Tadman wrote:@ Mactraxx, I do remember seeing pictures of the Pennsylvanian with just two cars. I was astonished so few people could ride a train. Of course, at that time the Pere Marquette ran with 1-2 coaches and an automat car, so not much different. I do not remember the Fort Pitt train, never heard of it before today.
The Fort Pitt didn't last for very long. I didn't even realize at first that it spun off the WB Pennsylvanian after arriving in PGH, then went to Altoona and laid over for the night there. In the morning it did a WB Altoona-PHG trip, and spun for the EB Pennsylvanian.
I was a regular on the Pennsylvanian during my college years when it was still 46/47/246. Six car trains, usually packed was the norm from the late 80's through when I graduated in 1995. Thanksgiving holiday would see the addition of a 2nd locomotive and up to three more cars; in fact, my trip home from Pittsburgh to Philly on Thanksgiving Eve 1989 had a pair of F40's and 10 cars. They filled the rear six at Pittsburgh alone and used the three coaches ahead of the cafe to board intermediate stops; we had to double-stop Johnstown, Tyrone, Huntingdon, and Lewistown that day.
Speaking of the Pennsylvanian and Palmetto rotating equipment: the Pennsylvanian would occasionally rotate with the Maple Leaf as well. Back in September 2005, I rode the Maple Leaf from Toronto to NYP (consist was an Amfleet I cafe, three AII and one AI coach... guess what car most of us got cluttered in? After leaving Aldershot and making a quiet request to the VIA attendant, I moved to the AII coach ahead). Anyway, the next day, I was out at Paoli when the WB Pennsylvanian arrived with the same equipment I had just ridden in from Toronto on the previous day. I am betting the equipment off the Palmetto the night I arrived in NYP may have turned for the WB Leaf the next day....