Conrail 5 Office Car

Conrail 5Railroad Office CarsConrail 100 BostonConrail BostonConrail OCS
Written By Wes Reminder

Conrail OCS 5 (Conrail 100 “Boston”) - Amtrak 800463 – Observation Car

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UPDATED: New Photos - August 2024

Conrail 5 was the oldest car in the Conrail Office Car fleet, having been built in 1911 by Norfolk & Western. That isn’t a typo...1911. The car, like Conrail 3, was built as an office car and has served in that fashion for over 109 years. The car is still operational and now holds the title of the oldest car on the Norfolk Southern business train. For comparison, the car holding the second oldest build date is Conrail 8, the executive sleeper, having been built in 1917. Conrail 5 had a very simple lineage, built by the N&W, transferred to Norfolk Southern, purchased by Conrail, and then back to Norfolk Southern. 

Conrail 5 was also unique in that, while it always worn green paint after it joined Conrail, it served with two numbers and three unique lettering schemes. When it joined Conrail in June 1988 it was initially numbered Conrail 100 and carried the name “Boston”. It was the only Office Car to carry a name and gold stripes above and below the windows (reminiscent of the Geometry Car CR 21). “Boston” was centered on the car while “Conrail 100” was in very small font under the first observation room window.

In 1994, Conrail removed the “100” and replaced it with “5”, keeping the small “Conrail”. Its final paint scheme matched the rest of the Conrail Office Car fleet and simply had “Conrail 5” under the first two observation room windows with no more “Boston” or gold stripes. 

Having interviewed Mr. Fox, who was Conrail’s Manager of Special Equipment until 1990, he was able to confirm and set the record straight on how Conrail 5 came into service. When Stanley Crane, Conrail’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, announced that he was retiring at the end of 1988, Richard Sanborn joined Conrail in March 1988 as President and Chief Operating Officer. He came to Conrail from CSX and would become Chairman and CEO on January 1, 1989.

In June 1988, Richard Sanborn had Conrail 5 purchased from Norfolk Southern. The car at the time was still in the classic Norfolk & Western red paint scheme with the name “Pocahontas” and number “100” painted on each end of the car. When the Norfolk & Western and Southern Railway merged in 1982, The car became a Norfolk Southern business car. While Norfolk Southern numbered the car NS 7 (on the roster only), it was never repainted or physically renumbered and was sold six years later to Conrail.

The car was sent to the Reading shops for work before heading to the Juniata Locomotive Shops for painting into Conrail green on December 11, 1988.  Conrail E8A 4022 and a Conrail N5C caboose ferried Conrail 5 to Altoona from Reading in N&W paint. When the car emerged from the paint booth, it carried the name “Boston” after Richard Sanborn’s hometown. According to Mr. Fox, Richard’s wife helped select the interior fittings for the car. It is very possible that the same place settings were still in the car after Conrail, see the photo below of those place settings in. He remembers very well that the carpet in the car cost $100/linear foot. 

The Reading shops also performed updates to the equipment on the underside of Conrail 5. Engineering drew up all of the plans for the updates to the car and submitted them to Mr. Fox. One of the updates were two generators installed underneath the car. Mr. Fox had concerns about the plans to do this saying “this isn’t going to work, you have too much load”. On the maiden voyage of Conrail 5, he was right, too much load on the generators. The car went back to Reading with a note to Mr. Fox saying, “fix it”! And he did! The problem was that the two three-cylinder diesel generators “had more connected load than the two could produce”. Some of the problem was the wattage going to heat water and “the cooling system that was designed to reheat the cool air to prevent moisture.” He removed some of those elements and got the load down far enough that the car could operate with just one of the diesel generators. The car was ready for service.

According to Mr. Fox, Sanborn did get the chance to ride the car. He recalls playing cards with Mr. Sanborn on the car while it was in Washington’s Union Station. His wife however, Hilda Sanborn, did not get to ride the car until after her husband’s death.  

Mr. Sanborn passed away suddenly after becoming Chairman and CEO of Conrail, on February 12, 1989. Mr. Fox was later charged with taking his body back to Boston in the Conrail 100. He had the window on the hallway side of the car, just past the hallway in the observation room, removed to allow the casket to be placed in the car. The car was attached to the rear of an Amtrak train and Mr. Fox, along with Hilda Sanborn, rode the funeral train. 

