I realize at first the title of this here thread is kinda funny. There sure are a lot of pictures of PS2s out there. But oddly I can’t find the sort I’m looking for.
I’ve been going through my small collection of rolling stock finding pictures of prototypes for weathering purposes. I have a pair of Conrail PS2s that don’t seem to match any real one. They’re both Walthers made and have three bays but also round hatches. Their numbers match the series of two bay covered hoppers, which had round hatches.
There is where the rub is. I can’t seem to find any pictures of a three bay PS2 with round hatches. Are these two cars fictional or were there such cars, even if Conrail didn’t have them?
The original 3 bay PS2 covered hoppers had round hatches, with a walkway down the center. This is similar to the short 2 bay versions. Later production PS2’s typically have the center ‘trough’ with walkways on each side of the trough. This made grain loading far simpler.
I did not know the earlier ones had round hatches. Presumably this is a side effect of most photos on the internet being much more recently taken.
They’re numbered 883586 and 883541. I’ve located no photos of any CR rolling stock in that number range and my 2008 ORER has no listing for them either (the covered hoppers start at 883600 and there’s a gap between 786575 and 883600). I’m then assuming if these cars ever existed they were long gone by 2008. It would also explain why their trucks seem to be Bettendorf instead of modern Barber ones.
Conrail had PS2 and PS2 clones. The Conrail Color Guide to Freight Equipment has a Greenville Steel Car, ex-Erie/EL PS2 clone. The car is grey, and is numbered 876399. This photo was taken in February 1988.
There is another photo of an ex-NYC Pullman Standard PS2. This car is Conrail “red”, numbered 883559. The photo was taken October 1987.
