The wrong answer is the West Side freight line, which did have milk trains and even a skelatel passenger service for more than a few years. The right answer is the Morris Park branch, a branch off the Harlem Division main line, in The Bronx, running east to interchange with the New Haven's Harlem River and Hell Gate Bridge branch and at one time serving some industries and/or coal and/or lumber yards. It may still exist, but I doubt that it is electrified today..
Or are you referring to the branch off the IC suburban and Markham Yard serving Chicago industries and other freight customers?
The Morris Park line is the one I was looking for. IC's lakefront line was really just part of the Chicago terminal with electric switching.
The history of through, whole-train service between Boston and New York is not as straightforward as one might suppose. Give the history, in each case describe both the New York City (Manhattan) terminal and the one in Boston, and the route (and railroads) followed between, up to the Penn Station - South Station via Hell Gate Bridge and the Shore Line route, that exists today.
There were at least three whole-train through routes prior to tht current arrangment between Boston and New York.
The first was the through route cobbled together by the New York and New England and the New Haven via Middletown and Willimantic. This was the principal route from the 1860s until the first Thames River bridge was completed in 1889. The relatively slow route ran from Summer St Station in Boston to the first Grand Central in New York. A variation on this ran down the Harlem River line to the Oak Point yard where cars were barged to New Jersey for service to Philadelphia's Centennial exposition. Another, later variant ran via Waterbury and Hartford. Service of some sort lasted via this route until the 1956 hurricane.
The second route formed was via Springfield and the Boston and Albany. While connecting service dates back to before the Civil War, through car service began in the 1880s and lasted to the early 1950s. Alternate connection routes were via New London or Providence and Worcester, but not with through cars.
The shore line route was originally operated to Grand Central over the tracks of the New York and Harlem west of Woodlawn, NY. The Harlem River branch from New Rochelle was opened primarily for freight service. Its connection to the New York Connecting Railway on the completion of the Hell Gate Bridge in 1917 allowed through connecting passenger service via Penn Station.
Boston's Summer Street Station and the Boston and Albany's neighboring station morphed into South Station in the 1890s, also swallowing up the Old Colony's nearby station.
In addition to through service, Boat Train service was offered between Boston and New York connecting at various times at Fall River, Stonington and New London.
That just about covers it. There were other through car routes, but you covered the through train routes. One thorugh car route was via Brewster and the Maybrook line. Also, for a while there was a streetcar Boston - Fall River boat connection, via the Boston Elevated and the Bay State Electric. This was a summer service using Bay State open-bench cars. The via-Springfield "Inland Route" was revived by Amtrak for a short time, and the ex-Roger Wiliiams Budd equipment was often used. Next question?
Lima built geared locomotives on the Shay patents from the 1880s to the 1940s. In the 1920s, this west coast builder turned out 2 two-truck and 31 three-truck Shay copies, all of which sold in the logging industry.
Willamette Locomotive Works. I think the Shay patents had expired when Willamette entered the business, however there were several differences between the types, one being the valve gear.
Establish communication with Dan Ranger, a vastly talented, widely experienced, highly skilled, Locomotive Fireman, switchman-foreman that I ran a couple of engines of his jobs at Ozol yard, administrater of a couple of tourist RR's and author of articles, TRAINS columns and at least one book, titled The Willamette Shay...... Definitive and out-of-print.....
NorthWest Willamette Locomotive Works. I think the Shay patents had expired when Willamette entered the business, however there were several differences between the types, one being the valve gear.
The Shay patents had expired. Even though the number of Willamette locomotives was small, the product was well thought of. Willamette also did good business repairng Shays and other geared locomotives, and built many donkey engines and one Spar Tower for the logging industry.
This railroad was started to connect San Francisco and Santa Cruz, but only completed two sections, one of which was partially electrified.
The Ocean Shore Railway picked a particularly bad time to start construction, beginning in 1905. The 1906 earthquake prevented completion of the line, which got a way north from Santa Cruz and about 20 miles south of San Francisco before construction stopped. The section inside San Francisco was electrified. Operation with steam or railcars ended in 1921, with some trackage inside San Francisco taken over by Muni or United RRs. A small piece of former Ocean Shore trackage provided WP's connection to the State Belt Railway from its carfloat bridge until float operations were abandoned in the 1980s.
RC, your question.
The Ocean Shore also had some very hard geography to build through. What they did build was impressive.
One of this company's orange and maroon passenger trains was exhibited at the 1907 Jamestown exhibition before entering service. When in service it arrived daily in a capital city as a New York Central train.
Wagner car company
Albany
daveklepper Wagner car company Albany
This particular train was railroad-owned.
Chesapeake & Ohio
Lake Shore and Michigan Southern OR Michigan Central
The railroad owning the orange and maroon cars was best known for hauling one thing, and it wasn't passengers...
Rutland (milk) entering from the south, it was a NYC train to Albany. Southbound, an NYC train in Albany.
Or Bath and Hammondsfort wine, or Unadilla Valley wine
daveklepper Rutland (milk) entering from the south, it was a NYC train to Albany. Southbound, an NYC train in Albany. Or Bath and Hammondsfort wine, or Unadilla Valley wine
This stuff was a lot heavier, and they moved a lot more of it. If it's any help both states the train traversed were once the same state...
Coal - N&W
Mark
KCSfan Coal - N&W Mark
N&W favored maroon, and ran a reasonably full-service passenger business. This carrier was never noted as a passenger carrier. You're in the neighborhood, though.
VGN - Mark
KCSfan VGN - Mark
The year 1907 should have tipped you off. The Virginian's orange passenger trains operated between Norfolk and Roanoke, and between Roanoke and Charleston WV. At Gauley Bridge WV, the west end of the Virginian, the VGN trains continued over the NYC's Toledo and Ohio Central to Charleston. Despite being VGN orange and being headed by a VGN TA or PA locomotive, it was considered a T&OC train, the result of a rights swap which gave NYC access to various coal branches. The pool arrangement lasted for freight trains and crews long after the Roanoke-Charleston passenger trains were discontinued. The steel cars that replaced the wooden cars shown at the Jamestown exhibition also replaced the orange color scheme with green. The orange lived on in car lettering and later paint jobs on VGN electrics and diesels.
C&O also had orange and maroon cars.
Your question!
When did the New York Central first equip some of its passenger trains with on-board radios? On what trains and in what type of cars were the radios installed?
I think around 1929 or 1930 on premier all-:Pullman trains such as the 20th Century, Detroit Limited, Southwestern Lmtd., in the observation lounge cars, using console home-model floor-standing radios with built-in front loudspeakers, modified to use the on-board bettery power furnished by the axle-driven generators.
Surprisingly, Dave, it was quite a bit later than that. The NYC was not a pioneer when it came to adopting radio on its trains.
1938 20th Century? Many 1930s radio sets were designed for 32 volt operation which was the standard voltage for Pullman as well as for marine radio systems.
Close enough. It was actually in 1937 when radios were installed in the observation cars of 20th Century and Southwestern Ltds., and in the 6BR/lounge cars of the Commodore Vanderbilt and Water Level Ltd. The next question is yours to ask.
After the arrival of the former Cleveland "P" motors in the early 1950s, the 20th Century continued to be assigned a smaller "T" motor instead. What was the reason for this assignment?
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