Conrail OCS 4021 E8A - Conrail Business Train Power

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The motive power for the Conrail OCS always stole the show with their 1950s streamlined design. The Conrail E8As were well chosen in their mission to pull the Conrail business cars. Originally Conrail used E8A 4022 as their sole business train power, but as the fleet grew and HEP power become more important, they needed more locomotives.

The 4021 was built in October 1952 by Electro-Motive Division (EMD) for the Pennsylvania Railroad as number PRR 5711A. According to Conrail documentation, the engine became Penn Central 4311 in 1968. In 1974, Amtrak purchased the unit and renumbered it to 317. In 1976, Amtrak removed the steam generators and installed head end power (HEP), renumbering the engine to 499.

Conrail acquired the unit in 1983 by trading some diesels to Amtrak. The 4021, along with Conrail 4020, took their place in business train service, serving Conrail until the end in June 1999. In the photo provided by Chip Syme, you can see Conrail E8A 4021 in Altoona wearing rough Amtrak paint, grates over the windows, a strobe light, and a Nathan airhorn. After the Altoona shops finished overhauling the engine, all of those items were removed from the engine. A new Leslie RSL-3L-R was mounted between the windows of the engine at some point in its history. The purchase and overhaul of Conrail 4020 and 4021 meant that the ex-Erie E8A Conrail 4022 took a back seat and became the backup engine for their business trains.

The Conrail 4021 was painted in Conrail green OCS paint scheme, which is often mistaken for black. The trucks and underbody were also painted green, and although they do appear dusty in some photos, they were definitely green. The color of the train is often widely debated — was it Pullman green, Brunswick green, or black? Depending on the level of shine on the paint and the weather conditions, it was hard to tell! I have a piece of green off the Conrail 5 observation car and can confirm it was a nice dark green.

A brief history of Conrail 4021:

Juniata Terminal Pennsylvania Railroad 5711 - (3/01)

CSX 4021 - (6/99) - The actual roster number on CSX was 9998 series, but the unit was never renumbered.

Conrail 4021 - (1983)

Amtrak 499 - (1976)

Amtrak 317 - (1974)

Penn Central 4311 - (1968)

Pennsylvania Railroad 5711A - (1952)

After the Conrail takeover in 1999, the E8As Conrail 4021 and 4022 briefly joined the CSX locomotive fleet but were never used. Both units were stored at Huntington, West Virginia in full Conrail paint and numbers awaiting their fate. I’ve got a slide that I purchased showing the engines stored at the Huntington shops.

The history for this EMD E8A 4021 doesn’t end there. Bennett Levin and his sons ended up winning an auction and purchased all three Conrail E8As. After a thorough restoration process, the Conrail 4021 was reborn in full Pennsylvania Railroad paint with its original number 5711. Bennett and his sons have played a huge role in their post Conrail life and have done so with the attention to details these former Executive E8As deserved. I was fortunate to visit the three E units while the 4021 was being restored. I’m grateful to Bennett for taking the time to allow my visit.

As mentioned in my article about the Conrail OCS train and its operations, the history of the Conrail business train is relatively easy to obtain through a quick Google search. Much of the information you see on the internet is from a press release that announced the disposition of the business train fleet. However, Conrail produced many office car booklets that provided rosters, dates, diagrams, etc., to those riding the train. Does that mean those dates and diagrams are always accurate? Nope. In fact, Conrail provided a diagram and history of the Executive Conrail E8As in one of their inspection train booklets and there are inconsistencies. The diagram and description (provided below for your reference) are incorrect, but at some point the details were corrected in a business train roster (corrected to January 1, 1996) that was provided in a later inspection train booklet. There are also inconsistencies in the build dates of their office cars, namely Conrail 1, their former Southern Railway heavyweight business car.

You have to be careful when quoting the histories. Most of the information I have obtained for my website is from Conrail documentation, but even they got it wrong, and they were the owners of the equipment!

Conrail Executive E Unit 4021 Diagram

Conrail 4021 with incorrect data

Conrail 4021 - Amtrak 499 in Altoona

Conrail 4021 with CNW Business Cars 1987

Conrail 4021 Reading, PA 1988

Conrail 4021 OCS301 1989

OCS301 at Endwell , NY 1989

Conrail 4021 Reading, PA 1990

Conrail 4021 with CSX cars at Mance, PA

Conrail 4021 OCS501 Parma OH 1998

Conrail 4021 Erie PA 1998

Conrail 4021 Reading, PA 1999

Former Conrail E8A 4021, restored as Pennsylvania Railroad 5711, owned by Juniata Terminal Railroad

Conrail E8A Tape Measure — The Conrail E8As made their way to many company promotional items like pins, mugs, pens, and this tape measure for the Conrail Pittsburgh Safety Committee.

Collection of Wes Reminder

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.

- sources: Conrail trip booklets, Conrail Diagrams of Office and Research Cars. Special thanks to Chip Syme and Rod Miller for allowing me to use their photos.

Conrail 4021 EMD E8A

Conrail OCS 4021 E8A - Conrail Business Train Power

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