The Conrail OCS Fleet Photo Roster by the Numbers

[rdg5308]

This should be of some help to Conrail OCS modelers.

What follows is a photo roster of all of the OCS cars, mainly from when the train was based in Reading, PA. in the 80's and into 1990. Where possible, I’ve included shots of both sides of as many cars as I could. I’m not including histories or dispositions since that info can be found with minimal effort on the interweb.

CONRAIL 1





CONRAIL 2



CONRAIL 3

[rdg5308]

CONRAIL 4






CONRAIL 5 – This was CONRAIL 100 renumbered.  I have not found my slides of CR 5, but you’ll see it later as CR 100.


CONRAIL 8 - Note that Conrail 8 was originally equipped with 6 wheel trucks and switched to 4 wheel trucks.

[rdg5308]

CONRAIL 9






CONRAIL 9 /CR23 – This is the CN/VIA Dinette stenciled CR  23 that was used to build Conrail 9



CONRAIL 10 – Note that Conrail 10 was originally equipped with 6 wheel trucks and changed to 4 wheel trucks.

[rdg5308]

CONRAIL 11




CONRAIL 12 – Note that the original corrugated roof was replaced with a smooth roof in the second and third photos.






CONRAIL 25




CONRAIL 26

[rdg5308]

CONRAIL 27



CONRAIL 55 – This car would eventually be painted green as well.



CONRAIL 100 - This car was rebuilt in Reading in 1988 for incoming Conrail president, Richard Sanborn and named BOSTON as he was a Red Sox fan. Unfortunately he suffered a fatal heart attack after just two months at the helm and only made two trips in it – once on an OCS from North Bergen, NJ to Selkirk, NY and the other to take his body back to Boston for burial.  It would eventually lose the  yellow stripes and be renumbered CONRAIL 5



CR 65050 or CONRAIL 50 – GENERATOR CAR - Honorable mention as an OCS car is MOW car CR 65050.  It was assigned to the OCS and would eventually be repainted green and lettered CONRAIL 50. I never caught it out of this location alongside the passenger car shop.




That is the complete OCS as I recorded it.
Thanks for looking.

[John]

awesome resource -- thanks for sharing ..

[learmoia]

awesome resource -- thanks for sharing ..

Yeah several rare shots here...

The Conrail Motive power guide references 4 cars that I've never seen photos of, and I wonder if they really were part of Conrail.   I think all 4 were sleepers - 2 were VIA.

Also I was watching a video of NW611 at Saluda and that was the only video I've seen of CR 50 running.. I may have seen a shot of it with the track geometry train..
The baggage car is another rare one..

~Ian

[rdg5308]

Yeah several rare here...

The Conrail Motive power guide references 4 cars that I've never seen photos of, and I wonder if they really were part of Conrail.   I think all 4 were sleepers - 2 were VIA.

Also I was watching a video of NW611 at Saluda and that was the video I've seen of CR 50 running.. I may have seen a shot of it with the track geometry train..
The baggage car is another rare one..

~Ian

In the 80's Reading was not only the home  base for the OCS, but MOW equipment as well.  There was a lot of old passenger equipment coming and going.  There were other CN/VIA cars around for awhile.  Do you have the numbers of the cars you are referring to?

[Bobster]

Greetings,

Conrail 10 looks a whole lot like the PRR Queen Mary and Wabash City of Wabash type passenger cars.  I'm not to as  familiar with NYC but could Conrail 10 be the ex New York Central 30?  Is it still run by CSX today?

Bob L.

[rdg5308]

Greetings,

Conrail 10 looks a whole lot like the PRR Queen Mary and Wabash City of Wabash type passenger cars.  I'm not to as  familiar with NYC but could Conrail 10 be the ex New York Central 30?  Is it still run by CSX today?

Bob L.

10 was built by Pullman in 1925 and acquired by the NYC in 1942 as NYC 30. It is still active on CSX as the #994010 “New York”.

[learmoia]

10 was built by Pullman in 1925 and acquired by the NYC in 1942 as NYC 30. It is still active on CSX as the #994010 “New York”.

What happened to the original #1..  (not the #1 aquired from Southern.. pictured above)

Did you happen to get photos of the cars painted blue? -Ian

[rdg5308]

I'm not sure where the original 1 is today.  I only ever shot the 2, 3 and original 4 in blue each once. I didn't really see the equipment that much until after it was green.

[daniel_leavitt2000]

thank you!

[learmoia]

Yeah several rare shots here...

The Conrail Motive power guide references 4 cars that I've never seen photos of, and I wonder if they really were part of Conrail.   I think all 4 were sleepers - 2 were VIA.


~Ian

Ok my memory was off...
6 Mystery Cars..
2530 was a 16-4 Sleeper (Ex Amtrak / B&O - Conrail got it in 1988)
2537 was a 16-4 Sleeper (Ex Amtrak / B&O - Conrail got it in 1988)
5197 was a Coach (Ex CN - Conrail got it in 1983)
5306 was a Coach (Ex CN - Conrail got it in 1983)
5653 was a Coach (Ex Amtrak/PC/NYC - No aquired year listed)
5655 was a Coach (Ex Amtrak/PC/NYC - No aquired year listed)

Also, the book doesn't list CR 19 and CR 24

But I recall reading that 19 was renumbered from something else..

~Ian

[rdg5308]

With regards to the Amtrak cars.  13 cars (2 sleepers and 11 coaches) arrived in Reading in November 1988 that Conrail traded I believe ballast cars for.  Self-described railfan Richard Sanborn was transitioning into his role as president when these were acquired.  I was told by shop personnel that the coaches were for a proposed Conrail excursion fleet. The idea being that since standards were getting stricter on car requirements (i.e. tightlocks, roller bearings, retention type toilets, etc.), that a fleet of cars already approved would be available for rent if a group requested to operate an excursion on CR and didn’t have cars that were okay.
 
Now interestingly the two coach numbers you listed were not part of the group that was in Reading.  I photographed 12 of the cars. The 13th was already in the shops for conversion into Conrail #27.




The two sleepers were the 2530 “Bobolink” and 2577 “Wren”.  Shortly after Sanborn’s untimely death in February 1989, most of the cars were quickly disposed of.






The CN/VIA cars languished in Reading for a number of years.  Then they vanished.  Here are the  5197 in CN and 5306 in VIA.





This one carrying the number CR 1343 was gutted and work started to turn it into something, but then stopped.  I don’t know whatever became of it.