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Pan Am’s Office Car Special is seen heading west past the signal at MP 430 on the way to Mechanicville from East Deerfield.
PAR OCS
PAR FP9-A #1
PAR FP9-A #2
NS 8100 & NS 1070 serve as power for Norfolk Southern's OCS train, rolling thru Hannibal, MO. Symbol was NS 953.
Back after making a round trip down to Flint the LSRC's OCS poses in front of their office building in Saginaw. The DC chapter of NRHS car Dover Harbor recently completed a 10 year Amtrak inspection and tagged along with the LSRC passenger set for several 'break in runs' after completing the work at Lake State's facility in Saginaw. Saginaw, MI 5/20/2022
Was the NS executive train neat or what? I wish I would have had time to follow it all around the system but did catch it a few times passing through Ohio. This was a deadhead move to the Kentucky Derby in 2008. They went across the Ft Wayne line and then south at Bucyrus. I was here at Mansfield with all the usual suspects. Happy F Unit friday.
The clouds were in and out most of the day while chasing the OCS from NMJ to Jackman but luckily a sun pocket opened up for us at Moosehead as the 3812 hauls the ST 100 and ST 101 to Canada and eventually Vermont.
The Norfolk Southern OCS train rolls south down the old NYC mainline from Detroit to Toledo at Rockwood, Michigan the afternoon of October 11, 2011
The NS OCS train passing through the small town of Simson, SC on its way to Augusta, GA for the Masters tournament.
Today was a fine spring day for the OCS to be out and about. I managed to take a half day so I could intercept them coming out of D1. This is the last shot of my day after they let the passengers off at the Dover Amtrak station. Seen passing under the Dover Arch, where Arch Street and Washington street intersect. This is a tough one to get light at but today was perfect and I didn't run into anyone else all day.
PAR 1, a former CN FP9, leads the Pan Am Office Car train east passing through Orange, MA on a beautiful October day. The rumors of the Pan Am sale were just hearsay at this point but this ended up being one of the best chases of the OCS in 2020. Many other fans were also out enjoying the classic F units running through the fall foliage, it doesn't get much better than that!
Last evening, the Union Pacific deadheaded a westbound business special over the Moffat Route west of Denver. The train was traveling from Cheyenne to Denver, then west to Glenwood Springs, and later to Salt Lake City. The special was badly delayed arriving in Denver and suffered other running time setbacks. It is shown here at 7:46 p.m. on June 29, 2025, in Leyden, Colorado, approximately 12 miles west of Denver. That's downtown Denver above the nose of the lead unit.
Pan Am's Office Car Special rounds the curve just outside of the MBTA Wachusett Station on the Fitchburg/Westminster town line. PAR 1 and PAR 2 are leading the train east on Pan Am's D3 Mainline.
Tuesday, September 29, 2020
Last evening, the Union Pacific deadheaded a westbound business special over the Moffat Route west of Denver. The train was traveling from Cheyenne to Denver, then west to Glenwood Springs, and later to Salt Lake City. The special was badly delayed arriving in Denver and suffered other running time setbacks. It is shown here at 8:13 p.m. on June 29, 2025, exiting Tunnel 1 just east of Plain, Colorado, approximately 24 miles west of Denver—engines 4403-4533, 12 cars.
Delaware Lackawanna ran a special OCS in addition to a PO-74 down the Pocono Main on a Saturday, this was largely to show off the two freshly repainted C425s in two different variants of Erie Lackawanna livery. Leading is also another recent addition to the passenger fleet, Alco PA #190 which is wearing the NKP blue scheme. Shot coming along the reservoir in Elmhurst, Pennsylvania (9/13/25).
One more wider frame of this scene I shared a bit ago. This was one of the coolest of many catches of these units over the years.
In September 2014 I was home from Alaska where I was still living at the time and was headed to North Conway for another Railfans Weekend. Coinciding with that weekend was the Glory Days of the Railroad Festival that used to be held in White River Junction, VT. Pan Am was sending two business cars along with their OCS FP9s and two heritage GP9s for display. I took the opportunity to chase this special all the way north up the Conn River Line, and while most of my shots from this day are sub par I got a few keepers and a lot of memories.
PAR 1 and PAR 2 are ex Canadian National FP9s 6505 and 6516 built in 1954 and 1957 respectively by GMDD. They passed from CN to VIA Rail in 1978 before being picked up by the Conway Scenic in 1995 when they expanded into Crawford Notch. After 15 years spent hauling tourists in the White Mountains 6505 & 6516 would become PAR 1 & 2 when traded to Pan Am Railways in March 2010 for GP38 252 and GP35 216.
