Misplaced Pages

#850149

110-516: The primary connection to both controlling systems was at Brownsville, Pennsylvania - with the south end of the P&;LE's Pittsburgh, McKeesport and Youghiogheny Railroad and with the PRR's ex- Brownsville Railway . The PRR also interchanged traffic at Hoover, Pennsylvania , the end of its Coal Lick Run Branch . The B&O Railroad interchanged at Leckrone, Pennsylvania , and Rivesville, West Virginia . At

220-479: A balloon loop that allows the turning of complete coal trains. The limited-access toll road PA Route 43 connects the town to strategic points and southern Pittsburgh at Clairton . PA Route 88 , hugging the river, connects to towns up and down the Monongahela Valley. The historic National Road (now U.S. Route 40 ) reached East Saint Louis, Illinois , and connected the town to the immigrants arriving in

330-539: A bill to nationalize the bankrupt railroads. The Association of American Railroads , which opposed nationalization, submitted an alternate proposal for a government-funded private company. Judge Fullam forced the Penn Central to operate into 1974, when, on January 2, after threatening a veto , President Richard Nixon signed the Regional Rail Reorganization Act of 1973 into law. The "3R Act," as it

440-499: A bridge to carry roads. When the nascent United States government appropriated funds for its first road building project, in 1811 Brownsville was chosen as an early intermediate target destination along the new National Road . Until a bridge was built across the river, Brownsville was the western terminus. Redstone Creek is a local tributary stream of the Monongahela River , entering just north of Brownsville. Its color came from

550-488: A former Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad (PRR Panhandle Route line), while Norfolk Southern got the former Pennsylvania Railroad main line and Cleveland and Pittsburgh Railroad from Jersey City, New Jersey , to Cleveland, and the rest of the former NYC main line west to Chicago, Illinois . Thus the Conrail "X" was neatly split in two, CSX getting one diagonal from Boston to St. Louis and Norfolk Southern

660-467: A handful of buildings that are condemned or boarded up. Abandoned buildings include the Union Station of the railroad, several banks, and other businesses. The sidewalks around the town are still intact and usable. Brownsville attracted major entertainers in the early postwar years who also were performing in nearby Pittsburgh. According to Mike Evans in his book Ray Charles : The Birth of Soul (2007),

770-480: A jointly-owned subsidiary, with CSX and NS owning respectively 42% and 58% of its stock , corresponding to how much of Conrail's assets they acquired. Each parent, however, has an equal voting interest . The primary asset retained by Conrail is ownership of the three Shared Assets Areas in New Jersey , Philadelphia , and Detroit . Both CSX and NS have the right to serve all shippers in these areas, paying Conrail for

880-735: A major river crossing and two large creek crossings. On July 1, 1915 the Monongahela Railroad consolidated with the Buckhannon and Northern Railway to form the Monongahela Railway Company (MRY), still under the control of the parent companies (PRR and P&LE). In 1927 the Baltimore and Ohio railroad acquired 1/3 (1/6 from each the PRR and P&LE) of the capital stock of the Monongahela Railway, securing their interests in

990-477: A mile either side of U.S. 40, now once again, single lane secondary highway. The community has few stores and several housing developments sited along a hilly plateau above the river valleys. The California Area High School is in part sited within parts of Malden. Conrail Conrail ( reporting mark CR ), formally the Consolidated Rail Corporation , was the primary Class I railroad in

1100-769: A northward move, sitting on the track close to the Snowden House and the United States Post Office. However, the June, 1893, Official Guide (page 324), does not indicate any passenger service to Brownsville off the Redstone Branch. " The Monongahela Railroad was a joint venture of the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) and the Pittsburgh and Lake Erie Railroad (P&LE), both of which had plans to extend their lines in

1210-859: A post office. It is the unofficial "prototype" for the flatiron buildings seen across the United States. The most notable is the Flatiron Building in Market Square in New York City. After nearly being demolished, the building was saved by the Brownsville Area Revitalization Corporation (BARC) . Throughout two decades, via private and public grants, BARC has restored the Flatiron Building as an historic asset to Brownsville. The Flatiron Building Heritage Center, located within

SECTION 10

#1733086316851

1320-526: A river crossing, the closest to the pass that reached the Monongahela, the town saw many settlers passing by. Because colonial settlers believed that the earthwork mounds were a prehistoric fortification, they called the settlement Redstone Old Fort ; later in the 1760s and 1770s, it became known as "Redstone Fort" or "Fort Burd", named after the officer who commanded the British fort constructed in 1759. The fort

1430-406: A standardized rulebook called Northeast Operating Rules Advisory Committee (NORAC). This significantly increased operational flexibly, allowing crews to operate on any territory they were qualified on, instead of additionally needing multiple operating rules qualifications. Additionally, standardized signal rules allowed Conrail to standardize signaling hardware and operation across its system. In

1540-415: A tenant. Western Hills Express (5703) With Conrail's increasing success, it decided to merge the company with another railroad, so it approached CSX Transportation about buying Conrail. CSX's bid for Conrail, however, drew the attention of Norfolk Southern Railway which, fearing that CSX would come to dominate rail traffic in the eastern US, made a bid of its own leading to a takeover battle between

