The Demise of Conrail 5021

Conrail Artifacts

Jul 24

Conrail 5021 was a B36-7 built by General Electric in 1983. The Conrail Cyclopedia has some history and the Conrail Historical Society has lots of great pictures of the B36-7 fleet.

Back around 2010, Bill Kaufman (master full scale locomotive simulator builder) had some connections to the new owner of Conrail 5021 (then Norfolk Southern 3609) and Conrail 5008. The plan was to scrap everything from the frame up, so the question was, did I want anything before it was totally gone. I wanted ALL of it, but I don’t even have room for a layout, let alone a locomotive. So I got what I could! In addition to the antenna, flag brackets, cab signal, cab door, and more, I got the front number board assembly. Bill has the entire cab and nose from Conrail 5008 and is working on turning it into a full scale locomotive simulator in Conrail paint. Bill has saved Conrail 5021’s control stand and has restored it.

After it was torched off, Bill stripped, repainted, and wired it back up. It just so happened that I had two of Conrail 5021’s original number boards. Here are the results. While I’m sad that Conrail 5021 is gone, I’m glad to have some pieces of it. The cab door and other parts are still in original Conrail blue, but the torch made the blue on the assembly not worth saving. Enjoy this pretty rare Conrail artifact. By the way, those marker lights in one of the photos are from a Conrail C32-8. Perhaps the last surviving piece of Ballast Express Grey?