The Conrail train from Phillipsburg was well known in NJ due to its open porch observation car, a relic of a bygone era. Coming east in the morning however that observation car was up against the locomotive as seen here. The rest of the train was made up of former Missouri Pacific long distance coaches converted to commuter service.
Thanks largely to mergers and bankruptcies, New Jersey's commuter railroads underwent profound changes between the end of steam and the takeover by NJ Transit in 1983.
