In April 1984, on one of our countless rail-photo excursions together, my father and I paused to photograph this set of Conrail locomotives near the former Lehigh Valley Oak Island Yards in Newark, New Jersey.
GP30 2175 caught my attention, as I always admired the unusual semi-streamlined cab that characterised this EMD classic diesel.
Although I have a number of Conrail GP30 photos, this is one of the few images I have of a former Reading Company unit, which today makes it special, since I embarked on a project to re-imagine the Reading in HO-scale several years ago (presently in hiatus while I embark on more Reading research).
Conrail’s early years were an exciting time for me. I don’t think Pop was as impressed, but he brought me to many neat places across the east to watch and photograph Conrail, which was the greatest show around at the time.
Today, one of Conrail’s GP30s is preserved at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania. Old 2233 will be one of the topics of my next class on railroad photography at the museum, scheduled for April 14, 2026.
To register for the class see: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/railroad-photography-prr-to-penn-central-to-conrail-with-brian-solomon-tickets-1985578201852?aff=oddtdtcreator
Tracking the Light looks back on Conrail!