Conrail's Philly Piers

[miggitymase]

my dad kenny and his brother marc along with a crew of operating engineers cut all 4 cranes apart plus the coal loading apparatus and coal loading crane.

[NomaDairy]

Thats really really neat!

[irishmanO1]

great video thanks for shareing

[railroadjim]

Neat, I just saw CR 7554 at pier 124 in that video. I think that's the same engine that now exists as the PRL/ESPN 7554 in East Greenville, PA on the ex-Reading Perkiomen Branch.

[Tcaauwe2002]

do you know which laker boat was being loaded?

[fmnut]

@Tcaauwe2002 The CSL vessel Nanticoke. Not strictly a "laker" this class of vessel was known as a "Laker-Salty" since its hull was reinforced for ocean duty which was not the case with traditional lakers

[njRRtrainer]

This was great, was born and raised in So Phillie.. glad someone captured this and was able to share...

[tugboat1995]

This is now a lay pier for my company's tugs and barges. We are being runoff as the container facility is expanding. All the crane structures were torn down last year and the water is being filled in between the two piers with dredge spoil from the river. They are deepening the channel all the way from the Bay

[portobellotent]

WOW! Fascinating video! Truly Amazing film work! I have found a treasure of industrial history set in beautiful landscapes. Big Thank you for showing how this world works, and I am grateful to You Tube

[kalcapone1]

seet this has those narrow gauge pusher locos.

[2READYCRETE]

My Dad worked that job, caught that job off the Erie Ave Road Board

[iusetano]

Great video. Thanks for sharing.

[UrbanDKaye]

Fascinating look at an element of railroading not often seen.

[mjb430]

Thank you for sharing! Where were these located in South Philly? It is the area directly south of the Walt Whitman bridge where CSX now has their intermodal facility?

[fmnut]

A bit further south of that, about 0.8 miles from the Walt Whitman.  At the time I filmed this you could drive right into the place but I believe it is all fenced off now.

[yaggy9]

awesome video, always wondered about this operation. a shame it's closed up.

[CSX6000]

That's 7554! The same GP10 that's now on the EPSN's Perk Branch! Holy cow!

[bartertown]

The ore tipple is gone. They are cleaning out the ore in between the rails of the loop track. Does anyone know what will be done with the loop? Will they scrap the rails or use this to turn power or something?

[fmnut]

The reason the ramp has the progressively steeper upward curve is so no matter how fast the car comes down the hill, the curve will kill its momentum and reverse its direction.

[TIMKELLYO]

wow

[PaulPeirceFan]

wat was that ramp thing used for?

[fmnut]

If you watch the action in the video, you will see cars roll down against the "ramp thing" which is actually known as a "kickback". The cars are dropped by gravity from the receiving yard, down an incline and through a spring switch onto the kickback which then shoots the car back onto the track with the barney pit so that the barney (pusher arm) can shove the car up to the dumper.

[bartertown]

The ore tipple was recently torn down. We can turn power on the loop tracks now.

[Hickler90]

Thank you for posting this. Its amazing something like this even existed down there. I cant imagine it today.

[railroadvideo]

Great video, thanks for posting such a unique record of railroad history.

[sean121982]

This video is absolutely freaking EPIC! So cool to see someone was interested enough in Philly's railroad and industrial history to capture this. ROCK ON!

[ekapus]

This video is incredible.

When was it shot?

[fmnut]

January 1991. This was the first boat load of QIT anthracite to come off the Reading & Northern after its takeover of Conrail's Reading Cluster in late 1990. Destination: Quebec Iron & Titanium, Sorel QC.

[jtunnel]

Fantastic video, thank you for sharing. Shame it is all just memories now.

[fmnut]

Too bad it's all gone now. And with the new homeland security regs, I wouldn't get within half a mile of the place today if it were still in operation. In those days you could just park and walk out to the end of the pier like you owned the place. I got up on the ship just by talking to the mate.

Glad I was able to do it before it shut down.

[sal3060]

Yeah, but don't you FEEL safer knowing that homeland security is on top of things like this?

:(

[cuzinitr]

Wow, What an operation! If i could be there all day watching, I'd be a happy man! Thank's for posting this video, 5 star and favorite's, Rich.