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Classic Train Questions Part Deux (50 Years or Older)

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Posted by daveklepper on Sunday, February 26, 2017 11:09 AM

Is Texas a Soiuthern State?

Hey, at one time there was an Albany - New York City sleeper.  And I think one Philadelphia - NY also!

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Posted by Deggesty on Sunday, February 26, 2017 1:29 PM

Oh, yes; Texas is definitely a southern state, even though it is also a southwestern state. 

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Posted by daveklepper on Tuesday, February 28, 2017 10:33 AM

Before trying Texas, how about Knoxville - Nashville, TN?

Possibly the Southern one way and the L&N + NC&StL the other way?

Junction search will require a wider-band server, but Alabama or Georgia would be the State.

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Posted by Deggesty on Tuesday, February 28, 2017 10:59 AM

daveklepper

Before trying Texas, how about Knoxville - Nashville, TN?

Possibly the Southern one way and the L&N + NC&StL the other way?

Junction search will require a wider-band server, but Alabama or Georgia would be the State.

 

Well, the Southern never served Nashville. At one time or another, there were two different Pullman routes between Nashvilee and Knoxville--but the junctions for both were in Tennessee. Harriman was the junction for the SOU/TC route, and Chattanooga was the junction for the SOU/NC route--which crossed Alabama and Georgia.

L&N/NC was possible--but highly improbable, for you would have had to go almost to Atlanta to make the junction (and it, also, would have crossed Alabama).

You have named one of the states.

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Posted by daveklepper on Wednesday, March 1, 2017 12:25 AM

Thanks.   At least we know it isn't Texas.  Or Virginia.  Or Florida.

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Posted by daveklepper on Wednesday, March 1, 2017 1:33 PM

Shreveport - Baton Rouge?   Or had thid been ruled uot already?`````````````````````````````````````

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Posted by Deggesty on Wednesday, March 1, 2017 2:04 PM

daveklepper

Shreveport - Baton Rouge?   Or had thid been ruled uot already?`````````````````````````````````````

 

No, any route alternate to either L&A or T&P that went out of Louisiana would add far more than 11 miles to the trip. 

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Posted by rcdrye on Wednesday, March 1, 2017 4:52 PM

How about Savannah-Augusta GA?  One way CofG, the other C&WC and SAL (Fairfax SC) or ACL (Yemassee SC)

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Posted by Deggesty on Wednesday, March 1, 2017 6:47 PM

rcdrye

How about Savannah-Augusta GA?  One way CofG, the other C&WC and SAL (Fairfax SC) or ACL (Yemassee SC)

 

Augusta-Savannah via CoG: 140 miles; via C&WC/SAL: 118.5; via C&WC/ACL: 132 miles

The car under question covered about 11 miles longer on the two road route than it did on the one road route.

A good try, though.

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Posted by Deggesty on Friday, March 3, 2017 10:56 AM

The single railroad state has been named, but the state with the junction has not been named by a contestant.

The single road swung to the east and then to the west; the joint roads swung to the west and then to the east (the routes were mainly north-south and south-north).

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Posted by rcdrye on Friday, March 3, 2017 6:57 PM

Mobile - Birmingham Alabama looks like the city pair.  Looks like Southern Railway on one side (via Wilton and Bessemer, I would think) , Mobile & Ohio/Alabama Great Southern on the other.  Meridian Mississippi would be the junction point.  If I remember rightly Southern controlled both the AGS and the M&O in those years.

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Posted by Deggesty on Friday, March 3, 2017 7:56 PM

rcdrye

Mobile - Birmingham Alabama looks like the city pair.  Looks like Southern Railway on one side (via Wilton and Bessemer, I would think) , Mobile & Ohio/Alabama Great Southern on the other.  Meridian Mississippi would be the junction point.  If I remember rightly Southern controlled both the AGS and the M&O in those years.

 

You have the right city pair and one correct route. Yes, the Southern Railway System was pretty well complete in 1920, except for the aquisitions after World War II. The AGS, NO&NE, CNO&TP, GS&F lines are all in the Southern passenger timetable of 1920. If you can, check the mileages on the two routes that you propose. Remember that the car travelled about 11 miles farther going north than it did going south.

