Penn Central 8620 (DMRRC)

This researching of train is fascinating.  And I'm now beginning to believe it was the train aficionados that created the internet as a device to store and share their information.  The amount of information that is available is somewhat overwhelming.  And so it is with the Penn Central 8620.  And in the small world happenings of life, it turns out that the PC 8620 and I have a connection.
The original PC 8620, a SW8, was built in February of 1953 by General Motors Diesel.  (Being built in February of the 1950s is close to a connection, but that isn't it.)  The unit was one of just over a total 370 built.  The 8620 one of was originally built for the New York Central Rail Road.  In 1968, the NYCRR merged with the Pennsylvania Railroad to form the short lived Penn Central.  The Penn Central went bankrupt in 1970 and later merged with Conrail. 
The SW8 was a diesel electric built for standard gauge with a 8 cylinder two stroke supercharged diesel engine rated at 800 hp that generated 600 kW of power.  The model was built between 1950 and 1954.  Some of the units were built for the US ARMY and found their way to South Korea.  One unit was owned by the US AIR FORCE for the Titan Missile Program.
 Anyway, going bankrupt in 70's is not our connection either.
What does connect us is that I found a number of pictures of the PC 8620, now the Conrail 8620, in downtown Pittsburgh in December of 1977.  I'm sure that sometime in December of 1977, I was dahn-tahn as well.  Small world.

This model has fared much better than the shots I found on line.