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evening, the 15th, the new equipment (two locomotives and coaches) passed through Middletown on their way to Port Jervis. Several people stood at the station to watch the event, but finally left (except for the author who photographed the spectacle). On Monday morning, the 16th, the new equipment was placed in service. These train sets are called push-pulls as there is no need to turn the locomotive. On the east-bound trip, the engineer would sit in a special control cab in the first car with the engine at the "rear" of the train. Westbound, the engineer sat in the locomotive,
Ralph S. Tyler and Thomas F. Patton, trustees of the bankrupt Erie Lackawanna, announced on January 9, 1975, that the railroad could not, after all, successfully reorganize. They requested inclusion in the government-created Consolidated Rail Corporation (CONRAIL). Conrail, created by the Regional Rail Reorganization Act of 1973, was to operate bankrupt northeast railroads. These included Penn Central, Reading, Jersey Central, Lehigh Valley, and the Lehigh & Hudson River out of Warwick. On April 1, 1976, the Erie came to an end, its attractive gray, maroon, and yellow (old DL&W colors) replaced by boring Conrail blue. There was one bright spot before the end, however. In celebration of the country's bicentennial, the Erie repainted three locomotives and one caboose in red, white and blue.
Most Middletown residents probably noticed no great change at this time. In 1980, the Crawford Branch, which went from East Main Street to Crawford Junction, across Route 17 and on to Pine Bush, was abandoned from Crawford Jct, and ripped up during the summer. The former 0 & W tracks from Crawford Jct. to Fair Oaks remained in place. After the usual delays, service between Suffern and Middletown was increased with the addition of a "shuttle train" between those points. At Suffern, riders would transfer from the shuttle to a NJ Transit train. This service began Monday, August 16, 1982. That evening, a small party was held on an east-bound shuttle, following ribbon cutting ceremonies at the Middletown station. Service was increased through use of RDC's - rail diesel cars - which were self-propelled. The two shuttles were kept in the Middletown yard when not in use.
On January 1, 1983, Metropolitan Transit Authority subsidiary Metro-North technically took over commuter operations from Conrail. The important news for 1983, however, was elimination of main line rail service through Middletown and other Orange County communities. There had been discussion for many years of eliminating Erie's mainline from downtown Middletown. The most recent unsuccessful attempt was in 1959 when the Chamber of Commerce set up a committee to study the issue. Then Mayor Raymond E. Swalm proposed a 2-step plan. The first step was quite practical; the Erie freight yard would be removed to the abandoned O & W yard off Wisner Avenue. The second part of the plan would be eventual removal of the main line tracks. Nothing came of these proposals.