A friend tipped me off to an interesting find that I checked out for myself today. There was a coach sitting (with some freight cars) on the interchange between Norfolk Southern and the Turtle Creek Railroad today in Trafford, PA.

Coach was painted in standard PRR tuscan red with faded Pennsy lettering. Reporting marks were CMSL (Cape May - Seashore Lines?) 4-wheel trucks with a roller bearing conversion done on them. Looked to be sealed windows.

Anyone know who's it is (or was) and where its headed? Do the reporting marks need to reflect what railroad it's headed to in this case?

Thanks,

My memory says that the Southern RR of NJ had some ex-Lackawanna MUs or ex-SEPTA MP54s painted in Tuscan red with P-RSL lettering for a while down in Salem, NJ. I think they were repainted at the Wilmington & Western in the late 1980s or early 1990s, if not actually acquired from there.

Trafford is just around the corner from the Southwest Penna RR, which has reportedly just resumed limited excursion service.

Until we get a better spotter's report, or photos, I'm going to speculate that whatever is in Trafford is an ex-resident of southern N.J. en route to SWP........

Oh, and CMSL would indeed be Cape May Seashore Lines reporting marks........

This description is similar to a car that was owned by Ed Rhone (spelling?) and was stored on the Southern Railroad of New Jersey at Winslow, Jct. It appeared to be in the process of being converted to an open window car when work stopped (you guessed it) with the old windows being removed but the new ones remaining uninstalled. This car and others at Winslow were discussed here about a year ago :
http://rypn.sunserver.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=12319


The photo below is from this site:
http://www.stuofdoom.com/winslow1.html



This site also has several photos of the equipment at Winslow, including an interior photo of the aforementioned car.
http://s3.photobucket.com/albums/y64/RedDragon0719/Winslow%20Junction/

As an aside, are there any PRR P-70's remaining with their sealed windows and air conditioning intact as it was installed by the PRR. Such cars were the backbone of medium and long distance service over PRR lines into the Amtrak era. While several have been renovated for tourist service, with the installation of openable windows and the removal of their air conditioning equipment. I do not have firm knowledge of the existance of a car retaining its rebuilt configuration. (if someone here knows otherwise, please let me know).

The CMSL Roster (from http://users.erols.com/rowanb/cmsl_eqp.htm and copied below) lists a car that might match this description.

CMSL# Class Previous Owners Built Description

M-402 RDC1 NJT, NJDOT, P-RSL 9/50 stored at CMSL Rio Grande Maintenance facility
M-405 RDC1 NJT, NJDOT, P-RSL 10/50 stored at CMSL Rio Grande Maintenance facility
M-407 RDC1 NJT, NJDOT, P-RSL 10/50 In service
M-408 RDC1 NJT, NJDOT, P-RSL 5/51 under rehabilitation in CMSL Rio Grande Maintenance facility
M-409 RDC1 MARC, NJT, NJDOT, P-RSL 5/51 stored at CMSL Rio Grande Maintenance facility
M-410 RDC-1 MARC, NJT, NJDOT, P-RSL 5/51 In service
M-411 RDC-1 MARC, NJT, NJDOT, P-RSL 6/51 stored at CMSL Rio Grande Maintenance facility
M-413 RDC1 MARC, NJT, NJDOT, P-RSL 6/51 stored at CMSL Rio Grande Maintenance facility
M-414 RDC9 MBTA, B&M Recent acquisition, under rehabiliation
M-415 RDC9 MBTA, B&M Recent acquisition, under rehabiliation
1708 P70 PRR Passenger Coach, rehabilitation in progress at CMSL Rio Grande Maintenance facility
1718 P70 PRR Passenger Coach, rehabilitation in progress at CMSL Rio Grande Maintenance facility
9887 P70 P-RSL stored near Rio Grande Maintenance facility
9935 P70 P-RSL stored near Rio Grande Maintenance facility
1682 P70 PRR stored near Rio Grande Maintenance facility
8481 Alco/EMD RS3m WJSL, Conrail, PC, PRR EMD-reengined Road Switcher, In service
7000 EMD GP9 NJT, Conrail, PC, PRR In service
14034 N11 Amtrak, Conrail, PC Cabin Car, In service
477662 N5B Conrail, PC, PRR Cabin Car, In service

Tom Cornillie