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

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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 The car was withdrawn from lease in 1953 and was rebuilt into modernized coach #1042 in May of 1954.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 The car was withdrawn from lease in 1953 and was rebuilt into modernized coach #1043 in May of 1954.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

  • Images provided by Rob Palmer, courtesy of the Conrail Historical Society.

Special thanks to the photographer contributions on this page:

Charlie Murphy, Jr. • Rich Frey • Steve Sullivan

All images are © copyright Wes Reminder and each photographer listed on the image. Usage of these images requires explicit permission for reproduction, distribution, or any other use. For inquiries, please use the contact button.

© Wes Reminder 2024. All rights reserved. No part of this text may be copied, reproduced, distributed, or used in any form without explicit written permission from Wes Reminder. This includes, but is not limited to, use in AI models, digital databases, and electronic formats.

Wes Reminder

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