Pennsylvania Railroad Trail Blazer

Posted on by June 27, 2023
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If the all-Pullman Broadway Limited was a basket case before the war, the all-coach Trail Blazer was Pennsylvania’s success story. Inaugurated on July 28, 1939, the same day as New York Central’s all-coach Pacemaker, the Trail Blazer attracted 16 percent more passengers and earned 24 percent more revenue per train-mile in its first year than the Pacemaker. In its first year it also attracted 35 times as many passengers as the Broadway.


Click image to download a 2.4-MB PDF of this brochure.

The original eight-car train included a coach-baggage car, four full coaches, a kitchen-dormitory car, an entire car dedicated to dining, and a coach-observation-lounge car. These cars were rebuilt and streamlined in PRR’s own shops out of heavyweight cars. Externally, the train’s two-tone red and gold pinstripes and round-tail observation car made it nearly indistinguishable from its all-Pullman counterparts, while the Pacemaker initially used just ordinary heavyweight cars. Until 1948, the train was pulled by steam locomotives, often the Loewy-streamlined S-1 6-4-4-6 or the unstreamlined but no less impressive S-2 6-8-6. Continue reading →

The Fleet of Modernism

Posted on by June 18, 2023
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In the mid-1930s, passenger service on the Pennsylvania Railroad was in trouble. The Pennsy was the largest railroad with the largest fleet of passenger trains in the world. Like all railroads, the Pennsylvania was hurt by the Depression, but as the nation was emerging from its economic doldrums, PRR was having a hard time competing against its rivals. In the New York-Chicago market, the 20th Century Limited consistently outperformed the Broadway, which carried an average of just 30 to 35 passengers per trip. In the Washington-Chicago market, B&O’s Capitol Limited was faster than the Pennsylvania’s Liberty Limited.

Click image to download a 2.4-MB PDF of this brochure.

While western railroads were streamlining and Dieselizing, the staid Pennsylvania was reluctant to do either. This led it to particularly fall behind the B&O, which in 1938 purchased General Motors’ E unit locomotives — in my opinion, along with the Santa Fe E1s, the most beautiful and elegant passenger locomotives ever designed — to pull a heavyweight Capitol Limited that had been cosmetically streamlined by B&O shops. Continue reading →

Delaware & Hudson April 1955 Timetable

Posted on by June 18, 2023
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The Delaware and Hudson was a bridge line, which page 10 of this timetable defines as “a railroad transporting large volumes of traffic as an intermediate carrier and acting as a connecting link or bridge between the originating and terminating lines.” While the PRR, NYC, CP, and CN were mainly east-west carriers, the D&H was a north-south line connecting with the Pennsy in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania; the New York Central in Schenectady; and the Canadian roads in Rouses Point, New York, just across the border from Lacolle, Quebec.

Click image to download a 7.0-MB PDF of this timetable contributed by Ellery Goode.

Its main passenger service was the Albany-Montreal portions of two daily New York City-Montreal trains, the daylight Laurentian and the overnight Montreal Limited (with the Albany-New York City portions handled by the New York Central). From Rouses Point, the trains were handled by the Napierville Junction Railway, which happened to be owned by Delaware and Hudson. Continue reading →

New Haven October 1955 Timetable

Posted on by June 18, 2023
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Although the McGinnis-era colors were red, black, and white, Patrick McGinnis must have also liked this shade of blue, which I would call cornflower blue. A similar blue was used by the Boston & Maine’s Talgo train that was delivered when McGinnis was running that railroad.

Click image to download a 29.8-MB PDF of this timetable contributed by Ellery Goode.

Like the 1954 timetable, this one advertises trains direct from Boston to Florida. However, in 1955 Atlantic Coast Line eliminated the Vacationer in favor of the Florida Special. This actually benefitted Boston passengers as in 1955 they had a choice of three trains, the East Coast Champion to Miami, the West Coast Champion to Tampa, Sarasota, and St. Petersburg, or the Silver Meteor, which served both Florida coasts. Continue reading →

New Haven April 1955 Timetable

Posted on by June 18, 2023
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In 1954, Wall Street raider Patrick McGinnis took over the New Haven in a proxy fight. His brilliant plan was to save money by deferring maintenance and boost revenues by spending money (some of which went to his wife, an artist, whose main contribution was to select another artist) on a new corporate identity. He went to prison after being indicted for shady deals in 1961, the same year the New Haven went bankrupt, but in the meantime travelers were treated to this new logo.

Click image to download a 29.8-MB PDF of this timetable contributed by Ellery Goode.

