ExCon90 wrote: ↑Mon Sep 16, 2019 2:14 pm
I don't think there was ever a hard-and-fast distinction between Express and Limited:
Empire State Express, Cleveland Limited, The New England States;
Northern Express, Gotham Limited, The Admiral;
Pacific Express, Erie Limited, The Lake Cities/The Midlander;
and plenty of top-notch trains that didn't use either.
From what I can tell, the distinction between
Limited,
Express, etc. had more to do with the decade in which the train first ran than anything else. The first named trains seem to have mostly been called "Flyer" or "Express"--
Green Mountain Flyer,
Empire State Express. Then there was a brief period when the most common name for a premier service was "Special" --
The Sunshine Special,
The Pennsylvania Special. Around about 1905 or the other modifiers gave way to "Limited"-- the
20th Century Limited, the
Merchants Limited. That generally lasted until the mid-30's when modifiers were dispensed with altogether-- the
Hiawatha,
Yankee Clipper,
400,
Commodore Vanderbilt,
City of San Francisco etc. etc. etc.
That said there are tons of exceptions to the rule, with "Limiteds" in service as early as the 1880's on the one hand and the
Exposition Flyer entering service between Chicago and Oakland as late as 1939.