Conrail 8 Bedroom Car

Railroad Office CarsConrail OCSConrail 8
Written By Wes Reminder

Conrail OCS 8 - Amtrak 800360 - Sleeping Car

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UPDATED: New Photos and New CSX Name - April 2024

Conrail 8, a former heavyweight Southern Railway car, took the title as the second oldest car on the Conrail business car fleet. The car was purchased at a time when the Conrail OCS was rapidly changing under the direction of Stanley Crane.

When the car was initially purchased, it came to Conrail as a coach. In fact, Conrail 8 was purchased at the same time as the two other former Southern Railway coaches: Conrail 25 and Conrail 26. Originally the car was numbered Conrail 24. So, on August 24, 1983 Conrail had three basically identical Southern coaches numbered sequentially:

  • Conrail 24 - Former Southern Railway 1041 Coach

  • Conrail 25 - Former Southern Railway 1042 Coach

  • Conrail 26 - Former Southern Railway 1043 Coach

Unlike Conrail 25 and Conrail 26, however, Conrail 24 took a major turn as Conrail's Reading Car Shop under the direction of Mr. Fox, Conrail’s Manager of Special Equipment, began gutting the coach car. What emerged in September 1984 was an entirely different car, the Conrail 8 bedroom car (also known as the executive sleeper).

Let’s take a look at a brief history for Conrail 8:

CSX 994531 “John W. Barriger III” - (6/22)

Pan Am Railways ST 103 “Syd Cullinford” - (8?/19)

Pan Am Railways ST 41 “George HW Bush” - (12/18)

Pan Am Railways ST 41 “Mississippi - (11/18)

CSX 994008 “Mississippi” - (6/1/99)

Conrail 8 - (9/84)

Conrail 24 - (8/24/83)

Southern 1041 - (5/54)

Southern 2458 (12/31/1948)

Pullman 4027 “Windsor Castle” - (11/4/32)

Pullman “Penvir” - (4/18/17)

Conrail 8, like other cars on the Conrail OCS roster, suffers from conflicting build dates (as reported by Conrail in Office Car Diagrams and trip booklet rosters). Conrail 8 was reported in the 1980s as being built in 1924 but was later corrected to 1917.

According to Conrail documentation, it was originally built by Pullman in 1917 as 16 section sleeping car Penvir (Lot # 4484, Plan # 2412F), which saw service on the Southern Pacific. Pullman rebuilt the car in November of 1932 into 10 section restaurant-lounge car Windsor Castle (Plan #4027) for service on the Erie Railroad’s Erie Limited between New York and Chicago. In 1948, Southern Railway acquired the car and leased it to Pullman with the number SOU 2458, keeping the name Windsor Castle. The Windsor Castle was withdrawn from lease in 1953 and was rebuilt into modernized coach 1041 in May of 1954. Conrail’s paperwork notes that the car “served the Southern Railway for three decades in regular passenger service and in steam excursion service until purchased by Conrail on August 24, 1983.”

After the new Conrail 8 emerged from Reading in September 1984, it had an entirely new interior with 8 total bedrooms. Each bedroom had a closet, shelf at the foot of the bed, reading lights and telephone at the head of the bed, a closet, sink, mirror, and a folding chair. The room also had a door to a shared bathroom with the room next to it. The bathroom had a toilet, sink, mirror, and shower.

This proved to be a common sleeper layout for other railroads’ business cars. Norfolk Southern heavyweight business cars NS 9 “Alabama”, NS 11 “Illinois”, and NS 13 “Georgia” were all rebuilt to a similar design with 8 bedrooms with 4 shared bathrooms. Chicago & North Western had a fleet of lightweight 8 bedroom / 4 shared bathroom sleepers as well: C&NW 411 “Lake Geneva”, C&NW 412 “Lake Forest”, C&NW 413 “Lake Bluff”, and C&NW “Lake Mendota”. I’m sure there are other business cars with this arrangement; regardless, the design was common.

Conrail 8 had some differences on the exterior as well:

  • Steam heat replaced by new Amtrak compatible 480 volt power

  • New equipment boxes under the car

  • 8 new windows on the bedroom side of the car (one small window for each room)

  • The hallway side kept the six large windows from of its former coach heritage; however, were five smaller windows that were removed from the ends of the car.

  • Installation of two 40KW Generators which allow the car to operate without an HEP connection

In addition, Conrail 8 emerged with its 6-wheel heavyweight trucks and went into service with them. Refer to the photo below from Reuben Brouse. They didn’t last long though and in 1985 the car was retrucked with 4-wheel trucks. Don Oltmann has an excellent article on his blog about the ride (and mattress) tests for Conrail 8. It is a great read and I highly recommend it.

Conrail 8 served until the takeover in June 1999 by CSX and Norfolk Southern. I found it interesting that CSX ended up with Conrail 8 as it would have fit perfectly in the Norfolk Southern fleet of other 8-bedroom cars. Nevertheless, CSX painted it into a YN2 paint scheme, with the number 994008 and the name “Mississippi.” It eventually received CSX YN3 inspired paint and its interior was updated with wood window frames and new cabinets at the end of the beds instead of the shelf. CSX keeps their business car fleet outside and so the former Conrail 8 could often be seen with varying degrees of sun bleaching. I’m not really sure why they keep it outside. I am going to guess it is because it is close to CSX HQ and there are no buildings large enough for the cars.

It served on CSX until late in 2018 when the car was sold to Pan Am Railways (they also sold Conrail 12 the Conference Car). By November 2018, the car was on Pan Am Railways in full CSX paint with the name “Mississippi” intact. One month later, the CSX logos and the name were removed, but remained in CSX YN3 paint. The car was numbered ST 41 and named “George HW Bush” on the sides of the car. By 2019, the car was still in CSX YN3 paint, but now with the number ST 103 and name “Syd Cullinford”. In 2020, the car was repainted into Pan Am Railways blue paint and kept the car number and name. All of the changes have the potential to be a nightmare for historians, so let’s make the Pan Am Railways history into a simple list:

  • Year: 2018 (November) Paint: CSX YN3 Number: ST41 Name: “Mississippi”

  • Year: 2018 (December) Paint: CSX YN3 Number: ST41 Name: “George HW Bush”

  • Year: 2019 Paint: CSX YN3 Number: ST103 Name: “Syd Cullinford”

  • Year 2020 Paint: Pan AM Railways Number: ST103 Name: “Syd Cullinford”

Conrail 8's story continues beyond its previous chapters. In 2020, Pan Am Railways went up for sale and on June 1, 2022, CSX acquired the railroad. This acquisition included the transfer of Pan Am Railways' office car equipment to CSX, bringing Conrail 8 back under CSX ownership. After some uncertainty about its future, Conrail 8 reappeared in February 2024 sporting the latest CSX OCS paint scheme and a new name, John W. Barriger III, with an Amtrak number of CSXT 994531. It's reassuring to see CSX putting the car back into service, but it underscores how the fate of railroad office car equipment often depends on the management of the railroad at any given time. Also of note, is the CSX office car equipment now appears to be stored indoors at the Waycross, Georgia shops.

For those interested in the 4-wheel trucks found on Conrail 8 and many private cars today, here is some technical information found in my copies of the original office car data books.

  • Truck Class - 2F-P5 - 4 wheels - Roller Bearing size 6-1/2” x 12”

  • Brake Type - Disc

  • Brake Cylinder - 8” x 4”

  • Outside Swing Hangers

Passengers aboard a Conrail New York Operation Lifesaver trip in August 1986 received this marble block featuring a plaque with the trip date.

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, Chip Syme, HE Brouse, Reuben Brouse, 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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