Bob Waller - The same day I shot the sign and can photos below, I shot the south side of the engine terminal. It's a few days after NS took over in 1999 and no one in Enola is happy. Trains were backed up all over the place, NS crews were pouring in from the deep south to replace Conrail crews that had been sent elsewhere. Total chaos. Everyone suddenly hated their job. It was not a good day to shoot the terminal from trackside, even though we had been down there a few minutes earlier shooting some still-Conrail locos. I snapped this shot as Lon and I drove off. It would be my last view of Enola before heading back home to my neck of the deep south.

Bob Waller - Welcome to Enola Yard! This is the old Conrail sign that you used to see when entering the Enola engine terminal trackside. Even though NS had just taken over, NS gons had been a common sight for years in the yard.

Bob Waller - This is the infamous Conrail trash can from Enola Engine Terminal in Enola, PA. Shortly after I took this photo a few days after NS took over Conrail in 1999 the can was gone. Now who is laughing at my photo! Mwahahaha! (Lon Godshall was with me when I shot the can and ribbed me about it for days, until someone let us know that the can had suddenly disappeared. Then he changed his tune! I have a feeling the can is resting in peace in a former Conrail employee's backyard.)

Bob Waller - Conrail was famous for foreign power nearly every where on its system. Name any major North American railroad and odds on that it had locomotives running across Conrail tracks. Canadian Pacific had regular run-through service from Philadephia to Allentown and points north to the old Delaware & Hudson, which they owned. Conrail symbol "D&H556" is heading toward Philly at CP Belt in September 1996 . Leading are CP SD-40-2 5429, leased NS C30-7 8063, and CP SD-40-2 5677 with its US flag painted out. Not specifically Conrail, but I want people to understand that Conrail modeling is much more than just blue, which is another reason I like Conrail so much!

Bob Waller - It was one of those great spring days in 1996 when I caught this westbound 'hotrail' mixed freight thundering through Sinking Spring, PA, one of my favorite spots due to the three grade crossings. Only the first three units are under power, which follows Conrail's practice of allowing only so many operating traction motors per train. The rest of the locomotives are being shipped to Harrisburg for further assignments. This wasn't a common scene on Conrail to see so many locomotives on the head of a freight train.

Bob Waller -

Bob Waller - Over the years Conrail owned two business cars carrying the number 1. Pictured here from 1996 is the second Conrail 1, which Conrail purchased in 1982 from the Southern Railway. For more detailed prototype information about both Conrail 1 business cars, download my article.

Bob Waller - Unlike the first photos above, I was well onto becoming an adult. I was 14, was using my father's 35mm German camera, and was allowed for the first time to visit without parents the Reading Company yard and shops along 6th Street with my buddy. On that first solo trip along the yard at mid-day on a sticky, hazy summer day in June 1977 I found Conrail GP-35 3686 moving RDG 902, one of three remaining Reading Company FP-7's that were use on 'push-pull' commuter service between Reading and Philadelphia. Conrail transferred 902 and the other two FP7s over to Septa, which operated the commuter service.

Bob Waller - I always am interested in the human element of railroading. On modern mainline trains, that is rarely seen. But you can still find it on the local runs that switch out lineside industries. Here we see one such local on Conrail's Reading Line, WPCH-11, with trainman on the ground working the Deka Batteries siding in Lyon, PA, in September 1996.

Bob Waller - A common scene at Derry Street in Hershey during the entire Conrail era, a temporary operator hands up train orders at the crossovers, which he had to control in case of problems. SD-60I 5578 is getting his orders one late August evening in 1996 as the aroma of chocolate wafts through the air.

Bob Waller - It's August 1996 on a wonderfully warm afternoon as westbound ALNS (Allentown, PA - NS/Haggerstown, MD) thunders upgrade through CP Wyomissing Jct. Since I was railfanning that day without my little boy, I was able to wander to places I never would have otherwise. Wyomissing has never been a scenic spot for photos, but I have always liked how this one came out.

Bob Waller - Once again I am railfanning a spot not known for its scenic beauty, Alburtis, PA, on Conrail's Reading Line, formally known as the East Penn Branch. A westbound mixed freight is heading toward Reading in September 1996 as the evening sun catches the rain elements in the clouds, looking almost like a storm front.

Bob Waller - Sometimes those grab shots turn out better than those we plan for. Such was the case back in October 1996 when my son and I raced out of the car and through the trees to catch this westbound P&S coal drag in Emmaus, PA. What makes this photo truly memorable is the fellow and his dog watching the freight from the bridge. Man's best friends! This still remains my favorite 1990's photo that I've taken

Bob Waller - Conrail behind bars! I ran up to the fence shouting "be free, be free little SW-9" but to no avail. She remained there. Motionless. I wept. Well, maybe it didn't happen exactly that way. But I was excited to find a long-since retired 1,200hp Conrail SW-9 in Waycross, GA, along with a Rio Grande SW-1500 on October 4, 1999. I thought it would make an unusual wallpaper photo. Oh little SW-900, we shall miss you and your owner. May your parts rest in peace.