Speaking of Early Conrail

[Green_Elite_Cab]

A nice collection have you got there.

Thats just the "new" stuff that I need to rebuild. At least half my conrail roster all technically count as "early", depending on when they got repainted.

In particular, all my Conrail electric locomotives definitely fit under the "early" conrail definition. By then, Conrail was the last major electric freight hauler in North America. The GG1s were the first to go, being retired yearly until all were retired December 31, 1979. The E33s were places in Storage by mid 1980. The E44s lasted until the wires were deactivated on freight lines in 1981.

I could use some more GG1s, but otherwise, I have a pretty good collection of electrics, at least enough to give a realistic impression of Conrail electric power. The E44s I own are probably the rarest pieces of equipment I have. You just can't find them anywhere.

Here is my trio of E44As under wire. These not only look good, they run well too, which isn't always the case for brass.



E33 pair



And of course, GG1s. This particular GG1 is a model of the oldest production GG1 (first off the assembly line after the prototype 4800). Its re-patch of a Penn Central Broadway limited unit. It managed to keep its PRR stripe all the way to retirement.

I had an eye on a CR geep too but could not find any on the market. Athearn "plans" to have one in early 2013. Let's see what China ships...

In more recent years, Atlas re-did some home grown, very nice Conrail GP7s. Proto 2000 never seemed to make in in Conrail, but they made some "patchable" Geeps. All of those locomotives will have to be "projects". I really was looking to purchase a pair of GP7s, though these were not what I were looking for (they were given to me).

I was looking forward to modeling Conrail 5679, a CNJ geep with nearly intact green and gold paint (most did not seem to be in that good condition). 5679 also has the added benefit of hanging around the northern New Jersey electrified lines in most photos, so i'm guessing its the perfect CNJ diesel to have on my roster.

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This fuzzy picture not only has 5679, but another CNJ geep that ended up with NJ DOT. These were a littler different in that they have housings on their long hood that contain some equipment related to passenger trains (the steam generator appears to be in the nose). This last photo is in november 1979, so 5679 seemed to last a while in CNJ paint. The NJ DOT GP7P lasted that way at least until 1983, when Conrail stopped running Passenger trains and NJ transit as a commuter agency took over.

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