Very nice.
Steve
If everything seems under control, you're not going fast enough!
Although I have never rode a train in my 70 yrs I have lots of favorites. Anything being pulled by a gg1, the daylight, Powhatan Arrow, Anything pulled by a ABB set of SF red and silver F units, The Tennessean, Texas special and many others.
Dave
I see, very interesting!
I like the San Diegan (Amtrak's version) and Santa Fe's version.
I see, very interesting indeed!
De Luxe @ DrW: very interesting! Can you show us a photo of a 44 car long Ghan? I would love to see that silver snake!!! By the way I wonder why they never used dome cars in Australia despite having large open spaces and no tunnels. Is it maybe because the landscape is just not that spectacular, being mostly flat desert?
@ DrW: very interesting! Can you show us a photo of a 44 car long Ghan? I would love to see that silver snake!!! By the way I wonder why they never used dome cars in Australia despite having large open spaces and no tunnels. Is it maybe because the landscape is just not that spectacular, being mostly flat desert?
You get several web sites just by googling The Ghan 44. The best photos and even a video I found on
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/travel_news/article-3610661/The-world-s-longest-train-LONGER-Australian-behemoth-stretches-length-12-football-pitches-650ft-extra-carriages-added.html
JW
I see. I found this story about the VIA Rail Canadian in National Geographic: Journey Across Canada by Train. http://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/destinations/canada/train-trip-journey/
@ cascadenorthernrr: As far as I know the combined Sunset Limited-Golden State of 1964 regularily had 20 to 25 cars between Los Angeles and El Paso. I also think that the City of Everywhere in the late 60s and early 70s easily had more than 20 cars between Cheyenne and Green River. When it comes to single trains, I guess in the classic era the Empire Builder was the longest one. I saw some consist lists where it reached up to 21 cars and even featuring a 4th short dome car. Nowadays, VIA Rails Canadian can also have up to 25 cars in the peak of the summer season.
Very nice! Just curious what would be the longest North American passenger train?
matt56 Gotta go with the Flambeau 400. Just something about railroading through thick, forested swamps deep in the Wisconsin northwoods. It ran between Ashland, WI and Chicago. Towards the end (1971) it's normal consist was only one or two bilevel coaches pulled by an F7, making it the shortest "name train".
Gotta go with the Flambeau 400. Just something about railroading through thick, forested swamps deep in the Wisconsin northwoods. It ran between Ashland, WI and Chicago. Towards the end (1971) it's normal consist was only one or two bilevel coaches pulled by an F7, making it the shortest "name train".
After a post on the shortest "name train", I would vote for one of the longest passenger trains, with usually around 34 cars, but sometimes up to 44 cars - The Ghan. Since 2004 it runs between Adelaide and Darwin; before that date , it just went up to Alice Springs. However, the portion between Alice Springs and Darwin is the more interesting part. 35 years ago, I visited that part of the Australian Northern Territories (by hitchhiking!), and I fell in love with it. My favorite place was the Katherine Gorge. The Ghan stops in Katherine long enough so that you can do a tour.
Modeling the C&NW in northcentral Wisconsin, late summer 1976
The firefly, very interesting!
Frisco firefly and PRR The Congressional
What about the Hiawatha, Daylight, El Capitan, Super Chief, Empire Builder, California Zephyr all eastern and midwestern trains! Nice choices though just would like to see some western trains! Thank you!
My favorite passenger experience was on the Phobe Snow between Newark, NJ and Elmira, NY. I rode it four times every year for four years (1966-1960) as I attended a boarding school in Watkins Glen,NY. The on-train staff treated us (high schoolers) as any other passenger and were very helpful whenever they were asked for help or information. So it goes to understanding why Erie, Lackawanna, and Erie-lackawanna is the reason for my MRR being East Coast-based and coal and mixed freight the dominant revenue sources.
John
Either the previously mentioned 1939/1940 Twentieth Century Limited, 1941 Empire State Express (both NYC) or the Powhattan Arrow (N&W).
For more cool passenger trains, check out Great Trains West and Great Trains East, both published by our local forum hosts (well, Kalmbach, not MR). Found under the Classic Trains Magazine.
I see a lot of eastern fans and midwest fans!
New York Central's 20th Century Limited, 1940 version.
Believe it or not, the RPO is my favorite car. There is somthing about a railway post office car that always intrigues me. I love the action of catching a mail bag on the fly! The hussel-bussel of the workers inside the RPO. Perhaps because I collected stamps as a boy? My next favorite car, NYC's converted troop / express boxcar.
I have been to Peru IN via the interstate passing through I stopped at the aircraft museum there which of course I did not plan on but when I saw the tail of a C-119 Flying Boxcar I had to turn around and go back!
The Wabash Cannonball, St Louis to Detroit, especially when pulled by the lovely Wabash P-1 class Hudsons (700 series - 5 built in 1943 from old 3 cylinder Mikados, a couple added after the war from other old Mikes) - the entire train in Wabash blue. Sarting at the age of 7 I was placed into care of the conductor and rode alone from Decatur,Illinois (where the P-1s were buit) to Peru, Indana to see my grandmother, widow of Wabash engineer.
The Feather River Route very nice! And the logistics required to run a train over three roads wow! Very nice choice!
Well I don't think it is a surprise to anyone here that mine is the California Zephyr, ( The Siver Lady).
1st the WP portion of it
2nd the D&RGW portion
3rd the CB&Q portion
Long live the "Feather River Route"
My 4th choice would be the NP. "North Coast Limited", very classy and loved the route too.
Johnboy out..............
from Saskatchewan, in the Great White North..
We have met the enemy, and he is us............ (Pogo)
Very interesting!
My favorite train wasn't any extra-fare overnight 'name' train. It didn't even have a single number. It was any one of a half-dozen DMU schedules that meandered along the JNR Hachiko-sen from Hachioji to Takasaki (or vice versa) on a three-hour run. Scenery was mosty rural, but there were several interchanges with other JNR routes and private railways. When I was railfanning the route I could stand just behind the driver's compartment bulkhead and get a full forward view, including meets with other DMU sets and the occasional steam powered freight and good looks at a couple of busy yards. Since the fare was peanuts it was a good way to burn up a day off.
As for the most interesting piece of passenger equipment, my vote goes to the JNR KuHa151 class EMU cab cars built for the original (pre-Shinkansen) Tokyo-Osaka Kodama. Imagine Aerotrain grown up and slimmed down in all the right places.
I'll admit that my biases are showing...
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
What about a business train? I think that observation cars similar to streamlined business cars would have been nice for passenger service.
Nobody has mentioned the down-home country charm of a local passenger train with a baggage/RPO and coach, such as B&O's Addison, NY tp Galesburg, PA train, pulled by a classic ex-B&S class A-9 4-4-2. unfortunately, I never had the chance to ride it. A 4-4-0, 4-6-0, or light 4-6-2 would be equally at home on such trains on other railroads from Coast to Coast. Eminently modelable.
Tom
As a New York Central fan...it's gotta be the '40 20th Century Limited - Dreyfuss-style.
https://tstage9.wixsite.com/nyc-modeling
Time...It marches on...without ever turning around to see if anyone is even keeping in step.