Classic Train Questions Part Deux (50 Years or Older)

[daveklepper]

I defer to Flying Crow; I believe he is correct.

The Pennsylvanina had a train "The White Night" at one time, but not The Silent Night.

[ZephyrOverland]

FlyingCrow

NEW QUESTION  ....

This railroad hosted passenger trains with "interesting" names such as The Silent Knight and The Zipper. 

What is the name of the railroad and what was it's "motto" or "slogan"?

That would be the Chicago and Eastern Illinois.  Two of their slogans were "The Boulevard of Steel" and the "Noiseless Route".

[daveklepper]

My memory says the Alton, "The Road of Abraham Lincoln"

 

Nol that isn't right.   The Illinois Central was "The Road of Abraham Lincoln."  Now I am confused. I am certain the two trains you mentioned operated out of Chicago.   I'll make a guess that indeed it was the IC. 

[FlyingCrow]

NEW QUESTION  ....

This railroad hosted passenger trains with "interesting" names such as The Silent Knight and The Zipper. 

What is the name of the railroad and what was it's "motto" or "slogan"?

[henry6]

Henry note: Fort Dix is not Camp Kilmer...repeat and learn!

[FlyingCrow]

FACTOID ...and then I'll get a question posted tonight that's a little easier than my one over at the coincidental other trivia topic right now...

Camp Kilmer....named for Joyce Kilmer, the poet and member of the famous 69th New York (165th Infantry Regiment) killed at the 2nd Battle of the Marne, July 1918.

[wanswheel]

Buck, exactly right, PRR, RDG and LV. Your turn.

Camp Kilmer's rail connections are explained on page 5 of an 8-page newsletter on PDF at this link.

http://www.jhalpin.com/anonymous/mehs/3Q08news.pdf

In 1957, after Queen Elizabeth visited Ike, her B&O "Royal Blue" special from Washington to Staten Island needed to go through Camp Kilmer. More about that at this link.

http://jcrhs.org/B&O.html

The Twelve-Forty-Five by Sgt. Joyce Kilmer (K.I.A. 1918)

Within the Jersey City shed
The engine coughs and shakes its head,
The smoke, a plume of red and white,
Waves madly in the face of night.
And now the grave incurious stars
Gleam on the groaning hurrying cars.
Against the kind and awful reign
Of darkness, this our angry train,
A noisy little rebel, pouts
Its brief defiance, flames and shouts
And passes on, and leaves no trace.
For darkness holds its ancient place,
Serene and absolute, the king
Unchanged, of every living thing.
The houses lie obscure and still
In Rutherford and Carlton Hill.
Our lamps intensify the dark
Of slumbering Passaic Park.
And quiet holds the weary feet
That daily tramp through Prospect Street.
What though we clang and clank and roar
Through all Passaic's streets? No door
Will open, not an eye will see
Who this loud vagabond may be.
Upon my crimson cushioned seat,
In manufactured light and heat,
I feel unnatural and mean.
Outside the towns are cool and clean;
Curtained awhile from sound and sight
They take God's gracious gift of night.
The stars are watchful over them.
On Clifton as on Bethlehem
The angels, leaning down the sky,
Shed peace and gentle dreams. And I -
I ride, I blasphemously ride
Through all the silent countryside.
The engine's shriek, the headlight's glare,
Pollute the still nocturnal air.
The cottages of Lake View sigh
And sleeping, frown as we pass by.
Why, even strident Paterson
Rests quietly as any nun.
Her foolish warring children keep
The grateful armistice of sleep.
For what tremendous errand's sake
Are we so blatantly awake?
What precious secret is our freight?
What king must be abroad so late?
Perhaps Death roams the hills to-night
And we rush forth to give him fight.
Or else, perhaps, we speed his way
To some remote unthinking prey.
Perhaps a woman writhes in pain
And listens - listens for the train!
The train, that like an angel sings,
The train, with healing on its wings.
Now "Hawthorne!" the conductor cries.
My neighbor starts and rubs his eyes.
He hurries yawning through the car
And steps out where the houses are.
This is the reason of our quest!
Not wantonly we break the rest
Of town and village, nor do we
Lightly profane night's sanctity.
What Love commands the train fulfills,
And beautiful upon the hills
Are these our feet of burnished steel.
Subtly and certainly I feel
That Glen Rock welcomes us to her
And silent Ridgewood seems to stir
And smile, because she knows the train
Has brought her children back again.
We carry people home-and so
God speeds us, wheresoe'er we go.
Hohokus, Waldwick, Allendale
Lift sleepy heads to give us hail.
In Ramsey, Mahwah, Suffern stand
Houses that wistfully demand
A father - son - some human thing
That this, the midnight train, may bring.
The trains that travel in the day
They hurry folks to work or play.

The midnight train is slow and old
But of it let this thing be told,
To its high honor be it said
It carries people home to bed.
My cottage lamp shines white and clear.
God bless the train that brought me here.

[henry6]

PRR for sure, the CNJ via their SouthernRRof NJ, and either the Union RR of NJ or the (Something) and Pemberton.

[FlyingCrow]

I'm going to take a stab here, Mike:

Pennsylvania RR

Philadelphia & Reading

Lehigh Valley

 

[wanswheel]

In 1942, the War Department built Camp Kilmer, the largest embarkation post in the U.S., with 29 miles of track and a terminal capacity of fifteen 20-car troop trains. What 3 railroads was Camp Kilmer connected to?

