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Conrail The Final Years 1992-1997 by Paul Withers
Conrail The Final Years 1992-1997 by Paul Withers
Hard cover with dust jacket
Copyright 1997
208 pages
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction
SD8OMAC
1. EMD Road Freight Units
2. GE Road Freight Units.
3. EMD & GE Road Switcher Units
4. EMD Yard Switchers
5. MT Units & Passenger Units
Appendix A - Conrail Lease Fleet
Appendix B - SD40 Dispositions
Appendix C - Conrail "Graduates" Condensed Locomotive Roster .
Focused - if one word describes Conrail during its last five years of existence as an independent railroad, it is probably that one. After years of sorting out and blending the priorities and assets of its bankrupt predecessors and later overhauling and streamlining the system in an attempt to make itself profitable, Conrail became a credible common carrier during the late 1980s.
After becoming a publicly-held company on March 26, 1987, the railroad's management focused on profitability - seeing that investors earn a good return on their investment. To this end, the carrier continued to rationalize its system, either through abandonment or spinning off lines to short-line or regional operators. In 1992, Conrail operated more than 13,700 miles of track; by the end of 1997, the system was pared to 10,700 miles. These reductions led to a significant drop in employment, from fewer than 30,000 employees in 1992 to fewer than 20,000 employees by the end of 1997.
How did the emphasis on profitability affect Conrail's locomotive fleet? While the overall numbers of locomotives changed little, the fleet has become one of the youngest in the industry, and the aggregate horsepower of the fleet has risen substantially. Gone are the veteran fleets of GP30s, GP35s and GP40s, replaced by new high-horsepower GE Dash 8-40CWs and EMD SD60 series locomotives, as well as the carrier's first acquisition of AC-drive locomotives, 30 EMD SD8OMACs.
Another change was the result of Conrail's continued system rationalization. By shedding various yards, secondary and branchline trackage (called clusters by the carrier), as well as consolidating various yard facilities, two types of locomotives found their numbers dramatically reduced. Models typically assigned to yard switching, transfer work, local service, or as hump pushers were thinned out. This included the remaining 18 members of the U23C fleet, the last U-series locomotives on the Conrail roster.
In more than 600 photos - action views and roster portraits - this book offers an exhaustive pictorial documentation of all 37 classes of locomotives that Conrail operated during its final five years of existence.
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