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Classic Train Questions Part Deux (50 Years or Older)

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Posted by Overmod on Thursday, June 9, 2016 12:29 PM

Bumping this for better attention.  And has everyone gone over to the Trains Magazine Forum and participated in Chris May's contest?

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Posted by daveklepper on Monday, June 13, 2016 2:21 AM

NNEEDS BUMPING AGAIN

 
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Posted by rcdrye on Monday, June 20, 2016 6:49 AM

Who's up on this thread?

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Posted by Overmod on Monday, June 20, 2016 9:18 AM

It's Johnny's question -- Dave's, if Johnny is stuck (or doesn't reply)

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Posted by Deggesty on Monday, June 20, 2016 1:55 PM

No, it's Rob's question now. Go back to June 1: The train was, as he said, the Kansas City-Florida Special, which came into Atlanta as #8 on both the Birmingham and the Atlanta Divisions, and left as #7 on both divisions. To avoid confusing ticket/depot agents as to which train was which the primary direction (south or north) of each train was included in the description of the trains.

Johnny

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Posted by rcdrye on Monday, June 20, 2016 7:10 PM

For several years in the 1950s and 1960s this railroad rerouted one of its signature western trains slightly and "combined" it with another, eliminating the second one except for some cars added (or removed) at the second train's namesake city.  Need the Railroad, any partners, and both train names.

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Posted by Deggesty on Monday, June 20, 2016 7:46 PM

For some time in the sixties (I know the practice continued through 1967), the UP ran the City of Portland through Denver, and any cars necessary for Chicago-Denver traffic were switched out/in in Denver.

Johnny

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Posted by Overmod on Monday, June 20, 2016 9:47 PM

And the train that was 'subsumed' was (unsurprisingly) the City of Denver, and this was well past the time in 1955 where the C&NW was 'found wanting' and the Milwaukee was substituted for the part of the run into Chicago.  (1959-1967)

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Posted by rcdrye on Tuesday, June 21, 2016 6:40 AM

Johnny, naturally, got it immediately.  There was still an Official Guide listing for the City of Denver, and the train ran as 105-111 and 106-112 - at least as far as the public was concerned...  C of D patrons got access to the dome lounge and diner to make it sort of competetive with the Denver Zephyr.

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Posted by Deggesty on Tuesday, June 21, 2016 9:38 AM

In November of 1945, what railroad provided overnight Pullman service between two cities in Vurginia and two cities in Ohio, and between two cities in North Carolina and one city in Ohio? Name the road, the endpoints, and the junctions where cars were switched.

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Posted by rcdrye on Tuesday, June 21, 2016 2:06 PM

Nearest I can find is 1946, so I'm guessing a bit. 

Norfolk to Cincinnati and Columbus, Richmond (ACL, via Petersburg) to Cincinnati.

Winston-Salem to Cincinnati via Roanoake

Durham NC to Cincinnati via Lynchburg.

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Posted by Deggesty on Tuesday, June 21, 2016 3:07 PM

Well done! 

You did add one, at the time, impossible overnight run: Richmond-Bristol was canceled at the time because Pullmans were needed to move returning servicemen. I do not remember the exact minimum distance; I have a memory of 450 miles.

My error: The Durham-Cincinnati car had been discontinued some time back, and I do not know why I put that in as a second N.C.-Ohio run.

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Posted by rcdrye on Wednesday, June 22, 2016 11:34 AM

Of all of the coast-to-coast sleeper routes operated between the late 1940s and the late 1950s, this was the only one that missed Pennsylvania.

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Posted by daveklepper on Wednesday, June 22, 2016 2:20 PM

Washington - Los Angeles (short time San Francisco) via New Orleans, Sou, West  Point Rt., L&N, SP 

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Posted by rcdrye on Wednesday, June 22, 2016 3:05 PM

Washington-LA via SR(-WPR-L&N)-SP wasn't one of the routes.  The car originated in New York anyway and hit Philadelphia.  Thie was one of the Robert R. Young "A pig can ride a train through Chicago, but you can't!" routes.

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Posted by narig01 on Wednesday, June 22, 2016 3:56 PM

Of all of the coast-to-coast sleeper routes operated between the late 1940s and the late 1950s, this was the only one that missed Pennsylvania.

rcdrye

Washington-LA via SR(-WPR-L&N)-SP wasn't one of the routes.  The car originated in New York anyway and hit Philadelphia.  Thie was one of the Robert R. Young "A pig can ride a train through Chicago, but you can't!" routes.

 

Forgive for this but the last time I looked Philadelphia was in Pennsylvania.

