Great Trains East

The major-league baseball teams of 1950 were all located in an area defined by Boston, Detroit, Chicago, St. Louis, Cincinnati, and Washington, D.C. This was where the National Pastime took place — the rest of the country had only minor-league teams. In terms of commerce, the primacy of this area could be seen in the name given to it for the purposes of railroad freight rates: “Official Territory.” Now add the region to the south, down to the great cities of Charleston, Miami, and New Orleans, and you’re covering the eastern third of the continental United States (in 1950, the whole United States) — the area of greatest population, industry, culture, learning, and, yes, conflict during the nation’s first, formative 175 years. And, as the map on the previous page…

Tickets for the 20th Century Limited—Today Only reads the sign over ticket window No. 3 opposite the information booth in Grand Central Terminal. For one-half hour, from 5:30 to 6 p.m., when the train leaves for Chicago, this window will be selling only 20th Century Limited tickets and Pullman space so that no Century passenger need wait. It is only one of the many small touches which combine to make this one of the most famous trains, if not the most famous train, in the world. “20th Century Limited” was a most timely name on June 15, 1902, when New York Central trains 25 and 26 made their first runs between New York and Chicago. The title has since become timeless, a synonym for luxurious railroad travel. In the business…

Adam loved Eve because Eve was the only one around that he could love. And by the same token the Deposit people have to love the Erie Railroad because there is no other railroad around to love, but they really do love it, and are proud of it.” So spoke the Rev. Graydon Scott of Deposit, N.Y., on the occasion of the inaugural trip of the Erie Limited in June 1929. The sentiment expressed by Rev. Scott might well be termed a factor for the introduction of the Erie Limited by Erie Railroad officials. Every railroad, small or large, has a drawing power that is felt by the people who live close to it or who use it regularly. Friendliness, and even affection, grows throughout the years, and this is…

Can you be in Washington tomorrow?” the telegram asks. Only the Western Union folks know how many millions of similar messages have gone out from our nation’s capital in the five turbulent years since the United States was drawn into World War II. But even Western Union can’t say how many men have grown gray overnight trying to get Pullman reservations there on a few hours’ notice. However, we’re lucky this time and at 1:30 p.m. we arrive at Atlanta Terminal Station with a little pink ticket for Lower 4, Car 94, and with five minutes remaining before departure time for us to look over the Southern Railway’s Crescent, the all-Pullman limited that will carry us to Washington. The West Point Route steam locomotive that brought the train in from…

In 1941, the Southern Railway operated dozens of passenger trains across its 8,000-mile system. Two of the most distinctive were the venerable New York–Atlanta– New Orleans all-Pullman Crescent, and the spanking new, all-coach, diesel-powered streamliner the Southerner, linking the same end points, but via an all-Southern routing between Atlanta and New Orleans. The Crescent was streamlined in 1949 and retained its all-Pullman status on the Southern until summer 1956, when it absorbed the coach-and-Pullman Augusta Special north of Charlotte (it remained Pullman-only between Atlanta and Charlotte). The Southerner, always a coach train, added Pullman service in 1951 between Birmingham and New York, eventually carrying Pullmans over its entire route. Throughout the 1950s and ’60s, Southern, like many roads, suffered declining patronage that led to train consolidations and discontinuances. In late…

Christmas Eve of every year finds some thousand souls aboard the country’s overnight limiteds while old Saint Nick and his arctic steeds whirl mystically through the night sky overhead. And while family groups and friends everywhere congregate in homes aglow with the festive Christmas spirit, the Christmas Eve travelers, luggage in hand, trudge along station platforms and swing aboard the trains that will be home to them for the most important, most anticipated night of the year. Last December 24, Chicago Union Station thronged with thousands of late-afternoon travelers, most of whom were bound for towns and cities only a few hours’ journey away. Traffic had been so heavy all afternoon that yard movements had been hampered, and only a few trains were being spotted on station tracks in time…