Anyone out there who road these trains?
Yes, in effect. I rode the DL&W portion of the City of Chicago betrween Dover, NJ and Scranton at that time and Dover, NJ and Owego, NY under the EL flag and the name Phoebe Snow. Likewise, the EL portion of the New Yorker from Binghamton, NY to Dover,NJ as the Lake Cities.
In clicking on the timetable I got to a series of 27 pictures...quite a mish mash of history, steam and electricity!
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i rode the EB City of Cleveland in the 1st week of Sept 1964 about a yr before these trains were cut. Got off at Dunkirk. I was 14 and a kid in a candy shop. Leaving LaSalle street, I hung out in the vestibule driving the trainmen nuts until they gave up and left me alone. Where the NKP leaves the NYC main after Englewood and goes down the ramp towards the IC main, I leaned out of the window and grabbed for the tall weeds along the ROW which were waving in the night breeze created by the train speed. Leaving Ft Wayne around 2AM I hung out the window again to see some signals ahead - probably the Wabash crossing at New haven. It was a pretty short train and i could see clearly straight ahead to the lead GP9 and the fireman sitting in his seat with the headlight illumnating the track ahead. While the published schedule doesn't agree, I remember we had a long layover at Cleveland. Went upstairs and found breakfast on Public Square. They cut off some sleepers at Cleveland and I hung out at the end of the train - me and the Mars light. Was a railfan forever after that.
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