1650-507: A terminal operating company owned by both CSX and NS. The Conrail Shared Assets Operations arrangement was a concession made to federal regulators who were concerned about the lack of competition in certain rail markets and logistical problems associated with the breaking-up of Conrail operations as they existed in densely-populated areas with many local customers. The smaller Conrail operation that exists today serves rail freight customers in these markets on behalf of its two owners. A fourth area,

1760-615: Is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization based in Shippensburg, Pennsylvania . The society aims to preserve and restore equipment, items pertaining to, and photographs of Conrail specifically and of American railroading in general. As of 2022, the group publishes a quarterly magazine and a calendar, as well as other occasional mailings. Previous conventions have been held in Altoona, Pennsylvania , Philadelphia , Cleveland , and Warren, Ohio . More recent preservation activities include completion of

1870-757: Is active. On May 1, 1993 the Monongahela Railway was merged into the Consolidated Rail Corporation (Conrail), which had previously bought out the shares of B&O successor CSX Transportation and Pittsburgh & Lake Erie. Conrail would be bought in 1998 by Norfolk Southern and CSX. Eleven GE Class B23-7Rs (sometimes referred to as Super 7s), the Monongahela's final locomotive fleet numbered 2300–2310, were renumbered 2030-2040 by Conrail, then divided between NS and CSX when they operationally took over Conrail operations in 1999. In 2012, Norfolk Southern celebrated 30 years of being formed, and painted 20 locomotives in predecessor schemes to honor its heritage. Nineteen of them were new deliveries, but when NS decided to included

1980-487: Is the central population center for a number of outlying hamlets geographically tied to the town for the same reasons they were founded nearby: western Pennsylvania has far more hills and steep slopes than flats or gentle sloping terrains suitable for settlement. This keeps Brownsville at the nexus of the transportation infrastructure which grew up during its history. While no longer a passenger depot, Brownsville and West Brownsville share an important railway bridge, creating

2090-649: Is the location of other properties on the National Register of Historic Places . They are Bowman's Castle (Nemacolin Castle), Brownsville Bridge , St. Peter's Church , and Thomas H. Thompson House . There are two national historic districts : the Brownsville Commercial Historic District and Brownsville Northside Historic District . The Brownsville Area School District serves Brownsville as well as several nearby communities. Schools within

2200-493: Is the nation's oldest cast iron bridge in existence. (Capt. Richard Delafield , engineer; John Snowdon and John Herbertson, foundrymen) The Flatiron Building (c. 1830), constructed as a business building in thriving 19th-century Brownsville, is one of the oldest, most intact iron commercial structures west of the Allegheny Mountains . Over its history, it has housed private commercial entities as well as public, such as

2310-460: The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad . The last move on this line was on November 6, 1975; the track was removed and the real estate disposed. In 1909 the 4.2 mi (6.8 km) Rush Run branch was constructed, and a patch town ( Sarah, Pennsylvania ) was constructed to house the workers at what was to have been a coal mine. It was later determined that the coal did not belong to the mine developer, and

SECTION 20

#1733086316851

2420-729: The Chessie System , which would help spur competition in Conrail's territory. Chessie, however, could not reach an agreement with EL labor unions , and in February 1976 announced that it would not be buying the EL section. The USRA hurriedly assigned large amounts of trackage rights to the Delaware and Hudson Railway , allowing it to compete in the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania , and Washington, D.C. , markets. The State of Michigan decided to keep operational

2530-776: The Erie people or Wenro people and possibly shared with the Seneca , the Shawnee people and the Susquehannocks . With all the rivers and streams tributary to the Monongahela , Youghiogheny , and Allegheny Rivers , there is little known about the region's precise role in the Beaver Wars of the 17th century, but when French, Dutch and Swedish fur traders penetrated to the Greater Ohio Basin in

2640-773: The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority service district (transferred to the Boston and Maine Railroad , under contract to the MBTA, in March 1977 ). Pursuant to the Northeast Rail Service Act of 1981, Conrail operated the remainder until 1983 when these services were transferred to state or metropolitan transit authorities. The transit authorities purchased the track and right-of-way on which their commuter operations ran, leaving Conrail freight operations as

2750-573: The Mississippian culture , reaching a peak about 1150 CE at Cahokia in present-day Illinois , had sites throughout the Mississippi and Ohio river valleys, and into the Southeast . Archaeological research is ongoing working to tie the local mounds and others regionally close to a particular era and culture. As of the 2000 census , there were 2,804 people, 1,238 households, and 716 families residing in

2860-590: The Mound Builders cultures, but believed by colonials to have been forts. This led to the area near the river crossing being called Redstone Old Fort in various colonial government records and later Fort Burd when an arms cache was built there. By the time the region first became known to Dutch colonists and traders and the French in the 1640s, the lands were largely unoccupied, but under the management of one tribe or shared by several groups of Iroquoian peoples , likely

2970-482: The Northeast Corridor , further improving its finances. In 1984, the government put its 85% share up for sale. Bids were received from Alleghany Corporation , Citibank , an employee buyout , Guilford Transportation Industries , Norfolk Southern Railway and a consortium headed by J. Willard Marriott . On February 8, 1985, Secretary of Transportation Elizabeth Dole announced Norfolk Southern Railway as

