The Conrail Historical Society has acquired an 86’ auto parts boxcar from CSX and will be turning it into a Conrail Museum & Archive in Shippensburg, Pennsylvania! The Society has received a $100,000 grant towards the project, which we expect to complete by mid-2021. For more information, read our press release at https://www.thecrhs.org/s/CRHS_News_Boxcar.pdf or check out our website at https://www.thecrhs.org/museum.

Wheres the model board from?

Greenville Bridge in NJ.

https://crhscollection.omeka.net/items/show/7777

That reminds me, we should get a photo of that for the site.

Thanks, I was wondering if it was the one from Virginia Ave tunnel in DC, I know that is in private hands in southern Pennsylvania...

Where the heck is Greenville Bridge? I was an engineer and Road Foreman of Engines in New Jersey and Greenville Yard was all hand thrown switches. The only bridge in the area was the joint PRR/LVRR Upper Bay Draw Bridge. Is that the interlocking in question?

I checked the "North American Interlockings" website and found a Greens Bridge (GB) listed showing a 1926 photo of the interesting looking tower there. I wonder if that might be the one where the model board is from.

Les

Might the bridge be the ex-LV Upper Bay Bridge between Oak Island Yard and Greenville Yard? I believe it's part of the CR Shared Assets Operations.

I'm sure it's not one of the Greenville Float Bridges on the North River.

Phil Mulligan

Les[/quote]
I checked the "North American Interlockings" website and found a Greens Bridge (GB) listed showing a 1926 photo of the interesting looking tower there. I wonder if that might be the one where the model board is from.[/quote]
Again....that was my territory and while the CNJ did have an interlocking at Greens Bridge near Phillipsburg, NJ back in the past, in modern time there was no interlocking there. Greens Bridge on both the Lehigh Valley Railroad and the Central Railroad of New Jersey just had an automatic signal in place.
Keith

I checked the "North American Interlockings" website and found a Greens Bridge (GB) listed showing a 1926 photo of the interesting looking tower there. I wonder if that might be the one where the model board is from.[/quote]

Again....that was my territory and while the CNJ did have an interlocking at Greens Bridge near Phillipsburg, NJ back in the past, in modern time there was no interlocking there. Greens Bridge on both the Lehigh Valley Railroad and the Central Railroad of New Jersey just had an automatic signal in place.
Keith[/quote]

Keith -

Perhaps the model board is from the old interlocking tower removed from when the tower was taken out of service. Would be interesting to know when the tower closing actually occurred.

Les

Again....that was my territory and while the CNJ did have an interlocking at Greens Bridge near Phillipsburg, NJ back in the past, in modern time there was no interlocking there. Greens Bridge on both the Lehigh Valley Railroad and the Central Railroad of New Jersey just had an automatic signal in place.
Keith[/quote]

Keith -

Perhaps the model board is from the old interlocking tower removed from when the tower was taken out of service. Would be interesting to know when the tower closing actually occurred.

Les[/quote]

Les.....I doubt that very much. I don’t know the exact date that Greens Bridge was removed.....but it was long before the 1970’s when I worked there. By that time the CNJ mainline was single track and there was no need for an interlocking.

Keith

One question that seems to be unanswered or sidestepped:

Was this car former Conrail and got repainted by CSX (as would be presumed by the "NYC" reporting marks), or was this somehow a CSX car just donated out of kindness?

The cars history is outlined pretty well in the first 2 paragraphs of the link to the museum page..

It's a former Conrail X67, designed by PC and built at Sam Rea in Hollidaysburg.

She's an ex-Con through and through.

In fact, there's a great article by the car's designer in the upcoming edition of the Conrail Quarterly, if you're a CRHS member. If not... https://www.thecrhs.org/membership

I would suggest that anyone looking to adaptive reuse a boxcar in this way consult their local planning/zoning authorities for applicable building and fire codes. Talking with your insurance issuer is also a good idea. At a glance, having a building with exits only at the center seems problematic - and your local authorities may require that a doors be cut into the ends before occupancy can be granted.

Knowing that early in the planning process can help in selecting equipment that won't require such modifications.

In regards to the archives, where will a reading room be provided where researchers can view archived materials?

A good point but we've been in touch with the relevant authorities and are good to go.



The plan is to include some sort of desk somewhere, either in the storage room or in the museum portion. We can also always pull out a folding table. Adaptability is key when your museum lives in its own "Tiny House".