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Railroad History Quiz Game (Come on in and play) Locked

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Posted by CShaveRR on Saturday, March 1, 2008 6:56 PM

How'd you do that, Jeff--changed "GF" to "GR" and still got it right!  GF is Griffith, GB is Gibson, and EL is Elkhart--all three UP destinations in Indiana, a state not served by UP's own tracks.

Jeff wins!

Carl

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Posted by jeffhergert on Saturday, March 1, 2008 9:12 PM

A slip of the mind, I was thinking of one of the trains, ADVGFR.

I'd ask what that symbol means, but I think I'll throw out one dealing with a Rock Island passenger train.

In early 1945 the RI inaugurated a new passenger train between Minneapolis/St Paul and Houston.  What was it's name and what did the name signify.  

Jeff 

A hint, if needed, for the significance, think about the end points.

 

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Posted by Murphy Siding on Saturday, March 1, 2008 9:17 PM
 blhanel wrote:

I don't have a clue on that one...

BTW, the source for my question was here:

http://www.utahrails.net/all-time/all-time-index.php 

Brian- it looks like someone bested my 4-1/2 out of 6.  What were the correct answers?

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Posted by Murphy Siding on Saturday, March 1, 2008 9:24 PM
 jeffhergert wrote:

A slip of the mind, I was thinking of one of the trains, ADVGFR.

I'd ask what that symbol means, but I think I'll throw out one dealing with a Rock Island passenger train.

In early 1945 the RI inaugurated a new passenger train between Minneapolis/St Paul and Houston.  What was it's name and what did the name signify.  

Jeff 

A hint, if needed, for the significance, think about the end points.

 

Was it the Twins/Lone Star Rocket?

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Posted by jeffhergert on Saturday, March 1, 2008 9:52 PM

Close on the name, and half of what it signifies.

Jeff 

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Posted by blhanel on Saturday, March 1, 2008 11:00 PM
 Murphy Siding wrote:
 blhanel wrote:

I don't have a clue on that one...

BTW, the source for my question was here:

http://www.utahrails.net/all-time/all-time-index.php 

Brian- it looks like someone bested my 4-1/2 out of 6.  What were the correct answers?

Carl had them in his post:

1950- F3s

1960- GP9s

1970- GP9s again

1980- SD40-2s

1990- SD40-2s again

2000- C44-9Ws

He also indicated that most of the SD70s didn't get delivered until after 2000, although I was ready to accept your answer for 2000 as correct, as UtahRails shows them to have 1000 SD70s in service starting in the year 2000.  So, based on his logic, which made sense to me as well, I gave him a score of 6/6.  Who am I to argue with a UP employee?

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Posted by jeffhergert on Sunday, March 2, 2008 12:51 PM
 Murphy Siding wrote:
 jeffhergert wrote:

A slip of the mind, I was thinking of one of the trains, ADVGFR.

I'd ask what that symbol means, but I think I'll throw out one dealing with a Rock Island passenger train.

In early 1945 the RI inaugurated a new passenger train between Minneapolis/St Paul and Houston.  What was it's name and what did the name signify.  

Jeff 

A hint, if needed, for the significance, think about the end points.

 

Was it the Twins/Lone Star Rocket?

Murphy wins it.  The train was actually called the Twin Star Rocket.  The twin stars are derived from connecting Minnesota, the North Star state, with Texas, the Lone Star state.

Jeff 

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Posted by Murphy Siding on Sunday, March 2, 2008 3:52 PM
 jeffhergert wrote:
 Murphy Siding wrote:
 jeffhergert wrote:

A slip of the mind, I was thinking of one of the trains, ADVGFR.

I'd ask what that symbol means, but I think I'll throw out one dealing with a Rock Island passenger train.

In early 1945 the RI inaugurated a new passenger train between Minneapolis/St Paul and Houston.  What was it's name and what did the name signify.  

Jeff 

A hint, if needed, for the significance, think about the end points.

 

Was it the Twins/Lone Star Rocket?

Murphy wins it.  The train was actually called the Twin Star Rocket.  The twin stars are derived from connecting Minnesota, the North Star state, with Texas, the Lone Star state.

Jeff 

I was just guessing on the name, remembering that Rock Island had some train with *stars* in it.  I didn't quite get the reason for the name though.  In our part of the country, Minneapolis/St. Paul is always refered to as the twin cities.