3080-569: The Northeastern United States between 1976 and 1999. The trade name Conrail is a portmanteau based on the company's legal name. It continues to do business as an asset management and network services provider in three Shared Assets Areas that were excluded from the division of its operations during its acquisition by CSX Corporation and the Norfolk Southern Railway . The federal government created Conrail to take over

3190-644: The Raritan River Railroad (1980) were also included (See list of railroads transferred to Conrail for a full list). It was approved by Congress on November 9, and on February 5, 1976, President Gerald Ford signed the Railroad Revitalization and Regulatory Reform Act of 1976, which included this Final System Plan, into law. The EL had been formed in 1960 as a merger of the Erie Railroad and Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad . It too

3300-506: The ferrous sandstone that lined its bed, as well as the sandstone heights near the Old Forts. The creek was wide enough for settlers to build, dock and outfit numerous flatboats , keelboats , and other river craft. Its builders made thousands of pole boats that moved the emigrants who settled the vast Northwest Territory . Later Brownsville industry built the first steamboats on the inland rivers, and many hundreds afterwards. Colonists used

3410-521: The 1640s and 1650s, the one thing that seemed clear to those observers was that the lands later termed the Ohio Country seemed empty and unpopulated. In the 17th century, several provincial Virginians and Marylanders confirmed the emptiness of the region. Before the 1750s, the area was "colonized" by weakened remnant tribes such as the Delaware and the few Erie and the Susquehannock survivors that

Monongahela Railway - Misplaced Pages Continue

3520-539: The 2010s, as railroads upgraded their signals for Positive Train Control compliance. Today, most Northeastern railroads associated with former Conrail lines have maintained standardization of all systems as vertical color light signals using NORAC rules. Conrail Shared Assets Operations continues to use the tri-light as its standard signal type. Amtrak uses a colorized version of PRR position light signals called "Position Color Lights". The Conrail Historical Society, Inc.,

3630-474: The Conrail breakup was agreed upon, and neither NS or CSX wanted 'their' locomotives to be equipped with markers. Similarly, the standard-cab SD70, Conrail's final order of locomotives, were ordered to NS specifications, and were in Norfolk Southern's preferred numbering series (the 2500's), which they retained after the breakup. When Conrail was formed, it acquired many different railways, and as typical in

3740-678: The Iroquois allowed to move there as tributary peoples (climbing the gaps of the Allegheny ). These migrations occurred over the 70 to 80 years before the French and Indian War in the 1750s, where today's historians usually report the lands were long held as "hunting territories" of the powerful Five Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy. During the Revolution, the Iroquois were divided whether to back

3850-741: The King Ranch), with powerful new-built riverboats to navigate the fast currents of the Rio Grande in 1849. Brownsville is connected to the satellite community of West Brownsville (in Washington County ) by the Brownsville Bridge completed in 1914, which spans the Monongahela River. In 1960, the Lane Bane Bridge was constructed just downstream, and path of U.S. Route 40 was moved to

3960-470: The Monongahela in the program, it selected GE ES44AC #8025 (already in service in standard NS paint) to be painted into the Monongahela scheme. Brownsville, Pennsylvania Brownsville is a borough in Fayette County, Pennsylvania , United States, first settled in 1785 as the site of a trading post a few years after the defeat of the Iroquois enabled a resumption of westward migration after

4070-474: The Monongahela. Eventually the settlement became known as "Brownsville" after him. In the 1780s, Jacob Bowman bought the land on which he built Nemacolin Castle ; he had a trading post and provided services and supplies to emigrant settlers. Redstone Old Fort is mentioned in C. M. Ewing's The Causes of that so called Whiskey Insurrection of 1794 (1930) as the site of a July 27, 1791, meeting in "Opposition to

4180-585: The North American rail industry, signaling was not standardized between these railways. This caused problems for Conrail, which had to "qualify" train crews on as many as seven different signaling systems and operating rules. The varying systems included the PRR position light signals , the NYC searchlight signals and tri-light signals, and the EL tri-light and semaphore signals. Conrail, and other eastern railroads which required multiple operating rules, came up with

4290-639: The Northeast Rail Service Act of 1981 (NERSA), which amended portions of the 3R Act by exempting Conrail from liability for any state taxes and requiring the Secretary of Transportation to make arrangements for the sale of the government's interest in Conrail. After NERSA was implemented, Conrail, under the aggressive leadership of L. Stanley Crane began to improve and reported taxable income between $ 2 million and $ 314 million each year from 1983 through 1986. Conrail's government-funded rebuilding of

4400-512: The OPEC oil embargo of 1973–1974 triggered a recession, together with the restructuring of the steel industry and loss of industrial jobs, Brownsville suffered a severe decline, along with much of the Rust Belt . Generally, the region has declined in population and vitality ever since. By 2000 , the population was 2,804, as younger people had moved away to areas with more jobs. As of 2011, Brownsville has

4510-533: The Ohio River at Pittsburgh and allowed for quick traveling to the western frontier. From 1811 to 1888, boatyards produced more than 3,000 steamboats. Steamboats were gradually supplanted in the passenger-carrying trade after the American Civil War as the construction of railroad networks surged, but concurrently grew important locally on the Ohio River and tributaries as tugs delivering bargeloads of minerals to

