Uploaded September 2025 | Updated September 2026, 19 hours ago
Big Blue is gone; long live Big Blue. See Conrail at its finest in the last full year of operations - on the busy Pittsburgh Line. Excellent videography and detailed narration by Pentrex Narrator Dave Drui.
Get better quality and a permanent addition to your collection with the DVD: tinyurl.com/FarewellConrail
About Pentrex: For 40+ Years we've been the leader in railroad video entertainment. See us at Pentrex.com and right here on YouTube, with the Official Pentrex Channel!
About this show: Savor images of Conrail action across the Pittsburgh Line - the very soul of this once mighty transportation giant as captured during the late 1990s. See how Big Blue conquered the Allegheny Mountains and witness the diverse variety of freight it sent over the line. Huge intermodal trains powered by shiny new ""Blue"" diesels hustle doublestacked containers over the recently rebuilt right-of-way. Massive coal trains and high tonnage freights flow across the double and triple track of this most scenic and demanding stretch of railroad.
Starting west of Pittsburgh at the massive Conway Yard, heading east through the Steel City, Greensburg, and Latrobe to Conpit Junction, we follow the trains into the heart of the Allegheny Mountains. The line comes down through Conemaugh Gorge to Johnstown. From here most eastbounds get helpers to pull tonnage over the mountains. The trains put on great shows on the west slope as they work through Cresson, past MO Tower, to the summit at Gallitzin and down to Altoona. For a grand finale we follow westbound traffic from Altoona to the Gallitzin tunnels. View famous spots such as Alto Tower, Horseshoe Curve, Allegrippus, and Bennington Curve as train after train assaults the east slope of the Alleghenies. You'll experience Conrail to its fullest in this farewell tribute to the men, women, and machines of the railroad known as Big Blue!
CHAPTERS
--------------------
00:00 Open
01:29 Pittsburgh Line Map
02:50 Conway & East Conway Yard
11:08 Over the Ohio River at McKeesport
12:57 "The Trench" in Pittsburgh
14:35 Golden Triangle & Downtown Pittsburgh
19:02 E. Pittsburgh & Pitcairn Intermodal yard
28:16 Manor thru Greensburg & the OCS
34:21 Latrobe
38:06 Conpit Jct
46:27 Conemaugh Gorge
49:08 Johnstown, C Tower, E. Conemaugh
58:19 Mineral Point, Triple Crown, South Fork
01:07:26 Cassandra, Juniata, Altoona, ALTO Tower
01:18:52 Horseshoe Curve, Bennington Curve
01:27:46 Gallitzin
Video thumbnail photo by stand-out railfan photographer Roger Puta.
Big Blue is gone; long live Big Blue. See Conrail at its finest in the last full year of operations - on the busy Pittsburgh Line. Excellent videography and detailed narration by Pentrex Narrator Dave Drui.
Get better quality and a permanent addition to your collection with the DVD: tinyurl.com/FarewellConrail
About Pentrex: For 40+ Years we've been the leader in railroad video entertainment. See us at Pentrex.com and right here on YouTube, with the Official Pentrex Channel!
About this show: Savor images of Conrail action across the Pittsburgh Line - the very soul of this once mighty transportation giant as captured during the late 1990s. See how Big Blue conquered the Allegheny Mountains and witness the diverse variety of freight it sent over the line. Huge intermodal trains powered by shiny new ""Blue"" diesels hustle doublestacked containers over the recently rebuilt right-of-way. Massive coal trains and high tonnage freights flow across the double and triple track of this most scenic and demanding stretch of railroad.
Starting west of Pittsburgh at the massive Conway Yard, heading east through the Steel City, Greensburg, and Latrobe to Conpit Junction, we follow the trains into the heart of the Allegheny Mountains. The line comes down through Conemaugh Gorge to Johnstown. From here most eastbounds get helpers to pull tonnage over the mountains. The trains put on great shows on the west slope as they work through Cresson, past MO Tower, to the summit at Gallitzin and down to Altoona. For a grand finale we follow westbound traffic from Altoona to the Gallitzin tunnels. View famous spots such as Alto Tower, Horseshoe Curve, Allegrippus, and Bennington Curve as train after train assaults the east slope of the Alleghenies. You'll experience Conrail to its fullest in this farewell tribute to the men, women, and machines of the railroad known as Big Blue!
CHAPTERS
--------------------
00:00 Open
01:29 Pittsburgh Line Map
02:50 Conway & East Conway Yard
11:08 Over the Ohio River at McKeesport
12:57 "The Trench" in Pittsburgh
14:35 Golden Triangle & Downtown Pittsburgh
19:02 E. Pittsburgh & Pitcairn Intermodal yard
28:16 Manor thru Greensburg & the OCS
34:21 Latrobe
38:06 Conpit Jct
46:27 Conemaugh Gorge
49:08 Johnstown, C Tower, E. Conemaugh
58:19 Mineral Point, Triple Crown, South Fork
01:07:26 Cassandra, Juniata, Altoona, ALTO Tower
01:18:52 Horseshoe Curve, Bennington Curve
01:27:46 Gallitzin
Video thumbnail photo by stand-out railfan photographer Roger Puta.
