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Classic Train Questions Part Deux (50 Years or Older)

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Posted by Overmod on Monday, December 4, 2023 12:41 PM

Bi-levels?

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Posted by CSSHEGEWISCH on Monday, December 4, 2023 1:51 PM

That's part of the answer.

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 daveklepper on Tuesday, December 5, 2023 1:44 AM

Rode the Pin.  Yes, bilevel gallery cars that could be and were converted to commuter cars, except some leased or sold to Amtrak in 1970.

But the most unusual feature were the five or six single-level dining cars that had a false high second roof added to match the profile of the bilevels.

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Posted by rcdrye on Tuesday, December 5, 2023 6:29 AM

The single-level cars given false roofs were a diner, a diner-lounge and two baggage-RPO lounges - no two were identical.  All of the former single-level cars were converted to HEP when the false roofs were added.  Of the bi-levels built for long-haul service, all were leased (and later sold) to Amtrak, with the exception of full parlor car 6400, which was converted to a commuter bi-level in the late 1960s.

All of C&NW's E8s were refitted with HEP generators.  Remaining single-level trains were powered by boiler-equipped E7s - all but the "Kate Shelley" were gone by about 1966.  The "Scoot" pool was rounded out by F7s pulled from the freight pool and equipped with Cummins HEP generators.

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Posted by Overmod on Tuesday, December 5, 2023 9:11 AM

Beat me to it!

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Posted by CSSHEGEWISCH on Tuesday, December 5, 2023 10:08 AM

We have a draw.  Overmod and rcrdye can decide who gets the next question.  As an aside, I chose this question since I took my first long-distance train ride on the "Peninsula 400" from Chicago to Marinette in 1965.

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 Tuesday, December 5, 2023 11:22 AM

Overmod is up.  

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Posted by daveklepper on Tuesday, December 5, 2023 11:26 AM

My error.  The Pen I rode had the diner, and I thought all false-roof cars  must be the same, with enough for both trains in both directions, with a spare for each.  Were seats and  tables changed in some with installation of the false roof?

Were not the bilevels used by Amtrack eventually returned to the C&NW and converted to commuter cars?

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Posted by CSSHEGEWISCH on Tuesday, December 5, 2023 12:03 PM

The bi-level coaches stayed with Amtrak.  Two of the coaches were equipped with cabs and the bi-levels finished out their days on the Valparaiso suburban locals.

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 Tuesday, December 5, 2023 2:26 PM

The bi-level sets had a service rotation that usually included a couple of Chicago-Milwaukee round trips, in addition to the "400" runs.  Somtime in the early 1960s all of the long-distance bilevel cars were equipped with MU lines in addition to HEP cabling so that commuter cars could be mixed in, though the use of the cars in "push" mode does not seem to have happened very often, if at all.  Amtrak's Beech Grove shops did the cab modifications for the Valpo dummies.

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Posted by Overmod on Friday, December 8, 2023 10:11 AM

A railroad serving the New York area relied on ferry, tube, and public bus to transfer passengers from its name trains to Manhattan, despite sharing a terminal facility with a railroad offering dedicated 'motor coach' service into Manhattan.  That changed 'late in the game' for passenger service.

What is the railroad, the name train, and the year range involved?

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Posted by daveklepper on Sunday, December 10, 2023 9:02 AM

The CNJ shared its terminal with trains of both the Reading  and the B&O  (I'm ceratn btrasin crews of bioth the reading and B&O and the power ran thru ti JC, uncertain iof the engine crews,)  The B&O provided motor  coaches, but the Reading and CNJ did not.  I think the answer you want is the Reading, the name trains are the  Crusader and the Wall Street, and the big change wasv moving the Reading and CNJ trains to PRR Newark Penn Station under thr Aldine plan. 1967?  The B&O stopped ended passenger service north of Baltimore much earlier, but well after WWII.

I think this is what you want, but the H&M-PATH never served the CiofNJ Terminal.  Nearly every commuter and most others used the ferry boatsm some the PSNJ buses.

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Posted by daveklepper on Sunday, December 10, 2023 10:13 AM

But the CNJ also had name trsins, the Blue Comet to Atlantic City, and the Queen of the Valley to Harrisburg.

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Posted by Overmod on Sunday, December 10, 2023 12:44 PM

Further north.

And by the time the name train participated in the service, the timetable noted 'trainside connection'.

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Posted by rcdrye on Sunday, December 10, 2023 6:14 PM

Even after the Erie moved from its own Jersey City (Pavonia) terminal to DL&W's Hoboken terminal, the Erie continued to offer Motor Coach service to Rockefeller Center and the Hotel New Yorker.  Passengers from the Lake Cites, the Erie Limited and the Atlantic/Pacific Limiteds could take advantage of this service.  I'm not sure how long it survived the E-L merger, but it was gone before 1966.

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Posted by Overmod on Monday, December 11, 2023 9:48 AM

Look carefully at your timetables from the late Fifties and tell me which of the name trains had a bus in only one direction...

Apparently the 'bus-off' was in April of 1966, just a few months before service on the Northern Branch was ended.

Now answer the other one.

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Posted by rcdrye on Monday, December 11, 2023 6:55 PM

The Atlantic Limited #8 only lists the Barclay St. Ferry in the February 1960 OG.  All of the others list motor coach connections.

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Posted by Overmod on Tuesday, December 12, 2023 3:48 PM

He's got it.

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Posted by daveklepper on Monday, December 25, 2023 7:09 AM

WAITing for RC's question here, also.

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Posted by rcdrye on Monday, December 25, 2023 9:31 AM

This train that ran six days a week for most of its history was known for running in multiple sections, though it is not known to have done so when a particular date did not fall on the normal day off.

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Posted by CSSHEGEWISCH on Wednesday, December 27, 2023 10:36 AM

Chicagoan that I am, I would say that the train in question is CA&E's "Cannonball".

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 daveklepper on Wednesday, December 27, 2023 10:58 AM

Was  the "Cannon Ball" name official, shown in the public timetable?

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Posted by CSSHEGEWISCH on Wednesday, December 27, 2023 12:23 PM

daveklepper

Was  the "Cannin Ball" name official, shown in bthe public timetanle?

 
No, not unike the "South Bend Hotshot" on South Shore.
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 Wednesday, December 27, 2023 12:27 PM

The train I'm looking for went a iot farther, and was more than locally famous.  The Cannonball was x67 in the timetable.

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Posted by rcdrye on Wednesday, January 3, 2024 12:23 PM

The one day off a week only applied in the heavyweight era, and with the first set of lightweight equipment.  When the second set was delivered after the war, the train went to daily operation, with the first lightweight set used as a second section when needed.

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Posted by daveklepper on Thursday, January 4, 2024 1:51 PM

Two guesses are thye GM&O Rebel and the IC Green Diamond.

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Posted by rcdrye on Thursday, January 4, 2024 5:25 PM

Bigger city endpoints. The train often ran in many sections in the heavyweight era, with an "Advance" version as well.

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Posted by Overmod on Thursday, January 4, 2024 10:16 PM

I'd have said Empire State Express, but I didn't know that train had an 'Advance' version.

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Posted by rcdrye on Friday, January 5, 2024 6:01 AM

If I say all-Pullman, does that help?

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Posted by daveklepper on Saturday, January 6, 2024 11:08 AM

20th Century LImited

Didn't know it had a regular Saturday-night vacation, but it seems plausable.

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