   If the route started in New York City and did not go thru Pennsylvania the only other route would be thru southern Ontario. I do not recall any rail lines from New Jersey to Delaware. And if I remember correctly the Erie crosses thru Pennsylvania along the Susquehanna River( IIRC). 

    Was there a New York to Chicago passenger train that went to say Buffalo thence across Ontario? With the aforementioned car.

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Posted by Miningman on Wednesday, June 22, 2016 9:06 PM

The Empire State Express crossed Southern Ontario and carried sleepers and I think the North Shore Limited as well. Did one of these Pullmans continue on to the West Coast?

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Posted by daveklepper on Thursday, June 23, 2016 4:54 AM

1.  The Empire State Express never carried sleeping cars.  It was always a pure daytime train, New York to Buffalo, then a section to Detroit and a section to Cleveland.  Coaches and parlor-observation.

2.  Possibly the main overnight New York - Michigan - Chicago train, the Wolverine, did have a through sleeper to the West Coast.  It would be the only logical train on this route to do so, and it could logically have such a through sleeper, giving a through ride for Detroit, Ann Arbor (U. of Mich.) people to Los Angeles.   I would assume it went west from Chicago on either the Chief (not the Super) or the Overland Limited to Los Angeles.   Like the through sleepers that ran New York - Chicago via LV-CN-GTW, it may have run college break time only, and not even shown in the public timetables.

Was there ever a Boston or Portland ME -Vancouver through sleeper?  Or coast-to-coast in Canada?

At its best, the Wolverine was a pretty hot train, with a NY - Chicago time of only 17-1/2 hours as compared with the Century's 16 on a shorter rout with far fewer stops.  But the PRR's Red Arrow had more comfortable coaches for overnight NY - Detroit travel.

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Posted by rcdrye on Thursday, June 23, 2016 8:46 PM

The westbound every-other-day New York to Los Angeles car via NYC and the C&NW/UP (later CMStP&P/UP) City of Los Angeles was carried on NYC/MC train 17, the Wolverine via Buffalo, Southern Ontario and Detroit.  Not only was the Wolverine a pretty hot train, it was the only MC train that went to LaSalle Street before all MC trains were moved there in the late '50s from IC's Central Station.

Moving the car in Chicago required a transfer run from LaSalle on the St Charles Air Line to Union Tower on the CB&Q, then through the bypass tracks at Union Station to get to the station's North Joint Approach.  In C&NW years the move had to continue to Western Avenue to reach the C&NW.  Three changes in direction during the trip.  It's kind of amazing the service lasted even 10 years.

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Posted by daveklepper on Friday, June 24, 2016 7:30 AM

My 2  out of 3 sufficiently corrrect?

 

Destinations OK,, one train OK,one train wrong.

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Posted by rcdrye on Friday, June 24, 2016 12:37 PM

Sure, go ahead.

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Posted by daveklepper on Saturday, June 25, 2016 3:14 PM

Three contiguous states.  Eight stations, when operated by private railroads had four station names, naming four individual suburban communities or minor cities conected to two major metropolitan areas. In all cases the paired identacle station names are for stations still in operation, with both stations of a pair operated by the same commuter railroad authority. and serving the same suburb or small city but different locations.

The each station of a pair belonged to a different railroad, however.

A total of five railroads were involved in the ownership of the eight stations, but altogether six railroads provided service.   Today, only three commuter authorities are involved in ownership with four in ownership of the trains

Name the communitis, the stations' names as owned by the railroads, current station names, all the railroads involved, and all the current commuter authoritis involved.

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Posted by Overmod on Saturday, June 25, 2016 5:43 PM

The four of them in Philadelphia are Radnor, Villanova, Bryn Mawr and Haverford.  (PRR Main Line and Reading to Norristown)  [EDIT - it is of course P&W, not 'Reading' -- see correction later in thread.]

(Ardmore and Wynnewood would qualify but the names don't quite match up -- the ex-Reading has road names, not just the town name)

There is one in New Jersey that almost counts -- Glen Rock has two distinct stations, one on the Bergen County line and one on the old main line, but both are ex-Erie.   There is also that connection in Montclair that had Lackawanna and Erie something like 3/4 mile apart but only recently joined ... I don't remember the details now, but someone will.

I take it Mt. Vernon east and west don't count in New York (NYC and New Haven respectively with added connection to NYW&B - Dyre Av is only 1/3 mile away but that makes all the difference)

It does not escape me that there are some communities in Boston that share station names with places in other states.  That in itself might be an interesting question.  There's a Gladstone on NJT and one on the SEPTA line going to Media; a Bridgeport in Connecticut and one going to Norristown.  

One of the four in Illinois is Prairie Crossing - Libertyville.  I don't know much about Chicago transit, and the Metra rail system map is almost a triumph of poor design for any purpose other than finding the nearest station to a particular zip code, so someone else gets to post the history.  That tells me there will be three more in that state..

