HO Conrail Vehicle Lettering Decals

This set was produced to introduce a more comprehensive set for these classes, which hadn't been done by previous manufacturers.

With any railroad, being able to access it and maintain remains vital, for crews to reach areas of the railroad need, a huge fleet of support vehicles was needed. Of course, identifying these vehicles from a security and utility perspective was needed too, so every vehicle had at the very least, an identifier of its owner, and then an ID number, issued by the owner which was also registered with the PUC.

After the creation of Conrail on April 1, 1976, in addition to the railroad itself, it obtained a vehicle leasing company originally created by the PRR, the Excelsior Truck Leasing Company (ETL). During the PRR era this company maintained and “leased” vehicles to the PRR including trailers in truc-train service as well as mail trucks, hy-rails and other associated vehicles. It continued to exist through Penn Central and assisted during the early years of Conrail in providing a vehicle fleet for a railroad that was still trying to make itself profitable.

The Early Scheme set covers all variations of vehicle decals applied during the Early Scheme years through to 1986. Vehicles were primarily blue in color, with a white door decal and a blue Conrail logo.

After the first decade of Conrail operating, it started to become a better refined operation, but maintaining its railroad infrastructure was a key part of that operation. That required a large fleet of vehicles with varying specialties to perform these tasks. As newer equipment became available for purchase, it was always important to maintain a clean image and seen presence along it’s mainlines of commerce.

The Middle Scheme set covers all variations of vehicle decals applied during the Middle Era Scheme years from 1986 to 1999. Vehicles were primarily Safety Yellow in color, with a blue door decal and a white Conrail logo.

In 1999, Conrail was bought up and split between Norfolk Southern and CSX, but area of high-density industrial switching were operated by Conrail Shared Assets Organization, which was created as a terminal switching railroad by NS and CSX. CSAO continued use of the Conrail logo and applied it to its newer vehicles. These are still working today as part of CSAO and the Conrail spirit lives on.

The Late Scheme set covers all variations of vehicle decals applied during the Late Era Scheme years from 1999 to present. Vehicles were either white or zeto yellow in color, with a blue door decal and a white Conrail logo.