Conrail's Office Car Special is out and running again this week and is slated for trips over the next two weeks.  The current trip departed Altoona yesterday afternoon and arrived in Philadelphia last night.  Today the train will leave Philly and head west to Toledo, OH via Amtrak to Harrisburg, then the Pittsburgh Line.  OCS-101 has E8A 4022 leading E8A's 4021 and 4020 with six business cars.  You can get to the schedule by clicking on the link at the top of the page. -Kevin Burkholder

CIRCUS TRAIN MOVE

After the May 17 show at the Hartford Civic Center in Connecticut, RBB&B 128th Blue Unit Circus Train will be loaded for departure to Conrail as CIR-301.  CIR-301 will operate via the River Line to the Lehigh, Reading and Harrisuburg Lines to Hershey, PA.  The train is scheduled to arrive for unloading on May 19. You can get to the schedule by clicking on the link at the top of the  page.
 
Upon completion at Hershey on May 25, the train will again be loaded and depart in a reverse routing from which it arrived.  The train will arrive in Albany, NY on May 26. -Kevin Burkholder

MOTHER & MATE'S IN SHOP

We told you in April that Conrail would be sending 12 SD38 / MT-6 sets to Juniata for complete overhaul.  SD38 6956 and MT-6 1116 have already been releasd in gleaming Conrail Quaility paint.  SD38 6952 was due to be released on Friday; MT-6 1114 was due to be released yesterday.  MT-6 slug 1108 and 1112 are due to be released June 3 and May 22 respectively.  SD38 6940 is due for release on May 22 and 6943 is due out June 5. Also in the shop for similar overhaul work are GP38 7935 and GP38-2 8052.-Kevin Burkholder

LEASE UNITS ALMOST HOME

As the impending Conrail acquisition draws closer, the recall of leased units continues.  All non-LMS units have returned from Canadian National.  There are no SD40-2 or SD45-2 units leased to CN as of today. Nine GE units are still on lease to BNSF: C39-8 6001, 6005, 6006, 6008, 6009, 6020, and 6021 along with C40-8 6026 and 6028.  All units with the exception of the LMS units leased to CN and UP were recalled in mid-April, as CSX and NS have begun divying up the units.  There has NOT been an official locomotive acquisition list released to date.  Norfolk Southern and CSXT have both advised that they have still not made final decisions on what units each will acquire. - Kevin Burkholder

RADIO CHANGE

Conrail has changed their radio frequency from Road Channel 1 (160.800) to Road Channel 2 (161.070) in the Indianapolis Terminal and St. Louis terminal. -Terry Mefford

As we told you last week, CPR will be operating several passenger trains in honor of the D&H Railroad's 175th Anniversary, CPR is sending Beaver Logo SD40-2 5647 to assist D&H-painted 7309 on a string of Employee Appreciation Passenger Specials.  CPR will also be using the train to host Norfolk Southern officials next week for a trip to Albany, NY.  The train consist will include four CPR Business Cars, two Green Mountain Railway passenger cars, and four NYS&W business cars.  Two legs of the trip will be operated between Dupont Jct. on the Reading & Northern and Philadelphia-30th Street Amtrak station.  The southbound trip will carry Conrail symbol OCS-701 and the northbound trip will carry OCS-702.  The trips kick off on May 20 with a run from Binghamton to Philadelphia. Also on the return trip from Philly, the train will be tied down at Scranton for families to enjoy Steamtown on May 23. You can see the full schedule by clicking on the link at the top of the page. -Mike Collins, Kevin Burkholder

Canadian National will close the hump yard at Flat Rock, MI around June 1, 1998 due to lack of cars to be classified.  Flat Rock is handling only 500-700 cars daily now, down considerably from what it has handled in the past. The yard will continue to do flat switching and handle local industries. CN train 242 (Flat Rock, MI to Toledo, OH-Stanley Yard) and Indiana & Ohio Railway trains 258, 260, 261, 262, 263, and 413 will continue to originate and terminate in Flat Rock. All other traffic that had been classified at Flat Rock will be shifted to Detroit's East Yard.  Approximately 100 jobs will be lost with the closure of the hump.  -Terry Mefford

614 TRIPS CANELLED
We are sorry to report that the "Farewell to Conrail" trips scheduled for this fall, were canceled for various
reasons.

• The August 15 & 16--Pt. Jervis to Binghamton, NY via Conrail's Southern Tier Mainline -- CANCELED

• September 12th, 13th, and 19th & 20th.---Philadelphia (30th. Street) to Harrisburg, PA. via Amtrak's mainline -- CANCELED.

WESTERN MONTANA RAILROAD IN WESTERN MARYLAND?
Western Maryland Scenic Railroad in Cumberland, MD has undergone a big change.  2-8-0 734 is now wearing the name Western Montana Railroad and carrying the same fireball scheme as the Western Maryland.  Promptly at 11:30 ET this morning, the big 2-8-0 number 734 of the Western Montana line steamed out of the station at Cumberland, bound for Frostburg, via Mt. Savage, with a Passenger consist.

The Western Maryland Scenic is participating in the filming of a commercial, and it was financially worth their while to re-letter the equipment for a bit.  It is not known how long this scheme will remain on the 734, but if you want to feel like you are out in Montana, you don't have to go much farther than Western Maryland. - Pat Stakem

HUMMING BIRD EXPRESS
Birmingham Railroad Heritage Museum, Inc. will be operating the "Humming Bird Express",  a special Amtrak excursion train from Birmingham, AL to Nashville, TN, over CSX trackage on Saturday, May 16, 1998 and Sunday, May 17, 1998. The train will ready for boarding at 6:30 a.m at Birmingham's Amtrak station at 1819 Morris Ave. Departure northbound both days will be at 7:00 a.m., with a stop at Decatur, Alabama's Union Station at 8:30 a.m.,
arriving Nashville's Broadway Dinner Train station at the foot of Broadway on the banks of the Cumberland River at 12:00 noon.  Departure southbound from Nashville at 3:00 p.m., arrive Decatur 6:30 p.m., arrive Birmingham
8:00 p.m.  All times are Central Daylight Time. Roundtrip fares are $95.00. Train consist will be Amtrak Superliner and some privately owned cars.  Amtrak locomotives will serve as motive power for the train.

Passenger rail advocates in Alabama, Tennessee, and Kentucky are hoping to use the excursion as a springboard to call for new Amtrak service in the South, specifically Chicago-Florida through Louisville, Nashville, and Atlanta; and Cincinnati-New Orleans through Louisville, Nashville and Birmingham. This will be the first public passenger train operated over CSX's former L&N Birmingham-Nashville mainline since the discontinuance of Amtrak's "Floridian" in October, 1979.  -Ken McGarry