Speaking of Early Conrail

[Green_Elite_Cab]

Not a very early Conrail but at least not in the 1990's and therefor a much better match for my layout and the other Conrail rolling stock.

I suppose it depends on what you consider "early" conrail. From the photos, it seems that SW1500s were slow to get repainted, but there were a few that were repainted as early as may 1978, and I haven't checked every source I have yet.

I feel that "early conrail" is a tricky time to pin down. You could certainly make that case that in the first two years, there were still many locomotives that not only had not been patched, but were still in their old road numbers, creating issues tracking the locomotives.

By 1978 and 1979, Most locomotives were patched and renumbered where necessary, and a lot more blue was present.

On the other hand, Conrail was under the management of Ed Jordan up until 1981, when Stanely Crane took over and made big changes to the railroad. In this regard, Up to 1981 can be considered early conrail.

On the third hand, Ed Jordan had been pressing for railroad deregulation through the Staggers act, which was passed fall of 1980. These changes in regulations allowed Crane to even make the changes to make conrail successful. It also finally allowed Conrail to stop running passenger trains (most commuter trains in the region were operated and maintained by conrail, even if the railroad didn't directly own all the equipment). State Agencies such as NJ transit and SEPTA took over these trains starting January 1, 1983.