With the trip west to find work on other railroads being a bust, Big Mike and the gang return to the land of Blues.
Still in the grips of the recession, Conrail was looking for other alternatives to increase revenue and cut costs. Conrail began heavily promoting intermodal operations to increase revenue and further consolidated operations to cut costs.
While Conrail was never really conducive to the D&H's operations, they tightened their stranglehold on the D&H by siphoning off as much traffic as possible. The combined D&H named trains became shorter and shorter. With very little traffic left and on the edge of bankruptcy, Guilford purchased the D&H in 1983. Their plan was to expand regional operations from New England to the Philadelphia and New York markets. Guilford control did little to improve the D&H operations and the expanded markets would never materialize. The D&H would eventually end up in bankruptcy
In volume 11 we return to the Lehigh Valley with Mike and the gang to railfan the changing operations of Conrail, the Guilford takeover of the D&H and a few excursions out of Jim Thorpe with former CNJ 1554 As usual, Big Mike provides the commentary.
Narrated with commentary by Mike Bednar
Color and original sound, approximately 72 minutes run time
Still in the grips of the recession, Conrail was looking for other alternatives to increase revenue and cut costs. Conrail began heavily promoting intermodal operations to increase revenue and further consolidated operations to cut costs.
While Conrail was never really conducive to the D&H's operations, they tightened their stranglehold on the D&H by siphoning off as much traffic as possible. The combined D&H named trains became shorter and shorter. With very little traffic left and on the edge of bankruptcy, Guilford purchased the D&H in 1983. Their plan was to expand regional operations from New England to the Philadelphia and New York markets. Guilford control did little to improve the D&H operations and the expanded markets would never materialize. The D&H would eventually end up in bankruptcy
In volume 11 we return to the Lehigh Valley with Mike and the gang to railfan the changing operations of Conrail, the Guilford takeover of the D&H and a few excursions out of Jim Thorpe with former CNJ 1554 As usual, Big Mike provides the commentary.
Narrated with commentary by Mike Bednar
Color and original sound, approximately 72 minutes run time
Customer Reviews
👍 4 found this helpful
✓ Verified Purchase
- 3 of 5
The "Railfanning with the Bednars" series is one that I anxiously look forward to new releases. And while I am happy that I made this purchased, I was still slightly disappointed. Something that I could always count on with the Bednars releases, was very good (considering the age of the footage) clarity and image-quality. Certain parts of this release were lacking in that area, with shaky and slightly blurry images. But again, given the age of the footage, it was still acceptable, albeit disappointing. As usual, Mike Bednar provides excellent and informative narration, from a railroaders perspective, and he is not hesitant to hold-back on his opinions! Overall, I would still recommend this release for those interested in the Conrail-transition.
Additional comments:
Narration: Just enough.
Would kids enjoy this? Maybe.
Image quality: A little rough around the edges.
Value: Fair.
Recommend? Yes.
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