You need to ship a product that does not need refrigeration but does need protection from extreme temperatures. You cannot use a standard boxcar, since they are like ovens in the summer and freezers in the winter. So you ask your local Conrail freight agent to send you one of their 50-foot insulated boxcars. A few days later, an empty X73 appears on your siding.

The X73 was one of the most common sights in Conrail general merchandise trains. They hauled products such as fruits, vegetables, bottled drinks, cans of paint, floor wax, liquid detergents, and many other water-based or chemical products needing protection from temperature extremes. Since they hauled such a variety of products, X73's could be found nearly everywhere in the country.

During late 1974, Fruit Growers Express built a total of 319 'RBL' insulated boxcars for Penn Central and 75 cars for Erie Lackawanna. In 1976, all these cars were passed onto Conrail, which classified them as X73's.

Unlike some similar cars that Penn Central and Conrail owned, the X73 was a 'Plate C' boxcar with two-part Late R 4/4 Improved Dreadnaught ends with a beveled, rectangular top rib. The class also had doors that were 10' high by 10'6" wide at the opening, with a slightly wider door. They had cushioned underframes, low ladders, and an overhanging, diagonal panel roof with no roof walks. Their construction included what modeler and author Jim Eager calls a "double rivet pattern at the side sheet seams," a key spotting feature of these cars. Some cars also have additional, small reinforcement plates along the roofline. These plates extend down to about the second rivet from the top and are located within the rivet lines.

However, not all Conrail X73's are alike. Those originally owned by Penn Central contained Dual Air Paks, though some also had pallets for assigned service. Cars originally owned by Erie Lackawanna contained two air-activated Duo Pak Load Dividers plus pallets. The Erie Lackawanna cars were also equipped with a Hennessey power door opener on each side; this is the wheel on a track to the right of the door.

Most people assume that Conrail owned these cars outright, like they did with their other boxcars, but that was not true. Fruit Growers Express built and then leased the cars to various railroads. Usually these cars were given RBNX reporting marks and numbered in the 94000's to 99000's. Penn Central, Erie Lackawanna, Conrail, and several other railroads chose to apply their own reporting marks and assign the cars to other number series so the RBL's better fit into those railroads' existing rosters.

X58 Rosters

The detailed rosters below are based on a January 1977 and an October 1991 Official Railway Equipment Register and reflect those road names that were in service at that time. I have made every effort to check them for accuracy, though cars that were taken off roster might still appear in service several years later. Plus, many errors crept into Conrail's rolling stock fleet over the years. Please use these rosters only as a guide, combining them with photographic evidence.

At the end of every line in the 1977 roster is the total number of cars in that series that were lettered and numbered for Conrail at that time. The reverse is true for the 1991 Penn Central roster. Unfortunately, we do not know which cars these were, nor do we know if they were total repaints or simply had CR stencil. Compare this roster to the 1991 roster following it and notice the number of boxcars that were repainted or at least renumbered for Conrail by then.

During the 1980's, Conrail did not renew their lease of series CR 360582-360656 (EL 360582-3606560) and CR 369000-369070 (PC 369000-369070), returning them to Fruit Growers Express.

Conrail: January 1977
CR Series       Class  Equipment      CR
========================================
360582-360656   X73                    0
369000-369070   X73    Dual Air Pak    1
369071-369320   X73    Dual Air Pak    2

Erie Lackawanna: January 1977
EL Series       Class  Equipment                       EL
=========================================================
360582-360656   X73    Duo Pak Load Dividers, Pallets  75

Conrail: January 1991
CR Series       Class  Equipment       CR  
=========================================
360582-360656   X73                     0
369000-369070   X73                     0
369071-369320   X73    Dual Air Pak   237

Erie Lackawanna: January 1991
EL Series       Class                                   EL  
==========================================================
360582-360656   X73    Duo Pak Load Dividers, Pallets   0