Monongahela Railway - Misplaced Pages Continue

4620-545: The Revolutionary War. The trading post soon became a tavern and inn and was receiving emigrants heading west, as it was located above the cut bank overlooking the first ford that could be reached to those descending from the Allegheny Mountains . Brownsville is located 40 miles (64 km) south of Pittsburgh along the east bank of the Monongahela River . According to the United States Census Bureau ,

4730-602: The Staggers Act, railroads, including Conrail, were freed from the requirement to continue money-losing services. Conrail began turning a profit by 1981, the result of the Staggers Act freedoms and its own managerial improvements under the leadership of L. Stanley Crane, who had been chief executive officer of the Southern Railway . While the Staggers Act helped immensely in allowing all railroads to more-easily abandon unprofitable rail lines and set their own freight rates, it

4840-743: The Whiskey Excise Tax," during the Whiskey Rebellion . It was the first meeting of that illegal frontier insurrection. Brownsville was positioned at the western end of the primitive road network (Braddock's Road to Burd's Road via the Cumberland Narrows pass ) that eventually became chartered as the Cumberland toll road , then the National Pike (the federal government's first ever road project), and later present-day U.S. Route 40 , one of

4950-727: The area. Each company appointed four of their members to the board of directors, who held their first meeting in January 1901. The newly formed Monongahela Railroad acquired many lines in the area from the PV&;C as well as the Southwest Pennsylvania Railway Company, as well as the 19 mile (30 km) right of way from Brownsville to Adah from the PRR, for the sum of $ 519,696.13. In 1905 the Dunlap Creek branch opened, serving several mines and coke works and also connecting with

5060-408: The average family size was 2.97. In the borough the population was spread out, with 23.2% under the age of 18, 9.0% from 18 to 24, 25.6% from 25 to 44, 21.1% from 45 to 64, and 21.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females, there were 83.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 77.7 males. The median income for a household in the borough

5170-400: The borough of Brownsville has a total area of 1.1 square miles (2.8 km ), of which 0.97 square miles (2.5 km ) is land and 0.1 square miles (0.3 km ), or 10.47%, is water —most of which is the Fayette County half of the Monongahela River between the community and the flatter lands of West Brownsville on the opposite shore in Washington County . As a community, the town

5280-400: The borough. The population density was 2,796.6 inhabitants per square mile (1,079.8/km ). There were 1,550 housing units at an average density of 1,545.9 per square mile (596.9/km ). The racial makeup of the borough was 85.95% White, 11.41% African American, 0.11% Native American, 0.07% Asian, 0.21% from other races, and 2.25% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.82% of

5390-497: The bridge is still in use. After the 1853 completion of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad to the Ohio, outfitting emigrant wagon trains in Brownsville declined in importance. Yet the rise of the steel industry in the Pittsburgh area led Brownsville to develop as a railroad yard and coking center, generally integrated into other towns within the valley, so Brownsville and West Brownsville were tied to regional operations. While no one yard had space enough to be large, each township along

5500-432: The building at 69 Market Street, holds artifacts from Brownsville's heyday, as well as displays about the community's important coal and coke heritage. The Frank L. Melega Art Museum, located with the Heritage Center, displays many examples of this local southwestern Pennsylvanian's famous artwork, depicting the coal and coke era in the surrounding tri-state region. In addition to the Dunlap's Creek Bridge, Brownsville

5610-427: The burgeoning steel industries growing up along the watershed from the 1850s. Steamboat propulsion would not be replaced by diesel-powered commercial tugs until the technology matured in the mid-20th century. The first all– cast iron arch bridge constructed in the United States was built in Brownsville to carry the National Pike (at the time a wagon road) across Dunlap's Creek. See Dunlap's Creek Bridge . As of 2023,

SECTION 50

#1733086316851

5720-428: The coal-producing area it served. On January 1, 1930 the Ten Mile Run branch opened. This branch still serves one major coal mine, the Emerald Mine in Waynesburg, as of 2015. On October 21, 1950 the Monongahela Railway discontinued passenger service. On November 25, 1952 the Monongahela Railway ran its first Baldwin S-12 diesel locomotive. This marked the beginning of the end of their fleet of steam locomotives ,

5830-402: The colonies or the mother country, and mostly did neither, attempting to stay neutral. Nonetheless, in 1778, agitated by British officers lobbying for frontier attacks, mixed parties of Tories (Loyalists) and Iroquois committed atrocities in 1778, so Washington sent the Sullivan Expedition in 1779, which broke the power of the Iroquois and reopened the Ohio Country to homesteader settlement. As

5940-516: The cosmetic restoration of N7E caboose 21165 and a partnership with the B&O Railroad Museum to restore its ex-Conrail SW7 8905. The CRHS owns four pieces of on-track equipment: 86-foot boxcar 243880 (currently under development into a stand-alone Conrail museum), cabooses 21165 and 22130, and former Triple Crown RoadRailer TCSZ 463491. A preserved Conrail ex-PRR GP30 is on display at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania . To mark its 30th anniversary, Norfolk Southern painted 20 new locomotives with

6050-399: The cost of maintaining and improving trackage . They also make use of Conrail to perform switching and terminal services within the areas, but not as a common carrier , since contracts are signed between shippers and CSX or NS. Conrail also retains various support facilities including maintenance-of-way and training, as well as a 51 percent share in the Indiana Harbor Belt Railroad . In

