"Whistle Sounds Final Time for 150 Passenger Trains

TomNelligan wrote:Mr. O'Keefe -- since you're clearly interested in the subject of the Amtrak transition, I'd recommend looking for a copy of that book on eBay or wherever... it's a great documentation of the events of April 1971.

Many thanks for the recommendation. Found it on Amazon ...

I still remember the marathon trip that I did by train the last week. New York to New London, Budd Car to Worcester, B & A to Albany and stayed overnight in the old Hotel Wellington on State Street. Next morning the D & H to Montreal and I did not spend the night in Montreal but rather flew to Cincinnati, Ohio and overnight there. Next morning was the last day and I chose to ride the B & O from Cincinnati to Washington. It was a nice ride in an old B & O heavyweight coach but the conductor was an old crab, grouchy to everybody. I wonder where he ended up after the passenger trains came off. Spent that night in Cumberland, Maryland and the next morning I rode the last EB Capital Limited from Cumberland to Washington where they announced that the train would run through to Baltimore and anybody who want to ride to Baltimore was welcomed to stay aboard. Good crew, good B & O breakfast and a great overall trip. That morning was the first day of Amtrak, rode the Penn Central from Baltimore to New York behind a GG-1 and in an old P-70 coach. I think my choice of last rides was pretty good. Incidentally I was issued several half rate orders for this one and most of them I still have, they were all endorsed "not good after April 30, 1971".
Noel Weaver

Interesting that Worcester - New London is the only segment still without service. I think you did well indeed. Several of the picks you made were chosen to lose service and there was no way at the time for you or anyone else to know that service would eventually be restored on the B&A and the B&O.

I'm somewhat amazed that the B&O was still running heavyweight coaches in 1971. That was a "never again" indeed.

Mr. O'Keefe, the B&O never ordered all that much "postwar" LW equipment - nothing to equal reequipping on the level of the Central or New Haven. I think so far as Coaches, they did not order any beyond what needed to operate a new overnight Wash-Chicago "Columbian" - and that didn't last long as a separate train.

They did acquire a sufficient number of Sleepers to reequip the mainline trains, but those largely came from the "C&O Carmax".

Famous named trains such as "The Royal Blue" we're HW to the end.

Those old B & O coaches were a work of art, great comfortable seats, good lighting, rode very well and windows that you could see out of. The line that I rode back in 1974 is gone today so it was a good choice although I had ridden it before. I always enjoyed riding the B & O no matter what although that day we had a very crabby conductor.
During the months before day one the trains were coming off fast, even a current Official Guide could not always be relied on for trains.
Noel Weaver

gokeefe wrote:Interesting that Worcester - New London is the only segment still without service. I think you did well indeed. Several of the picks you made were chosen to lose service and there was no way at the time for you or anyone else to know that service would eventually be restored on the B&A and the B&O.

I'm somewhat amazed that the B&O was still running heavyweight coaches in 1971. That was a "never again" indeed.

Man, I would use the Worcester-New London frequently. Would make trips to NYC a breeze.

Gilbert B Norman wrote:Famous named trains such as "The Royal Blue" were HW to the end.

Although I know it was gone before "A-Day" I still am amazed to think of an all heavyweight consist as an "elite" service operating well after WWII (ended April 26, 1958).

The "Royal Blue" was considered to be the civilized way from NY-WASH. The PRR was simply "The Big Red Subway". The PRR, lest we forget, did not reequip very much of its "Corridor" fleet - only The Congressionals and The Senator.

When the "Royal Blue" was whacked, I was sixteen and "confined on the Hill" at South Kent. No chasing off for a joyride.

In his memoirs, H. L. Mencken comments that when he was editing his magazine The Smart Set (in the -20's or -30's) he traveled from Baltimore to New York at least weekly, and always via the B&O because of the standard of service.
Another advantage of the B&O was that for anyone traveling beyond New York via Grand Central, the easiest way to make the transfer was the B&O bus from trainside at Jersey City direct to the 42nd Street bus terminal (which was one level below the street and had a turntable) across the street from Grand Central. (Maybe the only bus trip on which the bus spun on a turntable at each end of the route.)

Here's much more on the B&O's New York transfer bus operations:

http://cs.trains.com/ctr/f/3/t/230410.aspx" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I too recall folks from my childhood days who held "B&O; The Only Way To Go".

I recall reading how if you made the bus, you made the train. The busses were transported X-Hudson on the CNJ ferry at Liberty Street (demolished for the WTC, as was the DL&W at Barclay St.) then driven down a platform at JC to your car on the train.

Wow that is civilized ... didn't realize the bus went all the way trainside.

Yes; they removed Tracks 2 and 3 and paved the track area, installing a bus turntable beyond the platform ends and between the remaining Tracks 1 and 4. enabling the buses to drive off the ferry and continue right to the end of the platform, and the driveway was wide enough for buses to pass each other. One of the B&O public timetables from that period had a paragraph in the fine print stating that private automobiles could also use that arrangement, and gave a phone number to call to reserve a spot on the ferry connecting with a particular train (the ferry normally handled automobiles -- the only way to cross the river before the Holland Tunnel opened -- on a first-come-first-served basis).

Edit: Mr. Norman, that link (which I hadn't seen when making this post) was a real find -- imagine what it must have cost to provide all the attention and service required to accommodate both passengers and baggage. Interesting to reflect that the whole thing was jump-started when the B&O was evicted from Penn Station after the era of (the first) USRA and had to do something to compete with the PRR's direct access to Manhattan.

Define privately operated. There are a lot of shades of grey.

In the "true long distance" category, the Rock, SOU, and DRGW held out, with DRGW last in 1981. You also had some quasi-long distance trains operated as bigass commuter trains like the Reading train to Bethlehem. Chessie operated South Shore with no subsidy until 1977, and a private shortline operator ran South Shore until 1989 under private ownership but subsidized. Same thing happens when BNSF or UP operate for Metra, but they don't own equipment anymore. You've also got the Texas-Mexican train that ran on the border for a few years around 1989, private equipment and no subsidy. Also, what about Brightline?

By one definition or another, we have had private passenger trains through the current time. It's an interesting thought exercise.