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Posted by rcdrye on Saturday, March 4, 2017 7:50 AM

Deggesty
You have the right city pair and one correct route. Yes, the Southern Railway System was pretty well complete in 1920, except for the aquisitions after World War II. The AGS, NO&NE, CNO&TP, GS&F lines are all in the Southern passenger timetable of 1920. If you can, check the mileages on the two routes that you propose. Remember that the car travelled about 11 miles farther going north than it did going south.

Then it went via Anniston on the Southern.  I'm just eyeballing it on the map, but that would add the extra mileage whie including a reasonable place to transfer a car.

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Posted by Deggesty on Saturday, March 4, 2017 10:48 AM

rcdrye

 

 
Deggesty
You have the right city pair and one correct route. Yes, the Southern Railway System was pretty well complete in 1920, except for the aquisitions after World War II. The AGS, NO&NE, CNO&TP, GS&F lines are all in the Southern passenger timetable of 1920. If you can, check the mileages on the two routes that you propose. Remember that the car travelled about 11 miles farther going north than it did going south.

 

Then it went via Anniston on the Southern.  I'm just eyeballing it on the map, but that would add the extra mileage whie including a reasonable place to transfer a car.

 

No, it did not go through Anniston; that would have made the trip down longer than the trip back up--which was 11 miles longer than the trip down.

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Posted by rcdrye on Saturday, March 4, 2017 11:22 AM

Using OG's that I have the two-state (down?) route comes to 287 (135 Mobile-Meridian, 152 Meridian-Birmingham).

The listing for Birmingham-Mobile is 264 miles via Bessemer and Wilton.  Taking the route via Marion Jct and Akron comes to 282 - about still five miles shorter. Via Anniston is 306.  That makes the route via Akron and Marion Jct. the closest match.

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Posted by Deggesty on Saturday, March 4, 2017 11:27 AM

No. The Meridian-Birmingham section is shown in the Southern Railway System's's timetable--which leaves another road in the mix. Its route is a little longer than the Southern's route to Mobile.

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Posted by rcdrye on Saturday, March 4, 2017 11:50 AM

Big Duh to me for trying to make this an all SRS problem...  L&N's line from Mobile to Birmingham is 276 miles, so the math works with SR/M&O at 287.  L&N's line comes close to, but doesn't cross, Florida's border.

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Posted by Deggesty on Saturday, March 4, 2017 12:01 PM

rcdrye

Big Duh to me for trying to make this an all SRS problem...  L&N's line from Mobile to Birmingham is 276 miles, so the math works with SR/M&O at 287.  L&N's line comes close to, but doesn't cross, Florida's border.

 

The station in Flomaton is just a few feet from the Florida state line. You have the full answer.

I do no tknow of any other Pullman line that used two different routes for the travels.

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Posted by Deggesty on Saturday, March 4, 2017 1:09 PM

rcdrye

Big Duh to me for trying to make this an all SRS problem...  L&N's line from Mobile to Birmingham is 276 miles, so the math works with SR/M&O at 287.  L&N's line comes close to, but doesn't cross, Florida's border.

 

The station in Flomaton is just a few feet from the Florida state line. You have the full answer.

I do not know of any other Pullman line that used two different routes for the travels.

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Posted by rcdrye on Sunday, March 5, 2017 1:17 PM

That was an interesting question to wrap my head around.  The Pullman Company's operations were full of surprises.

Here's another shared Pullman line:

This short (less than 200 miles) but politically important line was served by setout cars on two different carriers on an alternating month basis until one of the two trains involved was cancelled in 1958.  One carrier used a 10sec2cpt1DR car, the other a 12sec1DR car.  Neither car ran on Saturday nights.  The two routes started out at one end about 1.6 miles apart, ended up at the other .6 miles apart, but never crossed.  Need the cities, the railroads and the train names.

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Posted by Deggesty on Sunday, March 5, 2017 2:40 PM

That sounds like the overnight service operated alternately between Chicago and Springfield by the GM&O and the IC, whereby politcally-minded persons could sleep between the capital city (0.6 mile difference) and the Windy City (1.6 mile difference). I would have to dig a 1950's Guide out to see which road offered which accomodation--the accomodations were not the same in 1943.

