Conrail suffered a major service interruption on July 24, 1984. Around 5 o’clock in the morning, westbound train OIIN was passing the Berks Products stone quarry in Temple, Pennsylvania when several hundred feet of the Blandon Low Grade slid into the quarry along with several of OIIN’s cars. The loss of the Low Grade effectively killed one of Conrail’s major east-west routes. By a stroke of luck, the Hill Track, the original East Penn line between Reading Yard and Blandon, was out of service but intact. The crews that were in town to start ripping out the Hill Track instead got busy getting the line reopened the same day as the collapse occurred. Single-tracked, slow ordered, and with a 1.1% ruling grade, the Hill Track remained in service until the following December, when Low Grade repairs were completed. One of the first trains to traverse the Hill Track was this eastbound coal train. It is seen approaching the junction with the Low Grade at Blandon.
Not
just heritage schemes, not just commemorative schemes - this album is devoted to some of the world's most interesting paint schemes, past or present.