It is admittedly striking, but I prefer evocative logos such as mountain goats, beavers, maple leaves, and yin-yangs over alphabet logos such as the famous CN and Penn Central worms. Since New Haven’s previous logo was an alphabet logo as well, the only real complaint in this case is how McGinnis wrecked the railroad. Continue reading →

New Haven October 1954 Timetable

Posted on by June 18, 2023
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Many travelers to Maine on the Boston & Maine, Maine Central, and Bangor & Aroostook would have started their journeys on the New Haven from New York City. I count thirteen trains a weekday from New York to New Haven, compared with 20 today on Amtrak. Most New Haven trains started from Grand Central Terminal, but a few started in Washington or Philadelphia on the Pennsylvania Railroad, so they began their New Haven segment from Penn Station.

Click image to download a 26.7-MB PDF of this timetable contributed by Ellery Goode.

I count 19 New Haven trains a day from New York to Springfield. The timetable also shows six pages showing more than 100 trains a weekday from New York to New Haven, some of which continued on to Boston or Springfield but most of which terminated at New Haven. Other trains went to Cape Cod, Worcester, and many other cities. Continue reading →

Bangor & Aroostook April 1955 Timetable

Posted on by June 18, 2023
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In 1955, the Bangor & Aroostook operated two trains a day on its 236-mile mainline between Bangor and Van Buren in northern Maine. The premiere train was the afternoon Aroostook Flyer, which left Van Buren at 3:20 pm and arrived in Bangor at 10:00 pm, and on the return left Bangor at 4:50 pm arriving in Van Buren at 11:05 pm.

Click image to download a 2.9-MB PDF of this timetable contributed by Ellery Goode.

The other train was the romantically named Potatoland Special, whose morning schedule was roughly twelve hours apart from the Flyer, meaning that it left Bangor at an inconvenient 4:00 am and Van Buren at the somewhat more convenient 7:30 am. The Potatohead had a sleeping car to Boston while the Flyer was just coaches; both trains had a buffet car that offered “delightful full course meals.” Continue reading →

Maine Central April 1956 Timetable

Posted on by June 18, 2023
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Boston travelers to Maine would take the Boston & Maine to Portland where they would meet another many-tentacled railroad, the Maine Central, which had lines to Rockland, Calais, Vanceboro, Harmony, Farmington, and St. Johnsbury, Vermont. A line to Bangor split into the lines to Calais and Vanceboro, and also met a line to northern Maine, the Bangor & Aroostook.

Click image to download a 7.5-MB PDF of this timetable contributed by Ellery Goode.

Maine Central had eight trains a day between Portland and Bangor, some of which started in Boston on the B&M and had names mentioned yesterday: Gull, Kennebec, Penobscot, Pine Tree, and Flying Yankee. Two local trains were unnamed. The railroad had two routes, one via Augusta and the other via Lewiston, and most of the trains went through Augusta while two went through Lewiston. Continue reading →

Boston & Maine October 1955 Timetable

Posted on by June 18, 2023
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Like an octopus, Boston & Maine had tentacles radiating away from Boston to Portsmouth, Portland, Plymouth, White River Junction, Bellows Falls, Troy, Springfield, and Worcester. This timetable was issued just six months after Patrick McGinnis, who controlled the New Haven, had won a proxy battle for control of the B&M.

Click image to download a 22.6-MB PDF of this timetable contributed by Ellery Goode.

McGinnis replaced many passenger trains with Budd Rail Diesel Cars, and this timetable brags that the railroad owned the nation’s largest fleet of RDCs and operated “984 trains a week” (though technically it’s not a train if it is just one RDC). The timetable shows 25 trips a day between Boston and Haverhill, 22 a day between Boston and Lowell, 19 a day Boston-Fitchburg, 17 a day Boston-Rockport, 10 Boston-Concord and Boston-Portsmouth, 9 Boston-Portland and Boston-Bangor, and six Boston-Marblehead, Boston-White River Junction, and Boston-Troy. Some of the White River Junction trains went on to Montreal, two via the Canadian Pacific and two via Canadian National. Continue reading →

Southern Railway November 1954 Timetable

Posted on by June 18, 2023
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As I noted a few months ago, Southern Railway once tried to compete with ACL and SAL in the New York-Florida market but dropped out in about 1915. Instead, its main market was New York-New Orleans, but it also ran trains between the Midwest and Florida.

Click image to download a 25.5-MB PDF of this timetable contributed by Ellery Goode.

The Midwest trains included the Cincinnati-Jacksonville Ponce de Leon and Royal Palm and the Kansas City-Jacksonville (via Frisco to Birmingham) Kansas City Florida Special. This timetable also has trains between New York and Asheville, Asheville and Jacksonville, Cincinnati and Greensboro, Cincinnati and New Orleans, Washington and Augusta, and many other routes.