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Posted by Murphy Siding on Sunday, March 2, 2008 3:57 PM

     How about a reletively easy one?

     In 1991, there was 31 railroads, plus Amtrak, certified as American Class 1s.  A handful of *mega-railroads*, sometimes refered to as the "super 7", had 75% of the route miles, and carried 88% of the freight.  Who were the "Super 7"?

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Posted by al-in-chgo on Sunday, March 2, 2008 4:44 PM
 Murphy Siding wrote:

     How about a reletively easy one?

     In 1991, there was 31 railroads, plus Amtrak, certified as American Class 1s.  A handful of *mega-railroads*, sometimes refered to as the "super 7", had 75% of the route miles, and carried 88% of the freight.  Who were the "Super 7"?

Union Pacific 

Burlington Northern 

ATSF 

Southern Pacific

CSX

Norfolk Southern

Conrail

Is it fair to assume all the Super Seven's were headquartered in the U.S.A., as well as owning/controlling the preponderance (75%) of the route miles of the U.S.A.?   - al

 

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Posted by Murphy Siding on Sunday, March 2, 2008 5:16 PM
 al-in-chgo wrote:
 Murphy Siding wrote:

     How about a reletively easy one?

     In 1991, there was 31 railroads, plus Amtrak, certified as American Class 1s.  A handful of *mega-railroads*, sometimes refered to as the "super 7", had 75% of the route miles, and carried 88% of the freight.  Who were the "Super 7"?

Union Pacific 

Burlington Northern 

ATSF 

Southern Pacific

CSX

Norfolk Southern

Conrail

Is it fair to assume all the Super Seven's were headquartered in the U.S.A., as well as owning/controlling the preponderance (75%) of the route miles of the U.S.A.?   - al

 

Way to go Al!  7 for 7.  The super seven were all American railroads.

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Posted by al-in-chgo on Sunday, March 2, 2008 6:02 PM
 Murphy Siding wrote:
 al-in-chgo wrote:
 Murphy Siding wrote:

     How about a reletively easy one?

     In 1991, there was 31 railroads, plus Amtrak, certified as American Class 1s.  A handful of *mega-railroads*, sometimes refered to as the "super 7", had 75% of the route miles, and carried 88% of the freight.  Who were the "Super 7"?

Union Pacific 

Burlington Northern 

ATSF 

Southern Pacific

CSX

Norfolk Southern

Conrail

Is it fair to assume all the Super Seven's were headquartered in the U.S.A., as well as owning/controlling the preponderance (75%) of the route miles of the U.S.A.?   - al

 

Way to go Al!  7 for 7.  The super seven were all American railroads.
 

Basically a lucky guess, Murph. 

So I get the next question?  Okay, here's one of those annoying "I have the book but you can't look in yours" type of questions. 

In the 1960s, when the 1936 rapid transit line from Philadelphia, PA to Camden NJ was modernized and extended into the Lindenwold Hi-Speed line by the service agency PATCO, the first generation of cars was built by Budd.  Around a year after operations began, though, the agency knew it needed to order more rolling stock.  PATCO decided to keep the basic Budd concept design but improve it in various ways, most notably redesigning the motors so that they wouldn't burn out so often.  This project came to be called Patco II. 

For this new generation of RT cars, Budd constructed and built only the trucks. The cars were "final assembled" in Philly.  In between, a different company in a different city constructed Patco II, using funding from PATCO and other sources and design permissions from Budd, and incorporating the new specs. 

Tell me, please, (a) the name of the company that constructed Patco II, and (b) in what city the new cars were constructed, before coming to Philly on long flatcars for final assembly. 

Hint 1:  If you get the name of the company right, that will get you a leg-up on the second (where?) part of the question. 

Hint 2:  It wasn't GE. 

Big Smile [:D]  Good luck!   Al 

 

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Posted by snagletooth on Sunday, March 2, 2008 9:26 PM

Bombadier in the old ALCO plant in  Schnedecty, NY?

 Edit: Nevermind, I just realized you're talking about the sixties! ALCO in Schnedecty, NYWink [;)]

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Posted by al-in-chgo on Monday, March 3, 2008 2:49 PM
 snagletooth wrote:

Bombadier in the old ALCO plant in  Schnedecty, NY?

