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Classic Train Questions Part Deux (50 Years or Older)

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Posted by passengerfan on Tuesday, November 10, 2009 9:56 AM

KCSfan

 Al,

Was the trainset given different names when it ran on each of its several different routes?

Mark

 

Mark Yes thats 4 down sixteen to go.

Al - in - Stockton 

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Posted by KCSfan on Tuesday, November 10, 2009 10:56 AM

Al, I'll have a try at answering. Was it the CB&Q's Mark Twain Zephyr?

It originally ran between St. Louis and Burlington, IA. Its next assignment was a brief one running as the Advanced Denver Zephyr between Chicago and Denver. Following that it ran as one of the Twin Cities Zephyrs between Chicago and Minneapolis.St. Paul. I'm not sure but I think it next was returned to it's original StL-Burlington route running again as the MTZ. This was followed by an assignment running between St.L and KC, as a joint CB&Q/Alton train named either the MTZ or maybe the Ozark Zephyr. I recall reading somewhere that its last route before being retired was between Galesburg, IL and St. Joe, MO but I can't confirm that from any of the OG's that I have and I don't know what it was named when running in this service.

I'm pretty sure of these routes though I may not have them in the correct order.

Mark 

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Posted by passengerfan on Tuesday, November 10, 2009 11:00 AM

KCSfan

Al, I'll have a try at answering. Was it the CB&Q's Mark Twain Zephyr?

It originally ran between St. Louis and Burlington, IA. Its next assignment was a brief one running as the Advanced Denver Zephyr between Chicago and Denver. Following that it ran as one of the Twin Cities Zephyrs between Chicago and Minneapolis.St. Paul. I'm not sure but I think it next was returned to it's original StL-Burlington route running again as the MTZ. This was followed by an assignment running between St.L and KC, as a joint CB&Q/Alton train named either the MTZ or maybe the Ozark Zephyr. I recall reading somewhere that its last route before being retired was between Galesburg, IL and St. Joe, MO but I can't confirm that from any of the OG's that I have and I don't know what it was named when running in this service.

I'm pretty sure of these routes though I may not have them in the correct order.

Mark 

Mark No 5 down 15 to go.

Al - in - Stockton.

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Posted by KCSfan on Tuesday, November 10, 2009 11:11 AM

Dang, I thought sure it was the MTZ since it fits your original question and all the prior answers. Guess I need to narrow it down a bit more before guessing a specific train.

Was the RR that operated the train a predecessor of today's BNSF?

Mark

 

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Posted by passengerfan on Tuesday, November 10, 2009 1:24 PM

KCSfan

Dang, I thought sure it was the MTZ since it fits your original question and all the prior answers. Guess I need to narrow it down a bit more before guessing a specific train.

Was the RR that operated the train a predecessor of today's BNSF?

Mark

 

Si 6 down 14 to go.
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Posted by KCSfan on Tuesday, November 10, 2009 4:53 PM

I'm hard pressed to think of any GN, NP or Frisco trains that meet the requirements. A Santa Fe trainset comes to mind as a possibility but I still think it was a Burlington train, so my next question is, was it a CB&Q train?

Mark

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Posted by passengerfan on Tuesday, November 10, 2009 5:02 PM

KCSfan

I'm hard pressed to think of any GN, NP or Frisco trains that meet the requirements. A Santa Fe trainset comes to mind as a possibility but I still think it was a Burlington train, so my next question is, was it a CB&Q train?

Mark

Si 7 down 13 to go.

Al - in - Stockton

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Posted by passengerfan on Tuesday, November 10, 2009 5:03 PM

 

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Posted by KCSfan on Tuesday, November 10, 2009 5:27 PM

Well the Pioneer Zephyr trainset is the obvious one that comes to mind. It originally ran between KC and Lincoln, NE. For a time it was paired with the Mark Twain Zephyr and the duo ran between Chicago and Denver as the Advanced Denver Zephyr. I believe it also saw service for a brief time on the Chicago to Minneapolis/St. Paul route. Its last route prior to being retired was IIIRC between Galesburg, IL and Lincoln.

Mark

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Posted by passengerfan on Tuesday, November 10, 2009 6:10 PM

KCSfan

Well the Pioneer Zephyr trainset is the obvious one that comes to mind. It originally ran between KC and Lincoln, NE. For a time it was paired with the Mark Twain Zephyr and the duo ran between Chicago and Denver as the Advanced Denver Zephyr. I believe it also saw service for a brief time on the Chicago to Minneapolis/St. Paul route. Its last route prior to being retired was IIIRC between Galesburg, IL and Lincoln.