They are seen here shoving around the north leg of the wye east onto the Connecticut River Bridge toward West Lebanon, NH so they can turn their train to face back south. They are on the remains of the once mighty Northern Mainline that was the B&M's gateway from Boston via Nashua, Manchester and Concord. By this late date the former B&M Conn River mainline north of here was (and still is) owned by the state and operated by the Vermont Rail System to Newport and the Northern was abandoned and removed from just north of Concord to a point only a couple miles south of here in Lebanon.
Pan Am, as legacy successor to the B&M, still maintained trackage rights and was running all the way up here to WRJ three times a week back when this was taken....their last link to their legacy in the north country.
White River Junction
Hartford, Vermont
Friday September 12, 2014
PAR 1 is framed between poles and the old west end tower as the Pan Am OCS readies it's next move at East Deerfield yard.
The Norfolk Southern office car special heads west past Maple Grove Park in Hudson on a deadhead move to Chicago.
Il treno speciale Office Car Special (OCS) di Pan Am Railways è qui ripreso nei pressi delle paludi di Scarborough (Maine), in transferimento dallo scalo di Rigby (South Portland, ME) verso il Massachusetts. In testa al treno una Dash 8-40C in livrea sociale, da poco tirata a lucido (MEC 7542).
The Pan Am Railways Office Car Special (OCS) is seen here at the Scarborough Marsh (Maine), during a trasfer from Rigby yard (South Portland, ME) toward Massachusetts. The train was hauled by MEC 7542, a very clean Dash 8-40C in its dark blue Pan Am colors.
Back at the start of June, 2019 Pittsfield was celebrating its 250th anniversary. In celebration locally based Cianbro Construction, which is one of the largest construction companies in the US, restored the former MEC Pittsfield Depot and spruced up the grounds around it.
As a surprise, CEO Pete Vigue chartered the Pan Am OCS, to make a guest appearance at the festivities, where tours were offered to the general public.
My barber is good friends with Pete and gave me an advanced heads up about the event. Overall, it was a good event and the train drew a few hundred visitors.
Pan Am Railways
6/18/2019
Pittsfield, ME
ST District 1 Freight Main Line
The last moments of sun glint off the OCS in the Thompson siding as the cars silently wait for the units to run around them–September 24, 2025, 7 p.m.
Pan Am Railways OCS approaches Waste Water Road in Erving, MA with PAR 1 & 2 leading eastbound on the D3 Mainline.
R&N #2010 leads an OCS from Port Clinton-Minersville. Shots are at Schuylkill Haven, West Cressona, and Glenworth.
I edited the first trip of the ocs train from May. I still like the older version so I kept the old one up.
Hammond Indiana
May 24 2007
The joint OCS between Pan Am and the CMQ hustles west over the East Outlet of Moosehead Lake. This was one of the few spots where the sun was actually out on what was supposed to be a partly sunny day. Once they arrive in Farnham, Quebec a VRS engine will be added to advertise the joint venture between the three railroads and they will continue on to East Deerfield.
Metro North's OCS/inspection train runs north on the Harlem Line through the station at Chappaqua, NY. FL9 inspired Conrail heritage P32AC-DM 2O1 leads "beachball" #208 and the three office cars on a trip to and from the end of the line at Wassaic.
After waiting for a track inspector to set off, BNSF ES44DC No. 7756 leads this Office Car Special north from Topeka, Kansas to Helena, Montana, through the rural location of Norfolk, Colorado, on March 26, 2019.
CSX P001 is southbound on the Manchester Subdivision at Woodbury, Georgia returning from the Kentucky Derby. May 8, 2022
A Delaware Lackawanna Office Car Special climbs upgrade along Roaring Brook in Dunmore, PA. The train is about to cross under the bridge that once carried Erie's Jessup Branch north toward the mountains seen in the distance. I'd say the fall foliage in this area was at its peak for the season.
Delaware Lackawanna OCS:
DL 2423 C425 (ex-PRR/PC/CR 2423)
DL 2490 C424 (ex-WAB B905)
BNSF ES44AC No. 6017, one of the 25th Anniversary locomotives, powers this 7-car Billings, Montana, to Topeka, Kansas, OCS train south near downtown Loveland, Colorado, on June 23, 2021. The seven-car train included the following cars: Cajon Pass, Mount Rainier, Stevens Pass, Marias Pass, Raton Pass, Fred Harvey, and William Barstow Strong.
O BILTOP2 22A
Loveland, Colorado