In 1992, Conrail would again divest themselves of trackage and operations in the coal regions through their continuing consolidation program. The Reading & Northern acquired trackage from Conrail near Hazleton to serve the Jeddo Coal Company and purchased trackage from East Mahanoy Junction to Oneida and the line to Delano from Schuylkill County. This would allow the bulk of remaining rail shipments of Anthracite coal to be funneled through Reading.

The Reading & Northern would handle the acquisition and blending of Anthracite coal from different companies in the coal regions and transfer it to Conrail in North Reading. Conrail would then deliver the blended coal to port in Baltimore for export.

During this time, the R&N also acquired GE U23B locomotives from Conrail to handle the increased traffic and replace a few of the aging locomotives on the roster.

In volume 4, we’ll witness the qualifying run on the newly acquired line from East Mahanoy Junction to Delano and the acquisition of the freshly painted U23B locomotives from Conrail.

Digitized from the videotapes of the Ed Heck Collection

Narrated with commentary by Mike Bednar

Color and sound; approximately 64 minutes runtime