Mark

We have a winner.

The Pioneer Zephyr was the first streamlined diesel powered streamliner to operate in the United States. The three named services it operated under were as follows:

It first entered service between Lincoln -Omaha - St. Joseph - Kansas City round trip daily as the 9900 ZEPHYR.

It was one of the two trains assigned to the ADVANCE DENVER ZEPHYR between Chicago and Denver between May 31, 1936 and November 7, 1936 operating opposite the MARK TWAIN ZEPHYR as you mentioned.

And the third named assignment of the Pioneer Zephyr was as the OZARK STATE ZEPHYR round trip daily between Kansas City and St. Louis.

Your question Mark

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Posted by KCSfan on Tuesday, November 10, 2009 6:36 PM

A number of train names included the name of mountain ranges. Name as many as you can and the RR's over which they ran. 

Let's keep it to US trains that operated sometime between 1945 and 1959. Remember only mountain ranges count not individual mountains like the El Capitan for example.

Mark

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Posted by passengerfan on Tuesday, November 10, 2009 7:48 PM

KCSfan

A number of train names included the name of mountain ranges. Name as many as you can and the RR's over which they ran. 

Let's keep it to US trains that operated sometime between 1945 and 1959. Remember only mountain ranges count not individual mountains like the El Capitan for example.

Mark

Mark.

First I would like to say it certainly is an interesting way to spend a day. All  to soon Tax season will be here once again. I still have about a dozen clients to finish just waiting on the balance of there info.

I came up with five in your latest question.

CASCADE SP Portland Oakland with through sleepers to Seattle.

CASCADIAN GN Spokane - Seattle

LAURENTIAN D&H /NYC New York - Montreal

MINNESOTA & BLACK HILLS EXPRESS C&NW Minneapolis - Rapid City

ROCKY MOUNTAIN ROCKET CRI&P Chicago - Denver/Colorado Springs

Al - in - Stockton 

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Posted by henry6 on Tuesday, November 10, 2009 8:13 PM

The White Mountan Express...B&M, MEC from Boston and Portland to Montreal

The Pocono Express...DL&W Buffalo to NY

The Adarondack...D&H Alban-Montreal

The Berkshire HIlls...NH New York City to Pittsfield MA

The Catskill Flyer (?) ..Ulster and Delaware, NYC, Weehawken to Oneonta

Green Mountain Flyer...Rutland, Bennington,VT to Rouses Pt.,NY

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Posted by KCSfan on Wednesday, November 11, 2009 12:57 PM

Right now it's a tie with Al and Henry naming 5 trains apiece. There are at least four more trains that I know of so I'll leave the question open for a while to see if anyone can identify them and hopefully break the tie.

Mark

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Posted by adkdivfan on Thursday, November 12, 2009 10:41 AM

Alleghany, PRR. Shenandoah, B&O. Ozarker, MP. Taconic, NH. Hoosac, B&M. Klamath, SP.

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Posted by KCSfan on Thursday, November 12, 2009 11:56 AM

adkdivfan

Alleghany, PRR. Shenandoah, B&O. Ozarker, MP. Taconic, NH. Hoosac, B&M. Klamath, SP.

All good answers even though some are really only part of a larger and better known mountain range. e.g. the Hoosac Range which is a part of the Berkshires.

Since you have named six and Henry and Al only five each the tie is broken and the next question is yours adkdivfan.

I know of only two other trains that could be added to the list, the CB&Q's Ozark State Zephyr and one of NH/B&M's White Mountains. While Henry mentioned the White Mountains there were actually two such trains, one named the Day White Mountains and the other the Night White Mountains.

Mark

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Posted by daveklepper on Thursday, November 12, 2009 2:27 PM

Both ran on the NYNH&H, B&M, and CV from Grand Central Terminal to Wells River (and perhaps beyhond?).

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Posted by Deggesty on Thursday, November 12, 2009 5:18 PM

daveklepper

Both ran on the NYNH&H, B&M, and CV from Grand Central Terminal to Wells River (and perhaps beyhond?).

In 1943, and in 1950, the Day White Mountains ran between NYC and Berlin (N. H.) In 1943, it also had coaches to Montreal.

