Association of American Railroad Cars 100 and 110

Rich Westerman from Facebook

Rich explained that he was at an NS crossing in Kankakee when he saw this car in the middle of a grain train. He was asking what is the purpose of an AAR "Research Car." And why is there a car with Pennsy colors next to it? I poked around the AAR web site, but I could not find any information on these cars. Please follow this link to a photo of both cars from Sam Beck's collection.

One of the comments was very informative:

Albert J Reinschmidt 1. The AAR 100 is a former Budd Demonstrator that the AAR Research & Test Department acquired in the '50s. It is was used as an instrument car to collect data for various over the road tests and currently serves as the control car for the AAR 110. It was originally based at the Chicago Technical Center and moved to Pueblo in '96.
2. The AAR 110 is the Track Loading Vehicle (TLV) built on the under frame of a SD45X. It has a fifth center axle that can be used to apply controlled loads to the track, bridges etc. 
3. It is painted in PRR colors as a tribute to the late George Way who was VP of the R&T Dept. his career began on the PRR and was a big Pennsey fan.

The test vehicle can test for things like vertical track stiffness, bridge dynamic behavior, gage holding ability as a function of tie and fastener type, lateral track strength as a function of ballast type, ballast shoulder, ballast compaction, tie type etc.

It says "Research" as there is lots of research to do. The AAR has about $20M of research to do each year!

In this photo it is probably being repositioned for a test somewhere else.2. The AAR 110 is the Track Loading Vehicle (TLV) built on the under frame of a SD45X. It has a fifth center axle that can be used to apply controlled loads to the track, bridges etc. 3. It is painted in PRR colors as a tribute to the late George Way who was VP of the R&T Dept. his career began on the PRR and was a big Pennsey fan.
The test vehicle can test for things like vertical track stiffness, bridge dynamic behavior, gage holding ability as a function of tie and fastener type, lateral track strength as a function of ballast type, ballast shoulder, ballast compaction, tie type etc.
It says "Research" as there is lots of research to do. The AAR has about $20M of research to do each year!
In this photo it is probably being repositioned for a test somewhere else.

Another comment indicates that NS is doing a lot of work on the Kankakee Belt Route:

Bill Burmaster NS is doing a lot of work on that track. Makes me wonder what else is planned.

They have added tracks at the Kankakee yard.
Are upgrading the siding at Redick with signals. 
And I heard rumors of interest to rebuild the Illinois River bridge to connect with the Iowa Interstate.