Conrail 25 and 26 Coaches

Railroad Office CarsConrail OCSConrail 8
Written By Wes Reminder

Conrail OCS 25 - Amtrak 800456 - Coach

Conrail OCS 26 - Amtrak 800457 - Coach

I kindly ask that you link to this page instead of sharing these images and stories elsewhere on the net without permission. 

Conrail 25 and 26 are former heavyweight Southern Railway cars that were purchased at a time when the Conrail OCS was rapidly changing under the direction of Stanley Crane.

In fact, Conrail purchased three former Southern coaches on August 24, 1983:

  • Conrail 24 - Former Southern Railway 1041 Coach

  • Conrail 25 - Former Southern Railway 1042 Coach

  • Conrail 26 - Former Southern Railway 1043 Coach

Conrail #25 was built in 1929 by Pullman as a 10-section 2-drawing room car (Lot #6284, Plan #3584B) named Robert Toombs. In 1948, Southern Railway acquired the car and leased it to Pullman. The car was withdrawn from lease in 1953 and was rebuilt into modernized coach #1042 in May of 1954.

Conrail #26 was built in 1913 by Pullman as a 16-section sleeper (Lot #4216, Plan #2412B) named Kokomo. In 1930, the car was rebuilt with a 6 bedroom 1 drawing room lounge configuration (Plan #4010) with the name Seaside. In 1948, Southern Railway acquired the car and leased it to Pullman. The car was withdrawn from lease in 1953 and was rebuilt into modernized coach #1043 in May of 1954.

Unlike Conrail #24, which was converted to the Conrail #8 in September of 1984, Conrail #25 and Conrail #26 remained as coaches. In 1990, both Conrail #25 and Conrail #26 were sold to the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad for use on their tourist railroad. The #25 was named Piedmont and the #26 was named Southland, and both cars remain in service today.

Let’s take a look at a brief history for Conrail 25:

Great Smoky Mountains Railroad #25 “Piedmont” - (90)

Conrail 25 - (8/24/83)

Southern 1042 - (5/54)

Southern “Robert Toombs” - (12/31/48)

Pullman “Robert Toombs” - (9/27/1929)

Let’s take a look at a brief history for Conrail 26:

Great Smoky Mountains Railroad #26 “Southland” - (90)

Conrail 26 - (8/24/83)

Southern 1043 - (5/54)

Southern “Seaside” - (12/31/48)

Pullman “Seaside” - (11/28/1930)

Pullman “Kokomo” - (10/21/1913)

The SOU Railway 1046 heavyweight coach, while not one of the cars purchased by Conrail, was identical to those cars. Its stylish green color complemented both the Southern and Conrail paint schemes well.

The Conrail Industrial Development Department was a heavy user of the Conrail OCS train. Steve Sullivan put together an instruction booklet to help ensure all of the details were covered before the trip date. The booklet includes a checklist which covers route, date, time of trip, name tags, gift items, and Market Access folder contents.

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, interview with Foxy.

All images are © copyright Wes Reminder, Rich Frey, Steve Sullivan, and Charlie Murphy, Jr. and may not be used in print, web or any other use without permission. Images used on this site are used with permission.

Wes Reminder

https://www.the-boring-the-adoring.com/
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Conrail 5 Office Car