The Guides that I currently have near my computer do not list the Night White Mountains, but I do have a memory of having seen the train listed. It also may have gone up to Berlin.

Johnny

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Posted by adkdivfan on Thursday, November 12, 2009 6:23 PM

During the 1950s many towns and cities in the U.S. experienced the closure of passenger stations and the loss of intercity service provided at those stations. Which city with a population of over one million people was the only one during that decade to lose a station and the entire loss of service provided there? This applies to a primary downtown station, not peripheral stops.

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Posted by henry6 on Thursday, November 12, 2009 7:48 PM

Syraacuse, NY comes to mind when the downtown NYC station was closed and the ROW given over to the 4 lane highway system; station became Grayhound's!  New stop was at E.Syracuse/Dewitt. 

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Posted by KCSfan on Thursday, November 12, 2009 10:04 PM

According to the census figures I've seen in both 1950 and 1960 only five cities had populations of one million or more. These were: New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Philadelphia and Detroit. I'd guess it was Reading Terminal in Philadelphia.

Mark

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Posted by daveklepper on Friday, November 13, 2009 2:48 AM

Didn't Reading Temrinal close after 1960?  I recall taking a train to Newark, NJ after the Aldene plan had been effected, from Reading Terminal.

One State Capitol lost all its rail passenger service when the Baltimore and Annapolis discontinued rail passenger service during that period, but Annapolis did not have one million residents.

If the census figures are correct then the question is not correct.

 

Did Atlanta lose its downtown stations at the time?    Close to million, fi not actually a million.

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Posted by adkdivfan on Friday, November 13, 2009 7:40 AM

KCSfan

According to the census figures I've seen in both 1950 and 1960 only five cities had populations of one million or more. These were: New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Philadelphia and Detroit. I'd guess it was Reading Terminal in Philadelphia.

Mark

Reading Terminal did not close until late 1983 or early 1984 with the opening of the Center City Commuter Tunnel. Intercity service ended a couple of years earlier when the through service to Newark NJ was changed to a connection to NJT at West Trenton. As I only asked for the city, Philadelphia is the correct answer. In April 1958 B&O Royal Blue Line service between Baltimore and Jersey City was discontinued, and the B&O station at 24th & Chestnut Streets closed.
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Posted by henry6 on Friday, November 13, 2009 7:56 PM

You always come through, Mark...I remember riding through there back about 1959 or 60 when as a high schooler a friend and I rode the B&O Royal Blue from Plainfield to and from Baltimore to visit the Museum.  I was fascinated by the trackage, the river, and the station in Philadelphia. 

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Posted by KCSfan on Saturday, November 14, 2009 12:02 AM

After re-reading adkdivfan's last reply I think I am supposed to ask the next question. If I'm wrong, let me know and I'll delete this one.

I'm think of one of the few trains headed by a doodlebug that was named. You have 20 questions to identify the train, its route and the railroad over which it ran.

Mark

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Posted by adkdivfan on Saturday, November 14, 2009 12:32 AM

KCSfan

After re-reading adkdivfan's last reply I think I am supposed to ask the next question. If I'm wrong, let me know and I'll delete this one.

I'm think of one of the few trains headed by a doodlebug that was named. You have 20 questions to identify the train, its route and the railroad over which it ran.

Mark

Yes, you had the correct city, and thank you for posting the photos. Was Ashland, Wisconsin one of its end points?
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Posted by KCSfan on Saturday, November 14, 2009 12:54 AM

adkdivfan

KCSfan

After re-reading adkdivfan's last reply I think I am supposed to ask the next question. If I'm wrong, let me know and I'll delete this one.

I'm think of one of the few trains headed by a doodlebug that was named. You have 20 questions to identify the train, its route and the railroad over which it ran.

Mark

Yes, you had the correct city, and thank you for posting the photos. Was Ashland, Wisconsin one of its end points?

Thanks for the photos goes to wanswheel who does a yeoman job locating and posting vintage photos of just about anything we discuss on these forums.

(1) No, It didn't run anywhere near Ashland.

Mark

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Posted by passengerfan on Saturday, November 14, 2009 3:17 AM

Did it operate west of the Mississippi River?

Al - in - Stockton

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Posted by KCSfan on Saturday, November 14, 2009 6:46 AM

passengerfan

Did it operate west of the Mississippi River?

Al - in - Stockton

(2) No

Mark

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