 Edit: Nevermind, I just realized you're talking about the sixties! ALCO in Schnedecty, NYWink [;)]

 

Good guess, but think farther into the 1970s.  Between wanting new cars and knowing what to ask for in terms of funding the construction and approving the improvements; and submitting to the then-new UMTA a request for partial funding; and going to Budd re the new construction, which eventually decided it was content to build non-self-propelled cars for the foreseeable future (i.e., Amfleet coaches, but Amtrak surprised them by not putting in orders for the multiple phases of Amfleet augmentation the company had assumed it had coming to it); and [pause for breath] finding a new construction agent for the new Patco II specs; and getting the union and the feds on board to allow Patco a no-bid contract; and awarding same, it was 1975 already.  

Keep trying! 

 

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Posted by rrnut282 on Tuesday, March 4, 2008 6:11 PM
Got another hint?  24hrs later, I'm ready to cheat on the internet if it would help.
Mike (2-8-2)
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Posted by paulsafety on Tuesday, March 4, 2008 7:30 PM

Was it Hawker Siddeley in Ontario?

 

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Posted by al-in-chgo on Tuesday, March 4, 2008 7:44 PM
 paulsafety wrote:

Was it Hawker Siddeley in Ontario?

 

 

 

Right country, wrong province . . .  look east to the largest city in la belle province.

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Posted by jeffhergert on Tuesday, March 4, 2008 9:22 PM

My guess is Bombardier for the company and Montreal for the plant location.

Jeff

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Posted by al-in-chgo on Tuesday, March 4, 2008 11:13 PM
 jeffhergert wrote:

My guess is Bombardier for the company and Montreal for the plant location.

Jeff

 

Definitely in Montreal, Quebec; but company is not Bombardier.

Hint:  Rhymes with "snickers."   -  al

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Posted by jeffhergert on Wednesday, March 5, 2008 1:19 AM
 al-in-chgo wrote:
 jeffhergert wrote:

My guess is Bombardier for the company and Montreal for the plant location.

Jeff

 

Definitely in Montreal, Quebec; but company is not Bombardier.

Hint:  Rhymes with "snickers."   -  al

Vickers, maybe?

Jeff

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Posted by oltmannd on Wednesday, March 5, 2008 11:20 AM
 jeffhergert wrote:
 al-in-chgo wrote:
 jeffhergert wrote:

My guess is Bombardier for the company and Montreal for the plant location.

Jeff

 

Definitely in Montreal, Quebec; but company is not Bombardier.

Hint:  Rhymes with "snickers."   -  al

Vickers, maybe?

Jeff

Darn.  I'm too late.  I knew this one w/o the clue.  I was a Patco rider for years and years.  I believe the Vickers cars were all married pairs.  The original Budds came in singles and married pairs.  There weren't many ways to tell the two apart other than the builder's plate on the inside of the end doors.  One was the Vickers cars had corrogated flooring on the aisles where the Budd's had solid sheet.  Later the Budds were upgraded.  I seem to remember something about the skirting between the trucks being different, too.  Patco actually had a contest to see if you could find all the differences....

 I think the Vickers cars came on line just before the construction of the Woodcrest P&R station along I-295 circa 1979.

-Don (Random stuff, mostly about trains - what else? http://blerfblog.blogspot.com/

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Posted by oltmannd on Wednesday, March 5, 2008 11:24 AM
 al-in-chgo wrote:
 Murphy Siding wrote:
 al-in-chgo wrote:
 Murphy Siding wrote:

     How about a reletively easy one?

     In 1991, there was 31 railroads, plus Amtrak, certified as American Class 1s.  A handful of *mega-railroads*, sometimes refered to as the "super 7", had 75% of the route miles, and carried 88% of the freight.  Who were the "Super 7"?

Union Pacific 

Burlington Northern 

ATSF 

Southern Pacific

CSX

Norfolk Southern

Conrail

Is it fair to assume all the Super Seven's were headquartered in the U.S.A., as well as owning/controlling the preponderance (75%) of the route miles of the U.S.A.?   - al

 

Way to go Al!  7 for 7.  The super seven were all American railroads.
 

Basically a lucky guess, Murph. 

So I get the next question?  Okay, here's one of those annoying "I have the book but you can't look in yours" type of questions. 

In the 1960s, when the 1936 rapid transit line from Philadelphia, PA to Camden NJ was modernized and extended into the Lindenwold Hi-Speed line by the service agency PATCO, the first generation of cars was built by Budd.  Around a year after operations began, though, the agency knew it needed to order more rolling stock.  PATCO decided to keep the basic Budd concept design but improve it in various ways, most notably redesigning the motors so that they wouldn't burn out so often.  This project came to be called Patco II. 