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Posted by rcdrye on Sunday, March 5, 2017 5:10 PM

Deggesty

That sounds like the overnight service operated alternately between Chicago and Springfield by the GM&O and the IC, whereby politcally-minded persons could sleep between the capital city (0.6 mile difference) and the Windy City (1.6 mile difference). I would have to dig a 1950's Guide out to see which road offered which accomodation--the accomodations were not the same in 1943.

 

GM&O had the 10-2-1 and IC the 12-1.  The service lasted until October 1958 when IC dropped the Night Diamond.  GM&O carried its car on the Midnight Special, which lasted another 10 years or so.  Both trains also carried Chicago-St. Louis sleepers. 

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Posted by Deggesty on Monday, March 6, 2017 10:29 AM

In the 1917 and the 1931 Southern Railway System passenger timetables that I have, the Birmingham Special originally had a route that was different from the one familiar to us. 

What was it? What problem did some passengers have with it? The train had a 10 section observation car that in 1917 ran Washington-Birmingham--but in 1931 it continued to another city from Birmingham; where did it go?

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Posted by CSSHEGEWISCH on Monday, March 6, 2017 12:08 PM

The "Midnight Special" lasted until April 30, 1971.  It had lost its sleepers and most of its mail some time before that.

The daily commute is part of everyday life but I get two rides a day out of it. Paul
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Posted by rcdrye on Monday, March 6, 2017 12:28 PM

The original (1909) Birmingham Special operated via Atlanta on the route of today's Crescent. The later route via the N&W and Chattanooga began in 1932. I'm not sure what passengers complained of - the only complaint I found had to do with mishandling a casket.  Just an offhand guess would be that the 10 sec Obs would have continued to Columbus, Mississippi.

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Posted by daveklepper on Monday, March 6, 2017 1:25 PM

Not by any means to take victory from rc, I think the problem Lynchburg passengers had with the route to Bristol over the N&W was the use of the N&W station in Lynchburg, rather than the Southern Station, given tat they were going to and from Charlottesville, Washingtono, NY, etc. and not to Petersburg and Norfolk.  Oftern, going to and from Soui. RR points, including Birmingham, they would depart from one station and return at another.

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Posted by Deggesty on Monday, March 6, 2017 1:57 PM

daveklepper

Not by any means to take victory from rc, I think the problem Lynchburg passengers had with the route to Bristol over the N&W was the use of the N&W station in Lynchburg, rather than the Southern Station, given tat they were going to and from Charlottesville, Washingtono, NY, etc. and not to Petersburg and Norfolk.  Oftern, going to and from Soui. RR points, including Birmingham, they would depart from one station and return at another.

 

Dave, when the train was inaugurated, it used the Kemper St. Station, and had nothing to do with the N&W. Even the Memphis Special used that station and not the Union Station, even though the N&W handled this train west of Lynchburg. The possible confusion existed at another station.

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Posted by Deggesty on Monday, March 6, 2017 2:03 PM

rcdrye

The original (1909) Birmingham Special operated via Atlanta on the route of today's Crescent. The later route via the N&W and Chattanooga began in 1932. I'm not sure what passengers complained of - the only complaint I found had to do with mishandling a casket.  Just an offhand guess would be that the 10 sec Obs would have continued to Columbus, Mississippi.

 

Well, you have the routing right, but you missed the other two parts. What I have heard about confusion concerned live passengers--and the car did not go on to the end of the Southern's main (as mileposts run), a 122 mile run, but a shorter run which involved crossing a ridge (I went over it behind 4501 once on a circle trip, and behind a diesel on two round trips).

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Posted by rcdrye on Monday, March 6, 2017 5:15 PM

Columbus was an offhand guess.  For passenger confusion how about skipping Atlanta Terminal Station in favor of a suburban stop (say, today's Peachtree)?  Selma gives about a 100 mile run from Birmingham on SR rails.  I don't have a topo map but a visual on Google Earth shows a bit of a ridge SE of Akron.

My collection of OGs doesn't go that far back, so I can't confirm either.

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Posted by Deggesty on Monday, March 6, 2017 7:05 PM

Selma was the place. The train arrived n Selma at 8:40 in the evening, and left at 7:15 in the morning, so it could have provided some sort of meal service.  

Peachtree Station, as the timetable names it, was in existence at least by 1917, perhaps even earlier. . What was peculiar about this stop and this train?

Johnny

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