6160-412: The dilapidated infrastructure and rolling stock it inherited from its six predecessors succeeded by the end of the 1970s in improving the physical condition of tracks, locomotives and freight cars . However, fundamental economic regulatory issues remained, and Conrail continued to post losses of as much as $ 1 million a day. Conrail management, recognizing the need for more regulatory freedoms to address

6270-530: The district are: Brownsville is located on the banks of the Monongahela River , a major tributary of the Ohio River , one of North America's most important waterways. The Monongahela is fully navigable at Brownsville, and offers inexpensive barge transportation to Chicago , New Orleans , St. Marks in Florida, Minneapolis , Tulsa , Kansas City , Houston , and Brownsville, Texas , on the border with Mexico. The shipyards of Brownsville, Pennsylvania, provided Captain Richard King of Brownsville, Texas (founder of

6380-465: The early years of Conrail, the NYC "small-back" searchlight was adopted as the systemwide standard for new signal installations and replacements. The standard signal was quickly changed to the NYC tri-light. This move was done to decrease maintenance requirements, as searchlight signals need moving parts to switch between colors, unlike tri-lights, which have individual lamps. Many signals from previous railroads were re-used though, as new signaling hardware

6490-421: The east (convex) side of a broad sweeping westward bend in the northerly flowing Monongahela River on the northwestern edge of Fayette County . The river's action eroded the steep-sided sandstone hills, creating shelf-like benches and connecting sloped terrain that gave the borough lowland areas adjacent to or otherwise accessible to the river shores. Much of the borough's residential buildings are built above

6600-473: The economic issues, were among the parties lobbying for what became the Staggers Act of 1980, which significantly loosened the Interstate Commerce Commission 's rigid economic control of the rail industry. This allowed Conrail and other carriers the opportunity to become profitable and strengthen their finances. The Staggers Act allowed the setting of rates that would recover capital and operating cost (fully allocated cost recovery) by each and every route mile

6710-423: The elevation of the business district. The opposite river shore of Washington County is, uncharacteristically for the region, shaped even lower to the water surface and is generally flatter. A small hamlet called West Brownsville developed on the western shore, with a current population of 992. Historically the area was a natural river crossing , and it was the site of development of a ferry , boat building and

SECTION 60

#1733086316851

6820-450: The end of 1970 it operated 193 miles of road on 281 miles of track; that year it reported 446 million ton-miles of revenue freight. The Monongahela Railroad's headquarters and base of operations was Brownsville, Pennsylvania. " As early as 1883, the Pittsburgh, Virginia & Charleston Railway served Brownsville as evidenced by an old lithograph of the Three Towns showing a diamond stacked locomotive coupled to four passenger cars, ready for

6930-432: The former Monongahela Railway in southwest Pennsylvania , was originally owned jointly by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad , Pennsylvania Railroad and Pittsburgh and Lake Erie Railroad . Conrail absorbed the company in 1993, and assigned trackage rights to CSX, the successor to the B&O and P&LE. With the Conrail breakup, those lines are owned by NS, but the CSX trackage rights are still in place. Since Conrail

7040-408: The full Ann Arbor Railroad , of which Conrail would run only the southernmost portion. Michigan bought it and the whole line was operated by Conrail for several years until it was sold to a short line . Conrail was incorporated in Pennsylvania on October 25, 1974, and operations began on April 1, 1976. The federal government owned 85%, with employees owning the remaining 15%. The theory was that if

7150-482: The increased demand for steel during and after World War II, when many infrastructure projects improved and rerouted U.S. Route 40 over the new high-level Lane Bane Bridge , clearing up a perennial traffic congestion problem. In 1940, 8,015 people lived in Brownsville. Its postwar growth led to the development of cross-county-line suburbs such as Malden , Lowhill, and Denbeau Heights (Denbow Heights), which were mainly bedroom communities within commuting distance. After

7260-424: The last one of which being used on May 26, 1954. In June 1968 the Waynesburg Southern Railroad Company (organized in the interest of the PRR) opened a line from Waynesburg to Consolidated Coal Company's Blacksville No. 1 mine and Eastern Gas & Fuel Company's Federal No. 2 mine. This line is still in service as of 2015, although Blacksville No. 1 has closed while a third mine in the same area, Blacksville No. 2,

7370-400: The lights above the deck. Red marker lights (not class lights, which are multi-color) were also a preference of Conrail. Most locomotives that went to CSX retained their marker lights, while Norfolk Southern quickly removed them. All Conrail locomotives that went to CSX and NS have been either retired or repainted. The last unit to wear "Conrail Blue", NS 8312, was retired in 2014. Conrail was

7480-407: The line was abandoned, the town was scrapped. Only four trains ever ran on this line, those carrying the ballast to complete the track. In 1910 the federal government condemned the low-clearance covered bridge in Bridgeport (now South Brownsville), and the Monongahela Railroad bought the bridge company and removed the bridge. In the same year they installed a 10-stall roundhouse in Bridgeport. This

7590-417: The new Consolidated Rail Corporation. Unlike most railroad consolidations, only the designated lines were to be taken over. Other lines would be sold to Amtrak, various state governments, transportation agencies, and solvent railroads. The few remaining lines were to remain with the old companies along with all previously-abandoned lines, many stations, and all non-rail related properties, thus converting most of

