CR 19119 nee PRR 47???? - PA-29 - Phoenixville, PA
Posted by: 
Kin9sPanK
N 40° 08.052 W 075° 30.617
18T E 456527 N 4442777
A class N5 cabin car that was built by the Pennsylvania Railroad. It also served the Penn Central RR and Conrail as #19119. Currently it is sporting a custom paint scheme.
Waymark Code: WM431Z
Location: Pennsylvania, United States
Date Posted: 06/29/2008
Views: 77
The majority of N5 class cabin cars were built between 1914 and 1924, after this time, the subclasses started to appear. This car appears to have been part of this original series and would later be upgraded with the crash posts found on the car's ends. The car is currently riding on Barber-Bettendorf Trucks which were probably applied sometime after its PRR tenure.
Also of note, it appears that the roof of this car did not leak, as the sheetmetal on the roof is painted and looks really nice. Traditionally the PRR painting diagram called for black rooftops on cabin cars and the PRR would use roofing tar on any car with a leaky roof.
This car is currently painted in what I would call a "steampunk" scheme. There is certainly a Victorian look and feel to this paint job - Purple and Cream with Black accents and Brass hardware. I may get my membership from the PRRT&HS revoked, but I really think that this paint job works very well with this particular caboose.
The caboose is located a couple hundred feet West from an active CSX (I believe - I didn't see any trains go by during my visit) double track main line. I know the the PRR had its Phoenixville Branch which ran from Glen Loch (Frazer) and terminated in Phoenixville. It would have been nice if this caboose was close to PRR rails, but the nearby trackage belonged to Reading Railroad (another Conrail component line).
The large building directly to the east of the caboose is a former Reading Railroad station. The building is now an event hall that houses a catering business and this caboose is their photo op.
I spent a couple of hours trying to research the history of this car and all I found out that this caboose more than likely was Conrail 19119. There was no PRR/Penn Central renumbering information available. 19119 would have been assigned to the car during its Penn Central days and Conrail typically just repainted the car blue and retained the PC number. During its Pennsylvania days it would have been numbered in the 47xxxx series.
As more information becomes available, I will add it to this page.
Current Use:
This cabin car appears to have travelled many miles on the Pennsylvania Railroad, the Penn Central Railroad and finally on Conrail. Currently this caboose is on display and serves as a backdrop for wedding photos.
Type Of Caboose: Cupola, "Standard"
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Visit Instructions:
Please visit the location of the caboose, brake van, or guard van, provide visit details through photo or narrative.