Conrail Office Cars 1 & 4 (1st)

Railroad Office CarsConrail OCSConrail 1 (1st)Conrail 4 (1st)
Written By Wes Reminder

UPDATED: May 2022 - Updated text and added two new photos.

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When researching Conrail office cars, you may encounter references to two CR 1 cars, both with very different appearances. Like many railroads, railroad management often purchased, re-assigned, or sold their business cars. With all of that transition, it can make tracking down their histories confusing. Thankfully Conrail business cars were not renumbered as many times in their history when compared to railroads like the Southern Railway or New York Central that numbered, renumbered, and then renumbered again (sometimes back to the original number) their cars.

In the case of Conrail, they had two office cars numbered 1, and two office cars numbered 4 during their existence. Often when this happens, the first car that carried the number is referred to as “1st” or “a”. Doing this kept things somewhat organized and provided some differentiation between them. Let’s take a quick look at both sets of Conrail 1 and Conrail 4 cars.

Conrail 1 (1st) - Built in 1928 as New York Central 3 - Acquired by Conrail on 4/1/76 and sold in 1981 - painted in Conrail blue only

Conrail 1 (2nd) - Built in 1920 as Pullman “Shannon” - Purchased by Conrail on 12/4/82 and lasted until 1999 - painted in Conrail green only

Conrail 4 (1st) - Built in 1928 as New York Central 5 - Acquired by Conrail on 4/1/76 and sold in 1980 - painted in Conrail blue only

Conrail 4 (2nd) - Built in 1927 as Pullman “Portsmouth” - Purchase by Conrail on 6/5/83 and lasted until 1999 - painted in Conrail green only

So a good way to keep these cars straight is if you see a blue Conrail office car 1 or 4, it’s the first car. If you see a green Conrail office car 1 or 4, it’s the second car.

I’m going to talk about both cars on this page as their history on Conrail was very brief. Both cars only made it on Conrail for a few years before being sold. Be sure to check out the Southern Railway cars Conrail OCS 1 and Conrail OCS 4.

Conrail OCS 1 (1st) - Amtrak 800384 – Office Car

Let’s start with Conrail 1 (1st). If you follow heavyweight passenger cars or privately owned passenger cars, you will likely know about this famous car. New York Central 3 “Portland” has been seen travelling back and forth across America since its current owner Lovett R. Smith III purchased the car in 1992. The beautiful green paint and the observation end look fantastic. Like many other private car owners, I am sure they are fighting to keep their private cars moving on a reluctant Amtrak. Support them whenever you can by checking out their website.

The car is famous not just for its frequent trips as a private car, but also for its first owner, Harold Sterling Vanderbilt, who was a director for the railroad. Like many railroad office cars, there were plenty of well known political figures who used those cars, including President Eishenhower on New York Central 3 (former Conrail 1).

Here is a brief history of Conrail 1 (1st):

New York Central 3 Private Varnish - (92)

Southeastern Specialties - (89)

Railway Associates Services, Inc - (81)

Conrail 1 (1st) - (4/76)

Penn Central 4 - (71)

Penn Central 8 - (70)

Penn Central 3 - (2/1/68)

New York Central 3 - (5/28)

Thanks to the Penn Central Historical Society and the NYC 3 current owners for the helping with the following history of Conrail 1 (1st). Pullman built this car in 1928 for Harold Sterling Vanderbilt, who worked as a director for the railroad. In 1968, Penn Central acquired the car and kept the NYC number #3. The car suffered a damaged center sill, but was repaired and became Penn Central #8 in 1970. The following year it was renumbered again, this time to Penn Central #4. Conrail acquired the car on April 1, 1976 and renumbered it to Conrail 1 on 5/13/76. Conrail retired it 1978 and sold it in 1981 to Railway Associates Services, Inc. in Columbus, Michigan. It was then purchased by a freight car rebuilding shop (Southeastern Specialties) in Jacksonville, Florida which upgraded it to Amtrak standards.  

Lovett R. Smith III purchased the car in May of 1992. Mr. Smith, talks about his time as owner of the car in my book Conrail Business & Research Trains, The Special Equipment Fleet.

I was able to visit the car and grab some photos of the interior, but I don’t have any other diagrams or technical data for the car. Some of that may be found on the NYC 3 website. The photos of Conrail 1 (1st) are near the bottom of the page.

Source: nyc-3.com (current owner), PC Post magazine Vol 17, Number 2.

Conrail OCS 4 (1st) - Amtrak 800086 - Office Car

In contrast to Conrail 1’s (1st) active private car trips, Conrail 4 (1st) was a bit harder to track down. Recently, the car was listed for sale on the Ozark Mountain Railcar website for sale with lots of great interior photos and has since been donated to the Midwest Preservation Railway Society. As of mid-2021, the car is back on the road again.

Let’s take a quick look at the Conrail 4 (1st) history:

Midwest Preservation Railway Society CTVX 5 “America” - (2020)

Georgia Frontiere - New York Central “America” - (??)

Mike Carr - New York Central “America” Private Varnish - (99)

Bert Smith “PRR 7510 Edward Randolph Godfrey” - (84)

Raymond A. Rich “Eagle Bay” - (81)

Raymond A. Rich as Conrail 4 - (80)

Conrail 4 (1st) - (4/76)

Penn Central 5 - (71)

Penn Central 4 - (70)

Penn Central 9 - (68)

New York Central 9 - (31)

New York Central 5 - (28)

Conrail 4 (1st) was built in 1928 by Pullman as office car 5 for New York Central assigned to NYC VP R. D. Starbuck. The car was renumbered in 1931 to New York Central 9 and became Penn Central 9 in 1968. In 1970, the car was renumbered Penn Central 4 and renumbered again in July 1971 to Penn Central 5. The car was transferred to Conrail on 4/1/76. Initially the car was painted with the Amtrak pointless arrow before being painted Conrail blue.

In 1980, the car was sold to various private owners who changed the car’s interior, paint schemes, and mechanical features. The Midwest Preservation Society in Cleveland, Ohio overhauled the car, numbered it CTVX 5 “America,” and it has been on the road since 2021. The observation door displays the “NYC 4” a number the car never carried.

If you have additional photos or information on the private car “America” or would like to submit photos for either cars, please use the “Ask” button in the header.

Source: Ozark Mountain Railcar, PC Post magazine Vol 17, Number 2.

Conrail 1 (1st) and the former Conrail 1 Office Car as New York Central 3 “Portland”

Conrail 4 (1st)

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 1978-2022 Wes Reminder, Chip Syme, HE Brouse, Reuben Brouse, and Rich Frey and may not be used in print, web or any other use without permission. Images used on this site are used with direct permission from the copyright holder.

Wes Reminder

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