What I have posted here was found back in 1999 buried among the ruins of my
teenage darkroom at Mother's house. I did what I could to make them viewable when
scanning, but some of the negatives were just too far gone to revive even
digitally. Oh for the chance to go back to 1975 and beat some sense into
myself......
I used to ride my bicycle around town to some of the interesting railfan spots
and occasionally I would take my camera along with me. More often than not I
would leave it at home as riding with the Petri slung around my neck wasn't
very comfortable and I was always worried the strap would break and send my
prized SLR tumbling on the street at 25mph. Those fears were justified as
that's exactly how that old warrior met its demise in 1977! I wish I had had
the money to replace it back then, I'd have a lot more of the early days of
Conrail on film today and probably better quality shots than most of those
shown here.
I dedicate this site to my father, Henry Sr, my railfan partner from the
time I was born until he dropped his fire in July of '97.
For what it's worth, enjoy :)
- Henry
You are visitor
to J. Henry Priebe Jr.'s WNY 1970's Page
All photos © J. Henry Priebe Jr. unless otherwise noted.
[Previous (21 to 40)] Photos 41 through 55 of 55 total
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CR/LV RS-3 216 is shoving north on Conrail's ex-PC, ex-NYC Niagara Branch under the ex-DL&W Black Rock Branch overpass in Buffalo, NY in the summer of 1976 Just a 3 short years earlier the 216 had been wearing LV's rare wide yellow stripe livery as well as several others in its LV lifetime Directly in front of the 216 is an ex-PRR N5 cabin Shot as a teenager with a cheap Petri SLR, Kodak Tri-X 400 speed B&W and processed in my attic bathroom image/jpeg, 760x508 (256c) lv216-01.jpg 95451 bytes |
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Head on shot of CR/LV RS-3 216 in the summer of 1976 Shot as a teenager with a cheap Petri SLR, Kodak Tri-X 400 speed B&W and processed in my attic bathroom image/jpeg, 800x1072 (256c) lv216-02.jpg 154482 bytes |
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CR/PC U25B 2614 heads a TV train eastbound from Niagara Falls near "the white house" on Conrail's ex-NYC/PC Niagara Branch Shot from in front of CR/LV RS-3 216 which was standing on the Wonalancet Runner image/jpeg, 800x533 (256c) pc2614.jpg 79521 bytes |
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A trio of CR/PC U33C's leads a westbound freight through the crossovers to the Chicago main at CP49A in Buffalo. Central Terminal is in the left background. The tail end of the train is just clearing the west end terminal interlocking and the Buffalo Creek connection at mile post 437. This scene is mostly gone today. Two tracks, one to Chicago and one to downtown Buffalo and the north, are all that remain. The line running off to the right is the ex-PRR Harrisburg line through FW, DM and Ebenezer. All of the switches visible here and the signal bridge from which this was shot are gone. The tower is gone without even a trace of its existence left. I worked hard to bring the contrast in when scanning, but the negative just didn't want to cooperate. image/jpeg, 800x1043 (256c) pc6548-1.jpg 271421 bytes |
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CR/PC U33C 6548 leads a westbound freight through the crossovers and under the signal bridge between CP49A and CP50 on the Buffalo Main to Chicago image/jpeg, 800x533 (256c) pc6548-2.jpg 125189 bytes |
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A westbound CR freight at what used to be Tower 50 on the ex nyc/PC Buffalo Main shot from the signal bridge image/jpeg, 800x509 (256c) pc6548-3.jpg 104136 bytes |
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CR/PC GP9 7307 out on a local in the summer of 1976. This unit was based in Buffalo Another damaged negative from sitting in an envelope too close to some hypo in my 70's darkroom as a teenager. Further evidence of the value of photographic discipline image/jpeg, 800x529 (256c) pc7307-1.jpg 72919 bytes |
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The other end of CR/PC GP9 7307 out on a Buffalo area local in the summer of 1976 Mercifully, this negative escaped damage image/jpeg, 800x529 (256c) pc7307-2.jpg 73315 bytes |
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CR/PC SW1500's 9567 and 9576 bring open top tri-level auto racks into the US from Canada over the International Bridge at Black Rock in 1976 PC and early on CR used the NYC/MC/CSOR route through Canada from Windsor to Fort Erie for most of the finished auto traffic to the northeast image/jpeg, 800x533 (256c) pc9567.jpg 85214 bytes |
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A trio of CR/PC U33C's crosses over a westbound freight at CP49A on the Buffalo Main This scene is mostly gone today. Two tracks, one to Chicago and one to downtown Buffalo and the north, are all that remain. The line running off the right is the ex-PRR Harrisburg line through FW, DM and Ebeneezer. All of the switches visible here and the signal bridge from which this was shot are gone. The tower is gone without even a trace of its existence left. Worked hard to bring the contrast in when scanning, but the negative just didn't want to cooperate. The only reason I leave this shot in the collection is because precious few views of CP49A in the late PC and early CR days exist. Judging by the placement of the tower north of the tracks it is a safe bet there were many more tracks at this location. In the near foreground you can still count 7 of them and it appears as if there was room for as many as 9 tracks (maybe even 10) back in the days of steam. This must have been an awesome spot to railfan! image/jpeg, 800x528 (256c) pcmain01.jpg 109147 bytes |
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On May 5th, 1977 the ex-NYC Buffalo belt line was still a pretty interesting place to watch trains While the ubiquitous PC black still dominated, TH&B geeps, EL and LV power had begin to infiltrate this double track connection from Frontier Yard and the Main Line to the Niagara Branch and Canada Here CR/PC GP9 7429, GP38 2377 and an ex-Pennsy GP9B bring a train timetable east from Niagara Yard As a foolhardy 15 year old I jumped on this train after the power passed by and shot a number of photos on the way to Frontier Yard. For the rest of the pics Check here image/jpeg, 800x617 (24bit) pcride0.jpg 68529 bytes |
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CR/PC SW9 8924 works Exchange St. downtown freight trackage in the summer of 1976 Note the ex-NYC transfer caboose behind the switcher The old NYC Carroll St. freight house was still standing at the time of this photo. Very little trackage remains in this area today image/jpeg, 800x528 (256c) pcsw01.jpg 96413 bytes |
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CR/PC/P&E SW9 8910 on the Niagara Branch in Buffalo, NY in 1976 Note the removed EMD builder's plate below the cab image/jpeg, 800x1118 (256c) pe8910.jpg 154325 bytes |
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Amtrak's Niagara Rainbow approaching Lafayette Ave eastbound on the ex-NYC Niagara Branch in the summer of 1976 Note the 'GR-55' advert on the side of the building depicting the Buffalo Sabres' famed 'French Connection' line of Perreault, Martin and Robert who led the team to the '75 Stanley Cup in the team's 5th season of existence, WGR radio carried all of the Sabres games for many years I used to sit on the ruin of an old concrete block wall at the foot of Breckenridge St. during my summer lunch hours in the hopes of seeing either the TH&B/CP Budd cars from Toronro or the Niagara Rainbow pass by image/jpeg, 800x821 (256c) rainbow1.jpg 94543 bytes |
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Amtrak's Niagara Rainbow passing Lafayette Ave eastbound on the ex-NYC Niagara Branch in the summer of 1976 image/jpeg, 800x533 (256c) rainbow2.jpg 59667 bytes |
