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Conrail (U.S.)

image by Randy Young, 7 February 2016

Description

See also:

Commercial Flags (index)
United States of America

Description

"The Consolidated Rail Corporation, commonly known as Conrail (reporting mark CR), was the primary Class I railroad in the Northeast U.S. between 1976 and 1999. Conrail is a portmanteau of "consolidated" and "rail" from the name of the company. It was established on May 1, 1976 by the U.S. federal government to take over the potentially profitable lines of multiple bankrupt carriers. These companies were:
- PC (Penn Central Transportation Company) (flag: http://www.ebay.ca/itm/PENN-CENTRAL-flag-banner-RARE-Mint-Condition-3x5-feet-long-/151975837908?hash=item23627740d4)
- EL (Erie Lackawanna Railway)
- AA (Ann Arbor Railroad)
- LV (Lehigh Valley Railroad)
- RDG (Reading Company)
- CNJ (Central Railroad of New Jersey) (flag: http://www.ebay.com/itm/381013579902)
- L&HR (Lehigh and Hudson River Railway)
- PRSL (Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore Lines) (flag on the right: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7b/Philadelphia)
- MGA (Monongahela Railway) (merged in 1993)

Conrail was turned over to private investors in 1987. The two remaining Class I railroads in the East, CSX Transportation and the Norfolk Southern Railway (NS), agreed in 1997 to split the system approximately equally, returning rail freight competition to the Northeast by essentially undoing the 1968 merger of the Pennsylvania Railroad and New York Central Railroad that created Penn Central. Following Surface Transportation Board approval, CSX and NS took control in August 1998, and on June 1, 1999, began operating their portions of Conrail. The old company remains a jointly-owned subsidiary, with CSX and NS owning respectively 42 percent and 58 percent of its stock, corresponding to how much of Conrail's assets they acquired. The primary asset retained by Conrail is ownership of the three Shared Assets Areas in New Jersey, Philadelphia, and Detroit and it is called (unofficially) Conrail Shared Assets Operations (official website: http://www.conrail.com/)"
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conrail

Its flag is a blue horizontal flag with the logo (https://www.signalsigns.com/products/0065.jpg) in the middle, as seen here: http://pittsburghmainline.weebly.com/uploads/1/2/1/2/12127868/6398262_orig.jpg, http://pittsburghmainline.weebly.com/uploads/1/2/1/2/12127868/3394994_orig.jpg
(source: http://pittsburghmainline.weebly.com/train-nerds-blog/archives/08-2015) and here: http://www.ebay.com/itm/3x5-Polydura-100-Polyester-Conrail-Flag-/111690495804
Esteban Rivera, 7 February 2016