For this new generation of RT cars, Budd constructed and built only the trucks. The cars were "final assembled" in Philly.  In between, a different company in a different city constructed Patco II, using funding from PATCO and other sources and design permissions from Budd, and incorporating the new specs. 

Tell me, please, (a) the name of the company that constructed Patco II, and (b) in what city the new cars were constructed, before coming to Philly on long flatcars for final assembly. 

Hint 1:  If you get the name of the company right, that will get you a leg-up on the second (where?) part of the question. 

Hint 2:  It wasn't GE. 

Big Smile [:D]  Good luck!   Al 

 

The new motors were a bust, just like the originals.  The original design speed for the line was 75 mph, but motor troubles reduced it to 65 mph.  There was at least one attempt to get back to 75 mph, but it didn't last long and it's been 65 mph ever since.   

-Don (Random stuff, mostly about trains - what else? http://blerfblog.blogspot.com/

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Posted by al-in-chgo on Wednesday, March 5, 2008 6:38 PM
 jeffhergert wrote:
 al-in-chgo wrote:
 jeffhergert wrote:

My guess is Bombardier for the company and Montreal for the plant location.

Jeff

 

Definitely in Montreal, Quebec; but company is not Bombardier.

Hint:  Rhymes with "snickers."   -  al

Vickers, maybe?

Jeff

 

  It's yours, Jeff!  Big Smile [:D]  My source authority for the clue and hints is a 56-page book published in 1990:  The Lindenwold High-Speed Line:  The First Twenty Years of the Port Authority Transit Corporation, author J. William Vigrass, publisher and (c)holder West Jersey Chapter of the N.R.H.S. 

  oltmann, you are quite correct:  the quickest physical distinction between the Budd-built cars and the Vickers contract is that the Vickers (Patco II) generation have a small skirt at the end of each car; the Budd's do not.   Also, the Patco II's were designed for couplers from Ohio Brass, and Budd's first-generation Lindenwold cars were delivered with a more conventional coupler.  The Ohio Brass couplers were phased in to Patco I as a replacement, so I wouldn't expect to see any of the type of coupler Budd built to be in use today, if they hadn't already been replaced by 1980 - 81, when Patco II cars entered service.

  BTW:  Official name of company that built Patco II was "Canadian Vickers, Ltd."  and to quote from p. 34 of the aforementioned book:

      "Vickers was not in the design business, but did build others' designs.  They had built Montreal Metro cars to a French design and Canadian Pacific Railways' gallery cars from a Budd design (for the Milwaukee Road**) for Montreal suburban service.  Budd agreed to license Vickers to build the Patco [II-a.s.] car."  

       In the seventies, also BTW, Canadian Vickers, Ltd. changed its name to "Vickers Canada, Inc." and then later on to "Versatile Vickers, Inc." and then went out of business in early 1990.  (Also from p. 34).

      ** I don't really understand the parenthetic expression two grafs above, "(for the Milwaukee Road)".  Would those galleys have been for some sort of Chicago commuter service, perhaps pre-Metra?? 

So, oltmann, if Jeff should prove unable or unwilling to fulfill the opportunity to post his own question, you can be runner-up if you wish. 

Take it awaaaay, Jeff!    -  al s. 

 

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Posted by jeffhergert on Wednesday, March 5, 2008 9:13 PM

I would've never got the name without the hint.  When I think of Vickers I think of WWI biplanes.

This question is about a railroad structure.  It was opened on April 21/22 1856, depending on if you go by the first actual use or the grand opening celebration.  On May 6, 1856 part of it was damaged by fire due to an "accident" and it was not back into service, according to one source, until September of 1856.

What was this structure? 

A hint.  One of the lawyers that became involved wasn't widely known at the time, but he went on to greatness a few years later. 

Jeff

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Posted by al-in-chgo on Wednesday, March 5, 2008 9:34 PM
 jeffhergert wrote:

I would've never got the name without the hint.  When I think of Vickers I think of WWI biplanes.

This question is about a railroad structure.  It was opened on April 21/22 1856, depending on if you go by the first actual use or the grand opening celebration.  On May 6, 1856 part of it was damaged by fire due to an "accident" and it was not back into service, according to one source, until September of 1856.

