailfanman]

Conrail: the railroad that was surprisingly good, still underrated to this day

[NationalGuard]

Surprised you didn't mention the Chase collision back in 1987. That wreck prompted all rail networks to perform random drug checks on crew members.

[wildcatindustries]

When I was growing up I remember seeing Conrail SD40s everywhere and Conrail Quality on just about every coal car, even to this day those cars are still in service and lined up at the coke ovens and tipples. Some part of it still lives on but I have to say, the Big Blue paint scheme is definitely top of my list for best looking. There’s just something refreshing about seeing a color rarely used in the rail industry anymore

[JessicaKasumi]

I often call Conrail the Gentle Blue Giant. Say what you will about some of the decisions made by CR, but, they were a good employer according to many crews I know and they were good with Amtrak too. CR is in my top 5 railroad fallen flags list. Here they are:
5. Norfolk & Western Railway
4. Boston and Maine Railroad
3. Southern Pacific Railroad
2. Conrail
1. Pennsylvania Railroad
Note: CR and PRR are tied for No. 1.

[ESchillertiger]

These long form videos are always a treat. The way u have setup this story through multiple videos makes it so much easier to follow. Hopefully the future has plenty more videos in this style

[e-train]

Also one of my favorite railroads (Nickel Plate Road is my number 1) I was born in 1990 so I was fortunate enough to see some Conrail action; I'm VERY fond of their early GE locomotives.

[mityace]

A good, even handed summary of the life of Conrail. I'm old enough to see the creation of the company.

[thenekom]

I grew up seeing Conrail Cadillacs, SD80MACs on the old MGA line. Still saw them NS patched but still in blue well into the 2000s. They're all up North for parts now I think.

[johntitterton]

Comment at time mark 21:11. Having spent 14 years working at Conrail until the split between NS and CSX, there were no corrupt managers at the company.

[ChessieSystem]

I actually live next to where a former line that was part of the Delaware Lackawanna & Western which I believe was closed down by Conrail. The railbed is now called the Plainfield township trail, but I would have loved it to see a RR line right next to my house (even though it would most likely be owned by Norfolk Southern.)

[greenstrat]

Interestingly, it was NS that initially made a move on CR, but CSX fought it saying that such a merger would force them to abandon most of the B&O. Years later, here comes CSX with an offer.

[CNYRF]

I've always loved Conrail, I may've came into being around back when CSX was starting to take over, but I always loved seeing trains being hauled by the big blue locomotives up front. ^_^

[iannarita]

One person you miss in all this Jim Hagen. Jim Hagen was the person who sold the Conrail monopoly in the Northeast, by pretending that the Delaware and Hudson(D&H) would provide competition with only track age rights to Buffalo, Philadelphia, and Alexandria, Va. Eventually D&H would be sold to Canadian Pacific and then split in two. With Albany to Wilkes-Barre being sold to Norfolk and Southern. The North end to Montreal CP uses to move bulk oil trains to the Port of Albany.
In fifty years northeast railroading has had so much change. From the complete loss of coal traffic to intermodal. One of Stan Crane's first acts as head of Conrail was the changes he made on the ex Pennsylvania RR from Harrisburg to Pittsburgh. He ripped out one of the tracks thru Altoona and around Horseshoe Curve. Making it three instead of four tracks. He also installed continuous welded rail and concrete ties. These items saved 100's of millions of dollars. He also abandoned the ex Pennsylvania main line to Chicago (the Central line thru Elkhart has a major classification yard that NS uses today).
One other major player gone unremarked, Ed Jordan. Jordan was the first major voice to say deregulation. He saw that Conrail could not exist in its political and regulatory environment. Jordan said as much and then departed for Cornell.
Stan Crane came in and built on what Jordan had started. Jim McClellan gets a lot of notice because he was there and telling people about it, over goodly doses of bourbon.

[paulboger]

This video is absolutely brilliant!! Thanks from an Aussie Conrail fan 🖖

[SPRailfan]

I wish I could have seen Conrail when it was running, I love the paint scheme and locomotives they ran 💙🤍

[Evilgraph]

Okay not a lot of people know that conrail is actually still around it just doesn’t do train’s anymore. There was a museum on them that has just opened in Shippensburg PA, but the best part is it’s all inside 2 rail cars from not only Conrail, they also have an old Penn Central car as well