Numbered 6358-6524, Conrail's SD40-2's were found system wide heading up trains of all varieties as well as working on helpers over the famous Horseshoe Curve on the Pittsburgh Line. Conrail acquired its SD40-2 fleet new from EMD in 1977, 78 and 79.
The SD40-2's had a feature unique to the road, the substitution of EMD's older Flexicoil trucks in place of the newly developed (and mistakenly believed to be flawed) HTC trucks that were delivered to all other SD40-2 owners.
In 1999, the fleet was divided between Norfolk Southern and CSX. Those assigned to NS were renumbered into the 3329 - 3424 series, while CSX allocated units became 8800 - 8889 where they still haul freight today.
![NS 3357 Shoves an Eastbound Coal Train Down "The Slide"](http://thecrhs.org/files/images/SATAM_IMG_6420.thumbnail.jpg "NS 3357 Shoves an Eastbound Coal Train Down "The Slide"")
While some attendees hung out at the main tunnels, a few of us trekked over to "The Slide", or the line through the New Portage tunnel. We caught an eastbound coal train with these ex-Cons on the tail shoving for another minute, but just about to start lending their baking muscle to the train, as you can see where the uphill battle begins a downhill one here.