7700-490: The new companies, and NS also acquired the CR reporting mark. Operations under CSX and NS began on June 1, 1999, bringing Conrail's 23-year existence to an end. As the names indicated, CSX acquired the former New York Central Railroad main line from New York City and Boston, Massachusetts , to Cleveland, Ohio , and the former Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railway (NYC Big Four) line to Indianapolis, Indiana (continuing west to East St. Louis, Illinois ) on

7810-404: The new high-level structure and new four lane highway by-passing old Route 40 until the two merged in the small bedroom neighborhood known locally as Malden . In the heyday of Conestoga wagon migration travels and with the congestion of Brownsville's hilly terrain, the flat lands about Malden just two-to-three further on offered rare open spaces for west-bound travelers to camp and recuperate from

7920-540: The old companies into solvent property-holding companies. The plan was unveiled on July 26, 1975, consisting of lines from Penn Central and six other companies—the Ann Arbor Railroad (bankrupt 1973), Erie Lackawanna Railway (1972), Lehigh Valley Railroad (1970), Reading Company (1971), Central Railroad of New Jersey (1967) and Lehigh and Hudson River Railway (1972). Controlled railroads and jointly-owned railroads such as Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore Lines and

8030-545: The only railroad to receive EMD SD80MACs (an order from the Chicago & North Western was cancelled when that company merged with Union Pacific ) and were separated evenly between CSX and NS. Conrail had a different paint scheme for these locomotives and also the SD70MAC , with a large white, cone-shaped line on the front, bearing "Conrail Quality" lettering. The SD70MACs were not fitted with marker lights, as they were ordered after

8140-511: The original federal highways. As an embarkation point for travelers to the west, Redstone/Brownsville, blessed by several nearby wide and deep river tributaries that could support building slips, soon became a 19th-century center for the construction of riverine watercraft, initially keelboats and flatboats , but later steamboats large and small. The entire region sprouted small industries using local coal and iron deposits, selling iron fittings and products to outfitting settlers about to embark on

8250-504: The other from New York to Chicago. The two lines cross at a bridge southeast of downtown Cleveland ( 41°26′49″N 81°37′37″W  /  41.447°N 81.627°W  / 41.447; -81.627 ), where the former Cleveland and Pittsburgh Railroad crosses over the NYC's former Cleveland Short Line Railway around the south side of Cleveland. In three major metropolitan areas – North Jersey, South Jersey/Philadelphia, and Detroit – Conrail Shared Assets Operations continues to serve as

8360-585: The paint schemes of predecessor railroads. The first, on March 15, 2012, was GE ES44AC #8098 in Conrail blue with the "can opener" logo. In July 2023, CSX unveiled GE ES44AH unit #1976, which was repaired and repainted at the CSX shops in Waycross , GA with a CSX dark blue and yellow color scheme on the front (nose) and cab of the locomotive, and the light blue Conrail scheme with the Conrail Quality logo throughout

8470-503: The pass by mule train via the Cumberland Narrows toll route. Brownsville became a major center for building steamboats through the 19th century, producing 3,000 boats by 1888. The borough developed in the late 19th century as a railroad yard and coking center, with other industries related to the rise of steel in the Pittsburgh area. It reached a peak of population of more than 8,000 in 1940. Postwar development took place in suburbs, as

8580-407: The population. There were 1,238 households, out of which 24.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 36.2% were married couples living together, 17.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 42.1% were non-families. 38.0% of all households were made up of individuals, and 20.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.24 and

8690-578: The port of Baltimore traveling west on the Cumberland Turnpike and the National Road. From its founding, well into the 19th century, as the first reachable population center west of the Alleghenies barrier range on the Mississippi watershed, the borough quickly grew into an industrial center, market town, transportation hub, outfitting center, and riverboat-building powerhouse. As a trading post, it

8800-680: The potentially profitable lines of multiple bankrupt carriers, including the Penn Central Transportation Company and Erie Lackawanna Railway . After railroad regulations were lifted by the 4R Act and the Staggers Act , Conrail began to turn a profit in the 1980s and was privatized in 1987. The two remaining Class I railroads in the East , CSX Transportation and the Norfolk Southern Railway (NS), agreed in 1997 to acquire

8910-497: The railroad operated. There would be no more cross-subsidization of costs between route-miles (that is, revenue on profitable route segments were not used to subsidize routes where rates were set at intermodal parity, yet still did recover fully-allocated costs). Finally, where current and/or future traffic projections showed that profitable volumes of traffic would not return, the railroads were allowed to abandon those routes, shippers and passengers to other modes of transportation. Under

9020-602: The region, Penn Central (PC), declared bankruptcy in 1970, after less than three years of existence. Formed in 1968 by the merger of the New York Central Railroad and Pennsylvania Railroad (and supplemented in 1969 by the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad ), the PC was created with almost no plans to merge the varied corporate cultures, and the resulting company was a hopelessly-entangled mess. At its lowest point, PC