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Posted by daveklepper on Saturday, June 25, 2016 11:53 PM

In the interests of moving along, I will say you are the winner.  Mount Vernon does count, because in the Classic Period, both station's names were simply Mount Vernon, and only under Metro North were the East and West added.  Illinois doesn't count, because I mentioned three contigous states, and the three are NY,, NJ, and PA.

You  got Philadelphia communities I did not know.  The one I thought of was Chestnut Hill, same name for both PRR and Reading, now again east and west added, under SEPTA.  The New Jersey stations I had in mind are the PRR and DL&W Newark Stations, but perhaps I am wrong, and Newark is now actually owned by Amtrak, not NJT.  Someone can answer that question. Elizabeth used to count, but I understand there is no NJT service at the CNJ station anymore.  The railroads are of course the PRR, DL&W, NYC, and NYNH&H.   But it is often forgotten that LV also served Newark PRR.  The commuter authorities are SEPTA, NJT, and MN.  ConnDot equipment also stops at Mount Vernon East intermixed with identacle MN equipment.

I also did not know about Bryn Mawr on the Reading Norristown line, but we could add Norristown - Reading and Norristown Philadelphia and Western with LVT also using that station, and Bryn Mawr Philadelphia and Western, with LVT occasionally stopping there.  And I have used both PRR and SEPTA Rout 100 stations in Bryn Mawr, and forgot about that!  PRR had a Norristown station also, but the line was cut back by SEPTA to Manyunk(Sp?).  If it still runs at all.

 

Look forward to your question.

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Posted by rcdrye on Sunday, June 26, 2016 6:55 AM

Newark Penn is Amtrak owned, but NJT has most of the trains.

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Posted by rfpjohn on Monday, June 27, 2016 3:20 AM

I'm afraid all four stations you named, Radnor, Villanova, Bryn Mawr and Haverford, were never on the Reading's line through Norristown. The non-Pennsy line though those communities is the "Pig & Whistle", Philadelphia & Western high speed rail line. Reading's line runs up the Schuylkill. But South Jersey was full of dual stations, prior to the formation of PRSL!

 

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Posted by Overmod on Monday, June 27, 2016 5:03 AM

Whoops!  You are of course correct; I got carried away reading the SEPTA map for names, thinking about all the parallel PRR and Reading MU lines, and not remembering there is no difference on the map that distinguishes the P&W from heavier rail.

"the Times regrets the error"

I would normally have declined the question, as even before this my answers were somewhat defective in actually answering what Dave asked.  But I do have something that might amuse a couple of people on here -- I have to scan and edit something and then post it on the Web to get it to display here, so it may be a day or more.  Dave -- feel free to ask another question in the meantime.

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Posted by daveklepper on Tuesday, June 28, 2016 1:43 PM

Name the passenger carrying cars that had a typical leaf-spring Brill truck, a version of the 77-E or 177E, at one end, and drop-equalizer MCB-type truck at the other end.  Why?

During this period, this railroad owned one serviceable steam locmotive.  Where and Why?

Where and why was this passenge equipment last used?

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Posted by Overmod on Thursday, June 30, 2016 6:34 PM

While we are figuring out the last question Dave put to us...

I do have something that might amuse a couple of people on here -- I have to scan and edit something and then post it on the Web to get it to display here, so it may be a day or more...

Well, here it is days later and it appears I don't know how to put a flickr image inline in a forum post.  Or, apparently, hotlink to it.  Ah well.

All you Official Guide junkies, have a look at this timetable... if you're allowed to see it...

https://www.flickr.com/photos/112832503@N07/27393009344/in/dateposted-public/

Who can tell me the details about it, including the rolling stock?

(PM me with your e-mail address if you need the actual scan sent to you.)

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Posted by Deggesty on Thursday, June 30, 2016 8:12 PM

Overmod

While we are figuring out the last question Dave put to us...

 

 
I do have something that might amuse a couple of people on here -- I have to scan and edit something and then post it on the Web to get it to display here, so it may be a day or more...

 

Well, here it is days later and it appears I don't know how to put a flickr image inline in a forum post.  Or, apparently, hotlink to it.  Ah well.

All you Official Guide junkies, have a look at this timetable... if you're allowed to see it...

https://www.flickr.com/photos/112832503@N07/27393009344/in/dateposted-public/

Who can tell me the details about it, including the rolling stock?

(PM me with your e-mail address if you need the actual scan sent to you.)

 

Overmod, that looks to be of value for a train that made the stops that are listed. Do you have any idea as to when that was effective, and what time of day the train(s) ran?

Johnny

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