Conrail OCS 3 - 800323 - Model

Conrail OCSConrail OCS ModelsOffice Car ModelsConrail 3
Written By Wes Reminder

I’ve made several HO scale models of the Conrail 3, a heavyweight office car used on the Conrail Office Car Specials. I believe there are three cars I made and eventually sold (one went to Brock K, one went to Ryan K at Lionel, the other…I don’t remember where it went!). Every time I make a car it gets better than the prior one. The problem with the first three cars was that the car length was too short. Originally I used a Branchline coach car (because of its nice clerestory roof) with Laser Horizons sides, which I had programmed at the shorter length.

Fast forward to 2019, I decided to sell the last Conrail 3 to Ryan and start from scratch. This time I contacted Laser Horizons again and asked that they make the Conrail 3 sides again, but this time at the correct length (along with Conrail 2 / Conrail 19). I wanted these to fit the Walthers observation car like the Conrail 1, Conrail 4, and Conrail 10 models.

After paying the fee to have the sides developed and made, the sides arrived and I am almost finished with both Conrail 3 and Conrail 2 / Conrail 19. I still need a few details for the cars (which are getting so hard to find now) and they will be ready for paint this fall.

The generators on all of my Conrail OCS models are scratch built, along with some other details. The Palace Car Company makes some great HO scale model parts, including the beds for the car. One of the hardest parts in making any of the OCS cars is making the observation end wall. In order to get the correct window size and arrangements, you will have to scratch build these. There are no pre-made observation ends that match the Conrail business cars, that I can find anyway. It starts with a sheet of styrene and marking where the windows and door will be, following by using a drill bit at the corners of the windows to get the rounded effect. Cut the window out and file and sand until you have a decent looking window. I made Conrail 3 and Conrail 19 ends in the first take this time, but often it takes several tries. One slip of the knife and the process starts over.

The clerestory roofs are still from Branchline, but I had to buy four kits to make the two roofs. I cut the roofs and spliced them together to create the new roof length. I think they came out great.

For the interiors, I have some photos of Conrail 3 and Conrail 2 and so I used those to help get things right. I haven’t been in Conrail 3 or Conrail 2 / Conrail 19 so some guess work is in order. The process starts with building the walls out of styrene to match the Conrail diagram dimensions. The wall height shouldn’t go over the height of the car sides. The interior is completely removable and just lifts out. After the walls are built I found that painting the walls never looks quite right. It always looks a bit flat to me, so I use thick craft paper in a color close to the photos I have to cover the walls. It takes quite a while to get everything cut correctly. The carpets are from patterns that match the real car. In the case of Conrail 3 I have a great close up photo of the carpet from the current owner of the car, so that makes things easy. After the walls and floors are in, you can get the furniture in. If you do it right, you can just lift the interior out before painting and drop it back in.

So that is all for my progress on Conrail 3. I’ll post some more photos after it is painted this fall. By the way, I use Prime Mover Decals for all of my Conrail business cars. I find the yellow not too bright and generally think they are nice decals.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.

If you are interested in Conrail passenger operations, read about how Conrail operated their OCS train, including stories from those with first hand knowledge. Check back soon for other Conrail Office Car articles by Wes Reminder.

All images are copyright Wes Reminder and may not be used in print, web or any other use without permission.

Wes Reminder

https://www.the-boring-the-adoring.com/
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