What was this structure? 

A hint.  One of the lawyers that became involved wasn't widely known at the time, but he went on to greatness a few years later. 

Jeff

 

I will guess that the bridge was a kind of wooden causeway that connected (what was then) mainland Chicago's near south side to a railhead farther downtown.  The causeway was necessary to span (what was then) Chicago marshland just west of Lake Michigan, paralleling (today's) Michigan Avenue, passing roughly by (today's) Art Institute and Metra-Electric station up to (again roughly) the "original" Prudential Insurance Bldg., 1955.  (First significant "air rights" sale so that 1955 bldg. could be built IIRC). 

Recalling that Metra-Electric station was formerly called I.C. Electric, I'll guess even farther back and say that the lawyer was that (then) hard-working corporation attorney named Abraham Lincoln.  I don't know if there is any better name for the causeway than "Illinois Central" right-of-way or something like that. 

G'nite!  For once I am going to bed early!  - a.s.

 

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Posted by jeffhergert on Wednesday, March 5, 2008 9:40 PM

Sorry Al.  The company that had the structure built started at Chicago, but the structure was at the other end (at that time) of the line.

Jeff

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Posted by Railway Man on Wednesday, March 5, 2008 10:14 PM
 jeffhergert wrote:

I would've never got the name without the hint.  When I think of Vickers I think of WWI biplanes.

This question is about a railroad structure.  It was opened on April 21/22 1856, depending on if you go by the first actual use or the grand opening celebration.  On May 6, 1856 part of it was damaged by fire due to an "accident" and it was not back into service, according to one source, until September of 1856.

What was this structure? 

A hint.  One of the lawyers that became involved wasn't widely known at the time, but he went on to greatness a few years later. 

Jeff

Oh, good question!!!!

Answer is the Rock Island Bridge between Rock Island, Illinois, and Davenport, Iowa, whacked by the steamboat Effie Afton on May 6, 1856, 14 days after it opened to rail traffic, the steamship and one span of the bridge destroyed by the collision and subsequent fire.  The bridge company was sued by the steamship company for erecting an obstacle to navigation, and successfully defended by one A. Lincoln, the suit ruled in favor of the defendent by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1862.

Appropo nothing, was there ever a case of a steamboat not catching on fire after colliding with something?  Seems every historical record of a steamboat ends with " ... and then burned to the waterline."

RWM 

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Posted by jeffhergert on Thursday, March 6, 2008 9:27 AM
 Railway Man wrote:
 jeffhergert wrote:

I would've never got the name without the hint.  When I think of Vickers I think of WWI biplanes.

This question is about a railroad structure.  It was opened on April 21/22 1856, depending on if you go by the first actual use or the grand opening celebration.  On May 6, 1856 part of it was damaged by fire due to an "accident" and it was not back into service, according to one source, until September of 1856.

What was this structure? 

A hint.  One of the lawyers that became involved wasn't widely known at the time, but he went on to greatness a few years later. 

Jeff

Oh, good question!!!!

Answer is the Rock Island Bridge between Rock Island, Illinois, and Davenport, Iowa, whacked by the steamboat Effie Afton on May 6, 1856, 14 days after it opened to rail traffic, the steamship and one span of the bridge destroyed by the collision and subsequent fire.  The bridge company was sued by the steamship company for erecting an obstacle to navigation, and successfully defended by one A. Lincoln, the suit ruled in favor of the defendent by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1862.

Appropo nothing, was there ever a case of a steamboat not catching on fire after colliding with something?  Seems every historical record of a steamboat ends with " ... and then burned to the waterline."

RWM 

We have a winner!  This was the first railroad bridge over the Mississippi.  They originally lost in lower courts, but as Railway Man says, won on appeal to the Supreme Court.  

All yours RWM.

Jeff 

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Posted by Railway Man on Thursday, March 6, 2008 9:36 AM

Open to anyone who wants to pose a question.  Don't wait for me.

RWM 

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Posted by al-in-chgo on Thursday, March 6, 2008 10:50 AM
 jeffhergert wrote:

Sorry Al.  The company that had the structure built started at Chicago, but the structure was at the other end (at that time) of the line.

Jeff

 

 

So was I also wrong about the soon-to-be famous lawyer?  I had guessed Abraham Lincoln.  -  a. s.

 

al-in-chgo

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