Let’s recap the history of Conrail 5:

Norfolk Southern 7 “Pennsylvania” – (6/1/99)

Conrail 5 - (97)

Conrail 5 “Boston” - (5/94)

Conrail 100 “Boston” - (6/88)

Norfolk Southern 100 “Pocahontas” - (82)

N&W 100 “Pocahontas” - (11)

Conrail 5 had another unique feature that made it stand out from the other Conrail Office Cars, a beautiful red wood known as Padauk. While the other cars in the business car fleet had painted or covered walls, Conrail 5’s walls were a beautiful bare wood which could be seen clearly in the hallway from trackside. Conrail 5 also had pull down shades from The Adams & Westlake Company instead of the blinds that other cars had. When the shades were up, you could see straight into the car.

Conrail 5 weighed in at 220,000 lbs and was a feet shorter than the SOU office cars at a coupled length of 79’ 10 1/2”. The SOU cars were 83’ 10 1/8” coupled. Just enough to be slightly noticeable when coupled together.

After its service to the Chairman of the Board on Conrail, Norfolk Southern acquired the car June 1999 after the takeover. The car had its gold logos stripped and NS 7 placed on the sides, but was not immediately repainted. The same goes for the other former Conrail cars in the OCS fleet. There are even a few photos on the internet of the cars being pulled in Conrail green with NS markings. The interior on NS 7 didn’t change from its Conrail service until 2013.

After being repainted into Norfolk Southern red, it was again renumbered NS 7, this time not just on the roster, but on the car. It was also named “Pennsylvania”, which I thought was a nice tribute to Conrail, although I am sure it has nothing to do with that. The car was assigned to Dennis C. Pennabaker, Senior General Foreman, Special Equipment as his office car (he used room “A” as his sleeping quarters, just in front of the dining room).

Like Mr. Fox and Carl Kennedy that proceded him, Dennis travelled with the car for almost all of the NS business car trips until his retirement in April 2016. According to the NS Facebook page, Mr. Pennabaker joined Penn Central, became a Conrail employee, and eventually started working on the business cars in 2003. Catching Mr. Pennabaker (and the NS 7) on the Norfolk Southern business train was almost a guarantee during those years and having met him, he was extremely knowledgeable and a wonderful guy to speak with. He took the time to show me how the porter box in Conrail 5 worked and the inner workings of the electrical cabinet in the service hallway. I’m grateful for the tours.

Norfolk Southern 7 underwent a rebuild in late 2013 - 2014 after it disappeared from service for a few months.  Some of the changes that happened to car were:

  • Removal of the crew quarters room and window. The freezer was moved to this location.

  • The electrical cabinet was moved to the rear vestibule where the freezer had been.

  • Bedrooms B &C were completely rebuilt and had their windows halved (they are now almost the same size as the bathroom windows)

  • Updated window frames with a beautiful wood. The Adlake & Western window shades were removed and are now white.

  • The Padauk Wood was replaced with Mahogany.

  • The dining room was enlarged and the china cabinet removed. The original table and chairs from the Conrail years are still in the dining room (reupholstered)

  • The porter box was mounted to the side wall, although I don’t believe it is functioning anymore.

  • All furniture in the observation room has been updated, as well as the carpet throughout the car. I

What didn’t change was the beautiful streamlined appearance that the car has had for many years. As old as the car is, I hope it continues to serve the railroad for years to come.

If you have any additional information or documentation, please use the “Ask Anything” button in the header to contact me.

For those interested in those heavyweight trucks found on Conrail 5 and many private cars today, here is some technical information found in my copies of the original office car data books.

Truck Class - K11XRNW - 6 wheels - Roller Bearing size 5-1/2” x 10”

Brake Type - 1-1/2” Comp. Shoes

Brake Cylinder - 6” Diameter

Former Conrail 5, now Norfolk Southern NS 7 “Pennsylvania.” Note that the car retains its Conrail-designed interior in 2012.

Former Conrail 5, now Norfolk Southern NS 7 “Pennsylvania” (after 2013/2014 rebuild).

Conrail often provided trip booklets to those who rode the Conrail OCS train. The March 26, 1998, Conrail Express booklet includes a page showcasing images of past booklet covers.

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, Norfolk Southern business train booklet.

All images are © copyright Wes Reminder, Rod Miller, Reuben Brouse, Steve Sullivan, Frank Rovder, Casey Thomason and Charlie Murphy, Jr. 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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