9130-455: The rest of the locomotive. It was numbered #1976 in homage to the year of Conrail's creation. In August 2023, MTA Metro–North Railroad unveiled locomotive #201, a GE P32AC-DM , wrapped in a yellow and blue scheme worn by Conrail's EMD FL9 units between 1976 and 1982. In October 2024, New Jersey Transit unveiled EMD GP40PH-2B #4208 in Conrail blue with the "can opener" logo, similar to Norfolk Southern #8098. NJT stated that Conrail

9240-493: The rigorous mountain descent. Before the highway construction of the late 1950s was completed in the early 60s, two additional branchlike housing concentrations existed, the lined either side of "California Road" which intersected Old U.S. 40 in the heart of the small business district at landmarks, Paci's Restaurant and Cuppies Drive-In Theatre ; the former set in a 17th-century stone Inn. The fourth concentration of housing extended from beside and beyond Cuppies Drive-In for over

9350-470: The river shared resources and functioned as an elongated yard system. With its new role as railroad center and coking center together with the decline of outfitting, the town gradually lost its diverse mix of businesses, but, nonetheless, generally prospered during the early 20th century through the 1960s. Brownsville tightened its belt during the Great Depression , but the local economy resumed growth with

9460-573: The river. After 1845, its boats were used even by those intending to later take the Santa Fe Trail or Oregon Trail , as floating on a poleboat by river to St. Louis or other ports on the Mississippi River was generally safer, easier and far faster than overland travel of the time. A large flatboat -building industry developed at Brownsville, exploiting the flats across the river in present-day West Brownsville to erect building slips. This

9570-491: The service was improved through increased capital investment , the economic basis of the railroad would be improved. During its first seven years, Conrail proved to be highly unprofitable, despite receiving billions of dollars of assistance from Congress. The corporation declared enormous losses on its federal income tax returns from 1976 through 1982, resulting in an accumulated net operating loss of $ 2.2 billion during that period. Congress once again reacted with support by passing

9680-595: The singer developed his hit " What'd I Say " as part of an after-show jam in Brownsville in December 1958. In 2019, Brownsville served as the primary filming location for the coming-of-age comedy-drama web television series I Am Not Okay with This , which became available on Netflix in 2020. Brownsville is located at 40°1′12″N 79°53′22″W  /  40.02000°N 79.88944°W  / 40.02000; -79.88944 (40.020026, −79.889536), situated on

9790-638: The successful bidder. After considerable debate in Congress, the Conrail Privatization Act of 1986 was signed into law by President Reagan on October 21, 1986. However, in August 1986, Norfolk Southern had withdrawn its bid citing Congressional delays and taxation changes. The government decided that its interest in Conrail would then be sold by the then-largest initial public offering in US history. The sale

9900-604: The system and split it into two roughly-equal parts (alongside three residual shared-assets areas), returning rail freight competition to the Northeast by essentially undoing the 1968 merger of the Pennsylvania Railroad and New York Central Railroad that created Penn Central . Following approval by the Surface Transportation Board , CSX and NS took control in August 1998, and on June 1, 1999, began operating their respective portions of Conrail. The old company remains

10010-482: The term "Old Forts" for the mounds and earthworks created by the prehistoric Mound Builders cultures. Archeologists and anthropologists have since determined that many prehistoric Native American cultures in North America along the Mississippi River and its tributaries built massive earthworks for ceremonial, burial and religious purposes over a period of thousands of years prior to European encounter. For instance,

10120-530: The two railroads. In 1997, however, the two railroads struck a compromise agreement to jointly acquire Conrail and split most of its assets between them, with Norfolk Southern acquiring a larger portion of the Conrail network via a larger stock buyout. Under the final agreement approved by the Surface Transportation Board , Norfolk Southern acquired 58 percent of Conrail's assets, including roughly 6,000 Conrail route miles, and CSX received 42 percent of Conrail's assets, including about 3,600 route miles. The buyout

10230-527: The western lands in what became Fayette County, Pennsylvania , around the end of the American Revolution. He realized the opening of the pass through the Cumberland Narrows and the end of the war made the land at the western tip of Fayette County a natural springboard for settlers traveling to points west, such as Kentucky , Tennessee and Ohio . Many travelers used the Ohio River and its tributary,

10340-460: The western path to the summit; this was later improved and called "Burd's Road". It was an alternative route down to the Monongahela River valley from Braddock's Road , which George Washington helped to build. Washington came to own vast portions of the lands on the west bank of the Monongahela; the Pennsylvania legislature named Washington County after him. Entrepreneur Thomas Brown acquired

10450-494: The years leading to 1973, the freight railroad system of the Northeastern United States was collapsing. Although government-funded Amtrak took over intercity passenger services on May 1, 1971, railroad companies continued to lose money due to extensive government regulations, expensive labor costs, competition from other transportation modes, declining industrial business and other factors. The largest railroad in

10560-484: Was $ 18,559, and the median income for a family was $ 32,662. Males had a median income of $ 31,591 versus $ 21,830 for females. The per capita income for the borough was $ 13,404. About 28.8% of families and 34.3% of the population were below the poverty line , including 51.2% of those under age 18 and 17.9% of those age 65 or over. Dunlap's Creek Bridge (1839) under part of the level stretch of Market Street, carrying old U.S. Route 40 over Dunlap's Creek in Brownsville,

