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CONRAIL  NEWS

OCS DEPARTS TONIGHT

Conrail will host various railroad officials conducting CORE and Intermodal inspections during portions of an upcoming Office Car Special trip.  On Tuesday, intermodal facilities at Harrisburg and Triple Crown facilities will be "observed" on the fly.  The train will not actually detrain passengers for a walking tour, but will operate through or by the yard sites.  The passengers will briefly detrain at Reading-Franklin St. on Monday.

Tonight, Conrail OCS-401 will depart Altoona at 21:00 ET.  Train will be operating to Philadelphia via Amtrak with an early Monday morning arrival.  On Monday June 1, OCS-101 will depart Philly at 10:00 ET and operate via Amtrak, arriving Harrisburg at 12:30 ET.  The train will be turned on the Capitol Wye at 13:00 ET and continue east to Reading-Franklin St.  The Reading arrival is marked for 14:10 ET and departure at 14:15 ET for Philadelphia-30th Street station.  The arrival at Philly is scheduled for 16:30 ET. On Tuesday June 2, OCS-102 will depart Philly at 09:00 ET with a "quick" run to Perryville, MD, arriving there at 09:55 ET.  Train will operate the Port Road Secondary and Royalton Branch, passing Shocks at 11:25 ET.  An 11:55 ET arrival in Harrisburg will be followed by a reverse move at the Rockville Wye to turn the train.  OCS-102 will continue past CP-Harris at 12:30 ET, Phoenix at 14:40 ET and arrive Philly at 16:00 ET.  A 17:00 ET departure will see OCS-102 depart westbound via Amtrak, with a 19:30 ET scheduled arrival in Harrisburg for fuel.  The train will continue to Toledo, OH.

The full schedules are available above in the normal ERN format. -Kevin Burkholder

ALLENTOWN HUMP MAINTENANCE

Beginning today, Allentown yard will undergo a facelift that will see various portions of the yard resurfaced and several hundred new ties installed.  With the extensive trackwork that is scheduled to take place, several adjustments had to be made to accomodate train movements.

Beginning today, ALHB will depart two hours later, at 14:30 ET instead of the normal 12:30 ET departure. ALCS will depart an hour earlier, at 13:00 ET instead of 14:00 ET.  In addition to these changes, all traffic that was classified for Selkirk, NY on the hump, will be handled by flat switching at various locations.  No Selkirk traffic will be handled over the hump for approximately the next six weeks, while the project is ongoing.

Garbage cars normally handled to and from ALNS/NSAL will be operated on NSSE/SENS and OPNS/NSOP, by-passing Allentown completely.  Traffic from Harrisburg, Enola, and Reading will be pre-blocked at those facilities and operated through on one train, blocked to relay without classification at Allentown.

As mentioned previously, this work is expected to take up to six weeks and will see various traffic patterns shift during the work.-ERN

SD70 / 70MAC UPDATE

Conrail SD70's 2557-2561 are now in various stages of construction at Altoona, PA.  The first SD70 is due to be released the second week of June.  These units will be equipped with cab signals and LSL and assigned to former Conrail territory after the NS/CSX acquisition.

SD70MAC's 4142 and 4143 left Conway on train PIEW-0. The only remaining SD70MAC 4144 should be completed and released in the next ten to twelve days. The 4131 and 4133 were still enroute to Buffalo, NY on ALBU-9.

SHORTLINES

DELIVERING THE AMERICAN DREAM
Yesterday, Morristown & Erie operated a passenger extra from Morristown, NJ to Jim Thorpe, PA, over Conrail's Washington Secondary and Lehigh Line.

The short consist was led by Morristown & Erie M430 18, pulling AMERICAN DREAM (a 14 single bedroom heavyweight Pullman -- originally NIGHTSIDE) and MORRIS COUNTY (lightweight parlor car).

The purpose of the trip was to deliver AMERICAN DREAM to its new owner, the Reading & Northern Railroad.-David Ross

CLASSIC CABS FOR WHEEL WORK
Conrail moved Jershey Central painted F3's CRP 56  & 57 from Sothern Railroad of New Jersey at Swedesboro, NJ to Winchester & Western at Millville, NJ the last week of May. The units will receive necessary wheel work on the W&W and be returned. -Rich Jahn

PRESERVATION

WEST SHORE/PRR GP30 MUSEUM BOUND
PRR GP30 #2233 arrived Allentown yard on May 30 at 6:00am. The unit is destined for the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania in Strasburg, PA. -Rich Jahn