Penn Central, 1968-1976

The much anticipated, and long delayed, merger of the Pennsylvania and New York Central in 1968 (with the forced addition of the New Haven in 1969) was not to be a panacea for railroading in the Northeast. Indeed just two years later, the new Penn Central became the largest bankruptcy in American history at that time. The Penn Central was losing $2-million dollars every three days.The eight year saga of the PC came to an end in 1976 with the creation, by Congress, of Conrail.

In 1968 there were eight daily passenger trains from Pittsburgh to Philly and New York while commuter trains operated as far as Chatham, New York. Heavy freights paraded (or plodded?) along the PC’s mainlines behind an assortment of modern and vintage diesel and electric power.

Locations in this video range from the GG-1 washer at Sunnyside Yard to Federal Street in Pittsburgh; from Syracuse to Oak Harbor; Chicago to Columbus – and many more exciting PC locations.

Films from a half dozen photographers help us look back at important transition period – one we can see now was filled with a lot of variety.