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Classic Railroad Quiz (at least 50 years old).

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Posted by rcdrye on Saturday, January 30, 2016 3:45 PM

Powhaton?  I can't find an N&W office car of that name, but they definitely had the Powhaton Arrow train.

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Posted by Deggesty on Saturday, January 30, 2016 4:03 PM

Eddie, I have sent you a pm.

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Posted by NP Eddie on Saturday, January 30, 2016 4:26 PM

Johnny has the correct answer!!  The CBQ/BN "Blackhawk" passenger train. I don't find that the heavyweight office car "Blackhawk" made it to the BN.

Next question to you.

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Posted by Deggesty on Saturday, January 30, 2016 8:42 PM

When Ed said that he had carried the last conductor for this train in a van, I knew it had to be a Btrain--so I looked in a Guide that had been printed after the creation of the BN. I thought that perhaps someone else woud put things together, so I sne the PM in which I named the train. The Black Hawk was inaugurated well over fifty years ago.

Now, back to 1943. There were two shortlines in the South that ran a diesel-powered interline train that made a daily round trip. The junction between these two shortlines was also a junction between two class one railroads. No name is given for the train; I do not know if it was a single, powered car, or if the engine was separate--or if the the engine was changed at the junction.

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Posted by Deggesty on Saturday, January 30, 2016 8:46 PM

I should carefully proofread my posts before letting them out. I knew that the train was BN train, not a Btrain--and I sent a PM.

Aargh!Sad

 

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Posted by Deggesty on Monday, February 1, 2016 11:52 AM

Deggesty

When Ed said that he had carried the last conductor for this train in a van, I knew it had to be a Btrain--so I looked in a Guide that had been printed after the creation of the BN. I thought that perhaps someone else woud put things together, so I sne the PM in which I named the train. The Black Hawk was inaugurated well over fifty years ago.

Now, back to 1943. There were two shortlines in the South that ran a diesel-powered interline train that made a daily round trip. The junction between these two shortlines was also a junction between two class one railroads. No name is given for the train; I do not know if it was a single, powered car, or if the engine was separate--or if the the engine was changed at the junction.

 

The question is: name the two roads, their junction, and the endpoints served by the train.

One road has the name of the state in its name, and the names of both roads tell us something about the direction in which they travel.

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Posted by rcdrye on Monday, February 1, 2016 1:11 PM

Must have been the Georgia Northern and the Albany and Northern.  Albany Georgia was a junction between the CofG and ACL.  I know GaN bought some railcars from Southern in the 1950s, but I have no idea what was there in 1943.

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Posted by Deggesty on Monday, February 1, 2016 1:35 PM

Rob, you have the roads!

It is interesting to me that the diesel-powered train originated in Moultrie, and not in Boston, on its way to Albany and then to Cordele. There was a train from Boston to Moultrie which connected with it, and in the afternoon connected with the return trip to take passengers on to Boston. Perhaps the passenger car(s) ran through Boston-Cordele-Boston?

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Posted by rcdrye on Monday, February 1, 2016 2:02 PM

Georgia Northern seems to have had a Brill gas-electric which came from the Middletown and Union in New Jersey which they numbered 527. http://rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=949190

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Posted by FlyingCrow on Tuesday, February 2, 2016 7:20 AM

Speaking of the Pidcock Kingdom, this hangs in my home office:

Moultrie Enginehouse

AB Dean Jacksonville,FL
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Posted by rcdrye on Thursday, February 11, 2016 7:00 PM

Forgot I answered the last one...

Of Chicago's five major stations, this was the only one with three different railroads offering service to Kansas City.

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Posted by Deggesty on Thursday, February 11, 2016 8:06 PM

Using Union Station in both cities, the  Burlington, the Milwaukee, and the Chicago and Alton (in the dim, dark, past) all had through service between Chicago and Kansas City. In 1930, the Chicago and Alton had, in conjunction with thte Rock Island, through service Chicago-Los Angeles. 

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Posted by rcdrye on Friday, February 12, 2016 6:07 AM

Johnny has the correct station, of course.  You could also travel from Chicago to Kansas City from LaSalle St. (CRI&P), Dearborn (AT&SF), and (via a connecting train) Grand Central (CGW).

