Conrail 23 Track Geometry Train Support Car

Railroad Office CarsConrail OCSConrail 27
Written by Wes Reminder

Former New York Central baggage car Conrail 23 rests in Canton, Ohio, on April 27, 1987, while serving as part of Conrail's Track Measurement Train.

Conrail 23 - Track Geometry Support Car

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According to the New York Central System Historical Society (NYCSHS), Conrail 23 was built in 1927 by American Car & Foundry for the New York Central Railroad. It was part of Lot 2068 and was numbered 3072. In February of 1937, the car was renumbered 8545, and it was again renumbered in May of 1949 to 7494, a number it retained through Penn Central ownership and into Conrail. How the Conrail 7494 became Conrail 23 requires some backstory first.

The Engineering Department had planned on building an in-house ballast cleaner. While the ballast cleaner was never completed, Conrail boxcar 65050 had a diesel generator installed to power the cleaning machine. In the meantime, Conrail was planning on building the Rail Surface Analyzer car and was working with an Australian company, Aldtec, on a device to measure rail profile called Lite-Slice. Bill Maier, Conrail’s Engineer - Electronic Measuring Systems on the Track Measurement Train, recalls that “in Australia, it operated on a mining railroad where they were measuring one rail at a time and in the dark. We wanted the system to measure the two rails simultaneously and in daylight. The Australians had a partnership with Tamper, Inc., and sent two engineers from Australia to work with Tamper engineers here in the United States to work on the upgrade.” The intent was to mount the Lite-Slice equipment to the new Conrail Rail Surface Analyzer Car 22, but since that car was still in development, they needed another car to mount and test the technology.

Below is a brief history of Conrail 23:

Reading Blue Mountain & Northern Railroad 1257 - 1/2025

Penn Valley Railroad 1951 - 6/20/2000

Norfolk Southern (CR) 23 - 6/1/1999

Conrail 23 (2nd) - 8/1985

Conrail 7494 (not repainted) - 4/1/1976

Penn Central 7494 (not repainted) - 2/1/1968

New York Central 7494 - 5/1949

New York Central 8545 - 2/1937

New York Central 3072 - 1927

“We found a baggage car in Harrisburg Yard that the Bridge Department was using for storage and we had it emptied and moved to Reading. It must have been used in bulk mail service as the car still had, written in chalk on the walls, the destinations to hang the mail sacks.” recalls Bill. That baggage car, 7494 was the candidate to house the Lite-Slice equipment and the boxcar 65050 from the ill-fated ballast-cleaner project, would act as the power source.

In August of 1985, the 7494 was in the Reading Freight Car Shop being primed for its new Conrail Pullman Green paint job with a silver alumilastic roof (a compound that was applied to the track measurement train to prevent roof leaks) and number 23. The generator equipped boxcar would also receive a new number, CR 50, and a green paint job.

Conrail 23 also had a few other upgrades including air conditioning, a completely new floor, lighting, a dividing wall, and a 480-volt trainline power that would eventually allow Conrail 21 or Conrail 22 to power the car. Between September and November of 1985, the new Lite-Slice technology added to the car was undergoing testing.

After the Rail Surface Analyzer Car 22 was finished, the Lite-Slice equipment was removed from the baggage car and installed there. The Conrail 23 and Conrail 50 continued to be used to test a proposed rail corrugation measuring system, but eventually the baggage car was simply used to carry supplies and parts. The car’s original trucks had plain bearings and riveted-on pedestals, which were replaced with roller bearings and Huck-bolted pedestals. The Reading Shop had concerns about running the car at passenger speed because the truck frames were bolted together rather than being a single casting, which limited the train to 60 mph.

Norfolk Southern acquired the car and auctioned it off in full Conrail paint and lettering on June 20, 2000 (at the same time as Norfolk Southern E8A 1000, former CR 4020). It was purchased by Jeff Pontius (owner of the Penn Valley Railroad). Jeff had new doors made for the car, painted it in Pennsylvania Railroad Tuscan red Imron paint with “Railway Express Agency” lettering, and the number 1951. The car is operated on annual excursions by the Bellefonte Historical Railroad Society and was kept in Northumberland, Pennsylvania.

After Jeff purchased new coach equipment for the railroad, the former Conrail 23 was sold to the Reading Blue Mountain & Northern Railroad in January 2025. The car now sports a new red paint scheme with Pennsylvania 1257 “Railway Express Agency” lettering and is now used as a generator car for their passenger equipment.

Conrail 23 Accident in Rose Yard, Altoona, Pennsylvania

In November of 1991, at Conrail’s Rose Yard in Altoona, Pennsylvania, Conrail gondola G47 580200 slammed into Conrail 23, resulting in a hard coupling. The car suffered coupler pocket and diaphragm damage, ending its short career on the Track Measurement Train. Conrail 23 had its sagging coupler and its baggage car doors removed, and it was kept on the side of Miscellaneous Shop 2 until the last days of Conrail. The car was replaced by a former Saint Louis Car Company military car, Conrail 24.

Conrail 23 - Track Geometry Support Car

Former Conrail 23 as Penn Valley Railroad 1951

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:

  • NYCHS

  • Bill Maier - Conrail Track Geometry Electronics Engineer

Special thanks to the photographer contributions on this page:

Bill Maier · Charlie Murphy, Jr. · Chip Syme · Frank Rovder · Rich Frey

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© Wes Reminder 2026. 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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