Mike

[Deggesty]

wanswheel

Houston East & West Texas Railway and its Louisiana affiliate connected Houston and Shreveport, originally by a track of 3-foot gauge. Completed in 1886, converted to standard gauge in 1894, bought by Southern Pacific in1899.

Mike 

The timetable is obviously from the period after the gauge was changed to standard gauge. In 1893, the single train (day) took thirteen hours in each direction. I wonder if the slow schedule was necessary to account for re-railing the engine or cars (the line was also known as the "Rabbit Line" because trains often jumped off the track). Also, I doubt that the engine known as "Rabbit" was still use after the gauge was made wider, especially at night, when jerks and stops would have been uncomfortable to sleeping passengers.

[KCSfan]

The HE&WT is the right road so light up a cigar and ask the next question Mike. It ran from Houston to the LA-TX state line at Logansport, LA where it connected with the affiliated H&S.

Mark 

[wanswheel]

Houston East & West Texas Railway and its Louisiana affiliate connected Houston and Shreveport, originally by a track of 3-foot gauge. Completed in 1886, converted to standard gauge in 1894, bought by Southern Pacific in1899.

Mike 

[KCSfan]

No, Dave, it wasn't the RGS or any other Colorado road for that matter. Try again.

Mark

[daveklepper]

Rio Grande Southern to Telluride ("To hell you ride") from Durango or from Gunnison(?)

[KCSfan]

What railroad was dubbed "Hell either way taken (or travelled)" by its passengers? What were the end point terminals of the road?

Mark 

[AWP290]

Looks like we've stalled on this one. 

The answer is the Georgia Pacific Railway.  In the 1880's it operated three divisions of three different gauges.  Atlanta to Birmingham was 5' gauge, Birmingham to Columbus, MS, was 4' 8 1/2", and Columbus to Greenville, MS, was 3' gauge.

Mark, you came as close as anyone on this.  Please ask the next question.

Bob Hanson, Loganville, GA

[AWP290]

Mark -

First, you can't always believe Wikipedia, as anyone, with or without expertise, can add to or delete information.

The Plant System was just that - a system of several railroads.  The line I have in mind was one company, one railroad, with three divisions of three different gauges.  The divisions did connect, however, and form one continuous line of railroad something over 400 miles in length.

Bob Hanson

[KCSfan]

Bob,

If you can believe Wikipedia, the Plant System bought the 5ft gauge Brunswick and Western in 1884 and didn't convert it to standard gauge until 1886. There may have been other roads that came into the Plant fold and remained broad gauge for a while until converted to standard.

Mark

[AWP290]

No, Mark, but that is a good guess.

The situation I have in mind (three gauges) was on one railroad.  The Plant System may have had three gauges but on different railroads.  I'm not certain that they had 5' and 4' 8/12" gauges at the same time.  Maybe someone can tell us for certain.

Bob Hanson

[KCSfan]

Bob, was it the Plant System which at one time had 5ft, Stamdard and 3ft gauge lines in its family of roads. The Plant System of course became a part of the ACL around the turn of the century.

Mark

[AWP290]

No.  I think everyone got overstuffed with turkey on Thanksgiving and went to sleep.

I'm surprised that this is giving everyone so much trouble. 

Bob Hanson, Loganville, GA

[FlyingCrow]

Bob....  has anyone answered your question correctly yet?     It's got me stumped without cheating and digging out all the OG's and such.

[Southerngreen1401]

The old Norfolk Southern was merge back in the 1970's in Southern Railway.  Southern Railway was a part owner of this road.  Their equipment was the same equipment that Southern used since the 1920's.

[AWP290]

I'm not doing something right, here.  I responded to this answer last evening and for some reason it  didn't show up.

No, it was not the "old" Norfolk Southern.  Unless I'm mistaken, the old NS was not formed until the early 20th century.

The road I have in mind was formed in 1881, was controlled from the get-go by a larger road, and both roads - parent and subsidiary - were absorbed into a much larger system prior to the turn of the 20th century.

Sorry for the delay.  As I said, I responded, but the good Lord only knows what part of cyberspace it went to.

Bob Hanson, Loganville, GA

[al-in-chgo]

AWP290

The previous post should read, "The troublesome three division-three gauges problem had been resolved prior to that time."

I omitted several letters in the original.  I can think faster than I can type.

Bob Hanson

 

 

Was it the old 'Norfolk Southern,' which literally did run to the south of Norfolk (VA), but had ceased to exist before the 1982 N&W/Southern Rwy. merger creating the 'new' NS?

[AWP290]

The previous post should read, "The troublesome three division-three gauges problem had been resolved prior to that time."

I omitted several letters in the original.  I can think faster than I can type.

Bob Hanson

[AWP290]

Yes.

It is - or was, anyway -  a US road that became part of a much larger system prior to the turn of the 20th century.  The troublesome t division-three gauges problem had been resolved prior to that time.

Bob Hanson

[daveklepper]

Is it North American?

[AWP290]

Sorry for the delay. For some reason I didn't receive the acknowledgement that my answer was correct and therfore didn't know that the ball was in my court.

In the late 1800's there existed a railroad, approximately 450 miles in length, that operated three divisions of three different gauges.

1.  What was the railroad?

2.  What were the end points of this main line?

3.  What were the three gauges?

Again, sorry for the delay.

Bob Hanson, Loganville, GA