Philly Railfan Pictures of the Week

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Railfan Pictures of the Week - Throwback Thursday - 10/29/2020

Conrail Morrisville Line Plymouth Meeting PA June 1996

NS recently abolished trains 14G/17G, the former Morrisville/Pittsburgh runs that ran under PRR and Conrail and were dominated by steel and auto parts traffic.Under NS, the traffic dwindled as a result of the closing of the US Steel Fairless Works in 2001 and the shuttering of the GM Linden Assembly Plant in 2005. The end points changed over the years: LMPI/PILM when it ran to Linden-Metuchen, MOEN/ENMO when they cut it short at Enola, but most know the trains under Conrail by the symbols MOPI and PIMO. Here, MOPI approaches the long gone Gravers Road grade crossing just north of the site of the former Kaiser Aluminum plant in Plymouth Meeting PA. This is also the site of Pennsylvania Railroad's Earnest Yard on the PRR Trenton Cutoff, and back then all of this would have been under wire. The GG1's, the E44's, the wires and most of the poles are gone, the yard is now just an empty void between the Morrisville Line main and passing siding, and diesels do the work, on this day SD40-2 CR 6429, SD60M CR 5512, B30-7 CSX 5527 and SD50 CR 6726, as the train starts downgrade toward the Schuylkill River.

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