The C&A route was also used by AT&SF before its own line was completed in 1888.

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Posted by Deggesty on Friday, February 12, 2016 10:36 AM

Just think! FIVE roads carrying through passengers between Chicago and Kansas City! For a time, Amtrak had two ways to go without changing trains! Now--one train each way every day.Sad

Now: Road A interlined passenger trains with roads B & C, with the exchanges in city D. A & B changed engines at station E, but A & C changed engines at freight yard F. Road C used station G in D. A's ETT gave exacting instructions for the engine changes.

Name: A, B, C, D, E, F, and G. F is the most important name in this question.

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Posted by rfpjohn on Friday, February 12, 2016 1:47 PM

A is the Richmond, Frederickicksburg & Potomac. B is the Atlantic Coast Line. C is the Seaboard Air Line. D is the city of Richmond, Va. E is Broad Street Station. F is Seaboard's Hermitage Yard. G is the joint SAL/C&O Main Street station.

Am I close?

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Posted by Deggesty on Friday, February 12, 2016 2:23 PM

John, you definitely had an inside track on this question.

Now, it's your turn to try to perplex us.

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Posted by rfpjohn on Saturday, February 13, 2016 7:42 AM

You might say I was in the loop! 

Once promoted as an extensive high speed electric empire and backed by the powerful Gould family, the portion constructed (about 15 miles) featured gentle grades, wide curves and large concrete bridges, a couple of which still exist. Originally equipped with 55 foot cars,weighing 39 tons each, with four 125hp motors per car and capable of 90mph running, drawing 6600 volts from simple catenary. After it's backers lost enthusiasm, it ended it's days as a rural trolley line, re-equipped with used trolley cars running off typical 600 volt juice.

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Posted by NP Eddie on Saturday, February 13, 2016 12:15 PM

rfpjOHN:

In your answer you indicated that Richmond had two passenger stations. Which roads used each station and why where there two stations?

Ed Burns

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Posted by Deggesty on Saturday, February 13, 2016 1:38 PM

rfpjohn

You might say I was in the loop! 

Once promoted as an extensive high speed electric empire and backed by the powerful Gould family, the portion constructed (about 15 miles) featured gentle grades, wide curves and large concrete bridges, a couple of which still exist. Originally equipped with 55 foot cars,weighing 39 tons each, with four 125hp motors per car and capable of 90mph running, drawing 6600 volts from simple catenary. After it's backers lost enthusiasm, it ended it's days as a rural trolley line, re-equipped with used trolley cars running off typical 600 volt juice.

 

Was that the loop at the Broad Street Station?

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Posted by rcdrye on Saturday, February 13, 2016 4:07 PM

Would that be the Richmond and Chesapeake Bay Railway, from Richmond to Ashland VA?  It's 6600 VAC electrificaton, which kept it off Richmond's streets, was later reduced to the more common 600VDC for suburban operation.  Never very profitable, it was abandoned in 1938.

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Posted by rfpjohn on Sunday, February 14, 2016 4:55 PM

Yes, Mr. rcdrye! The Richmond and Chesapeake Bay Railway was projected to run all over eastern Virginia, having won the right to in the Virginia Supreme Court, much to the dismay of the RF&P. And yes, that loop was at Broad Street Station!

Your question, sir.

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Posted by rfpjohn on Sunday, February 14, 2016 5:11 PM

NPEddie: Broad Street Station was a joint terminal operation between the ACL and the RF&P. It was operated by the RF&P. Norfolk & Western also served Broad Street via trackage rights on the ACL up from Petersburg. It currently serves as the Science Museum of Virginia and still has a few tracks connecting to CSX. A C&O 2-8-4 and some other equipment populate those tracks. Main Street Station is located in the older part of town, down below Church Hill and close to the river. It was served by the Seaboard Air Line and the C&O. It still serves as an Amtrak stop for trains going down the former C&O to Newport News. Richmond also had a third passenger station for the Southern Railway, south of the James River on Hull Street. It was the starting point for trains to Danville, VA until 1957, I believe. It still exists as a museum for the Old Dominion Chapter of the NRHS. 

