After retiring from Southern Railway, he worked for Conrail where he later endowed the L. Stanley Crane Chair of engineering in applied sciences at his alma mater, George Washington University.
[2] Crane went to Conrail in 1981, where he presided over the turnaround of the deficit-plagued railroad, which began turning a profit as a result of Staggers Act freedoms and its own managerial improvements under his leadership.
While the Staggers Act helped immensely in allowing all railroads to more easily abandon unprofitable rail lines and set their own freight rates, it was under Crane's leadership that Conrail truly became a profitable operation.
Crane was an outspoken critic of Dole's proposal to sell the rail system to Norfolk Southern Corporation, and fought for a public stock offering to return the railroad to the private sector.
Crane later saw Conrail sold to two rival bidders, Norfolk Southern and CSX, for more than $10 billion (five times the price for which the Reagan Administration had been willing to sell the railroad).