10670-514: Was a gateway destination for emigrants heading west to the Ohio Country and the new United States' Northwest Territory , and later for travelers heading westwards on the various Emigrant Trails both to the Near West and later the Far West . As an outfitting center, the borough provided the markets for the small-scale industries in the surrounding counties, as well as for Maryland shipping goods over

10780-665: Was approved by the Surface Transportation Board (STB) (successor agency to the Interstate Commerce Commission(ICC) and took place on August 22, 1998. Under the control of lawyer-turned-CEO Tim O'Toole , the lines were transferred to two newly formed limited liability companies , to be subsidiaries of Conrail but leased to CSX and Norfolk Southern, respectively New York Central Lines (NYC) and Pennsylvania Lines (PRR). The NYC and PRR reporting marks , which had passed to Conrail, were also transferred to

10890-408: Was bankrupt, but was somewhat stronger financially than the others. It was ruled reorganizable under Chapter 77 on April 30, 1974 (as had the Boston and Maine Railroad ), but on January 9, 1975, with no end to its losses in sight, its trustees reconsidered and asked for inclusion. The Final System Plan assigned a major section of the EL, from northern New Jersey west to northeast Ohio , to be sold to

11000-625: Was called, provided interim funding to the bankrupt railroads and defined a new Consolidated Rail Corporation under the Association of American Railroads ' plan. The 3R Act also formed the United States Railway Association (USRA), another government corporation , taking over the powers of the Interstate Commerce Commission with respect to allowing the bankrupt railroads to abandon unprofitable lines. The USRA

11110-508: Was constructed during the French and Indian War on the bluff above the river near a prehistoric earthwork mound that was also the site of historic Native American burial grounds. In 1774, a force from the Colony of Virginia garrisoned and occupied the stockade during Lord Dunmore's War against the Mingo and Shawnee peoples. It commanded the important strategic river ford of Nemacolin's Trail ,

11220-459: Was divided between Norfolk Southern Railway and CSX Transportation in 1999, all remaining locomotives have been successively repainted, and many remain in service. CR units had unique features such as "Bright Future" blue paint, flashing ditch lights, and Leslie RS-3L horns. Another key spotting feature is ditch lights mounted under the locomotive's front deck. This is a preference different from Norfolk Southern and CSX, which order locomotives with

11330-568: Was effective from March 26, 1987, when Conrail's stock, worth $ 1.65 billion, was sold to private investors. Conrail inherited the commuter rail operations of its predecessor lines. It relinquished several during the 1970s, including the Erie Cleveland–Youngstown service (discontinued in 1977), the Pennsylvania Railroad Chicago–Valparaiso service (transferred to Amtrak in 1979), and the services within

11440-577: Was expensive, and Conrail faced financial difficulty. As mentioned above, significant projects took place to reduce trackage, oftentimes removing double-track with automatic block signals in favor of single track with centralized traffic control (CTC). Conrail also installed CTC across much of the former PRR multi-track mainline, which had relied on local towers to operate signals and control track. Conrail spent its entire existence installing tri-light signals (using NORAC rules) across much of its system. Many Conrail-installed signaling locations were removed in

11550-480: Was followed by its rapid entry into the building of steamboats : local craftsmen built the Enterprise in 1814, the first steamboat powerful enough to travel down the Mississippi River to New Orleans and back. Earlier boats did not have enough power to go upstream against the river's current. Brownsville developed as an early center of the steamboat-building industry in the 19th century. The Monongahela converges with

11660-455: Was incorporated on February 1, 1974, and Edward G. Jordan, an insurance executive from California , was named president on March 18 by Nixon. Arthur D. Lewis of Eastern Air Lines was appointed chairman on April 30, and the remainder of the board was named on May 30 and sworn in on July 11. Under the 3R Act, the USRA was to create a "Final System Plan" to decide which lines should be included in

11770-524: Was losing over $ 1 million a day and trains were becoming lost all over the railroad. In 1972, Hurricane Agnes damaged the rundown Northeast railway network and threatened the solvency of other railroads, including the somewhat more solvent Erie Lackawanna (EL). In mid-1973, officials with the bankrupt Penn Central threatened to liquidate and cease operations by year's end if they did not receive government aid by October 1. This threat to US freight and passenger traffic galvanized Congress to quickly create

11880-480: Was to be the main yard for the railroad throughout its history. In 1911 the railroad served seven mines and fifty one coke works (with 34 coke works and 1 mine being on the Dunlap Creek Division) The daily rated output was 1,395 cars of coke and 280 cars of coal. In 1911-1912 the big push was the state line extension, to make a connection with the Buckhannon and Northern Railway (B&N). It involved

11990-407: Was typical of the time. The restructuring of the railroad and steel industries caused a severe loss of jobs and population in Brownsville, beginning in the 1970s. The borough had a population of 2,331 as of the 2010 census. In pre-Columbian times, the right bank of the Monongahela River held several mounds where iron-rich red stone predominated, now believed to have been constructed by a branch of

12100-413: Was under Crane's leadership that Conrail truly became a profitable operation. Soon after Crane took office in 1981 he shed another 4,400 miles from the Conrail system in the following two years, which accounted for only 1% of the railroad's overall traffic and 2% of its profits while saving it millions of dollars in maintenance costs. NERSA relieved Conrail of its requirement to provide commuter service on

#850149