I should perhaps add, the current primary Richmond station for Amtrak is a fair distance Northwest of town on Staples Mill road in neighboring Henrico County.

Oh, and the building which once served as the high speed electric/trolley route to Ashland terminal also still exists on West Broad Street, though you'd never guess it's history. The tracks entered from the back (north side) of the building on the second floor.

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Posted by Deggesty on Sunday, February 14, 2016 8:17 PM

A partial answer to NPEddie's question about the stations in Richmond: In the beginning, there were few jointly-used stations in any city (think Chicago). The SAL entered Richmond some time after the other three roads did, and used the Main Streeet Station, which I believe the C&O already used (and laid tracks on the west side of the station; the C&O ran on the east side); the SAL built north to meet the RF&P at Hermitage, and built its freight yard there.

I do not know where the Richmond and Petersburg's station may have been when the railroad was built, but the ACL is shown (in the SPV's atlas of Appalachia and Piedmont) as having a station at Byrd & 8th Streets, and the RF&P had its own station at Broad & 8th--and the RF&P had a line to the ACL's station that used a tunnel under what became the C&O's station at 12th and Canal (this station was on a spur from the James River line). Some time in the 20th century, the ACL built a connection to the RF&P which crossed the James a few miles west of the downtown area, and then went south into the new Broad Street Station where the interchange took place. Incidentally, this station was built with a loop so that it was not necessary to back a through train before it continued on its journey.

Perhaps the Broad Street Station was built to reduce congestion between there and downtown?

A question, John: how far north towards WAY did the ACL go before meeting with the RF&P? WAY? A note to those not familiar with the tracks at Richmond: AY is at the south end of Acca Yard, and is a control point for the wye there; WAY is at the southwest end of the wye, and SAY is at the southeast end of the wye. SAY is also at the northeast end of Hermitage yard.

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Posted by rfpjohn on Sunday, February 14, 2016 9:26 PM

Actually, RF&P ownership extended down the James River Branch (ACL main south of Acca yard) all the way to pier 5 at the center of the massive concrete arch bridge over the James. I've actually been out there on a work train back in the RF&P days. The station at 8th and Byrd was used as the joint RF&P-ACL station prior to the building of Broad Street Station in 1919. RF&P's passenger route followed the original line towards 8th and Broad, swinging around a sharp curve starting at Pine street, where a small frame station was built to serve the west end of town, to bring it to the center of Belvedere, down towards the old State Penitentiary taking a sharp left at that point, crossing a trestle parallel to the prison wall and ducking into a tunnel while descending a 2.2% grade to bring it to Byrd Street and the original ACL line into Richmond. This precarious roller coaster route was built in 1867, establishing the first permanent rail connection between the RF&P and the rail lines coming up from the South. The current CSX main to the south (Former RF&P-ACL James River branch) was built as a freight bypass in 1891.

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Posted by rcdrye on Monday, February 15, 2016 6:40 AM

Another 6600 VAC interurban, which had a substantial freight business, equipped two of its engines to operate on its parent railroad's electrification.  Either of the two names used by the interurban plus the parent railroad.

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Posted by daveklepper on Tuesday, February 16, 2016 4:33 AM

Located in California?

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Posted by rcdrye on Tuesday, February 16, 2016 6:26 AM

daveklepper

Located in California?

 

Bit further north.

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Posted by daveklepper on Tuesday, February 16, 2016 7:44 AM

Was the Oregon Electric a GN suvbsidiary, was it originally an AC electrfication with two freight motors that could run on the GN revised 11,000V AC electrication?   Both electrifications 25Hz, the conversion for different voltages handled by tap changing on the main transformer.

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Posted by rcdrye on Tuesday, February 16, 2016 9:52 AM

You're edging towards it.  Oregon Electric was 1200VDC, and, strictly speaking, was an SP&S subsidiary.  The line I'm looking for was AC only, using 750VAC for what little street running it did and 6600VAC for the rest.

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Posted by rcdrye on Wednesday, February 17, 2016 6:24 AM

Before they were equipped to operate on the parent's electrification, they also occasionally operated on 600VDC on the streetcar system of a fairly large city.

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