Question re: EL Mail train

In April '65 , the EL used to run an eb mail train, the Atlantic Express (#8), that ran across the Southern Tier in the afternoon, arriving Binghamton at 6:40pm or so. It always had an eclectic consist of 15 +/- mail cars, express box cars, an RPO (I think), and a single dual trailer piggyback flat outfitted with a steam heat connection for the ever present trailing Stilwell coach bringing up the rear. Food was only available at station stops at Youngstown, Marion, and Binghamton. There was also a wb counterpart, the Pacific Express (#7), but it passed early in the AM so I rarely saw it.

The train disappeared from the EL passenger timetable by August '65 but the train continued to run - it just didn't seem to stop at the little towns like Owego anymore. I have a few Instamatic quality b&w photos of the train taken in November '67. Does anybody know when the train really stopped running?

Don't think the ATLANTIC nor PACIFIC EXPRESSes as they were known outlived the 1965 timetable. 21 and 22 covered for the Phoebe over the Erie route after that and #10 and #15 via the Lackawanna route to and from Buffalo as an addition through 1970; these were both paper, express and mail trains. Although I remember #10 toward the end (1969-1970) being nothing more than an engine and one or two cars!

Trains 7 and 8 gave up their passengers and changed their numbers to 3 and 4 around 1965. Trains 3 and 4 ran via Port Jervis on schedules similar to 7 and 8. I think they died in 1968 shortly after I went to work in Hoboken.

ChiefTroll - thanks for answering a question about which I pondered for 37 years!

Henry6 mentioned trains 10 & 15: #10 was the eastbound "New York Mail", #15 the westbound "The Owl", operating daily, except Sunday. They were up for discontinuance in the summer 1968, I don't know exactly when they stopped running. The Binghamton station restaurant was the only snack service available on these trains as well.

I sorely wanted to take a ride on these trains, but alas, was deemed by my parents "too young" to take the evening #10 from Buffalo and lay over in some jumping hot spot like Binghamton or Scranton for 3 or 4 hours before catching the return #15 to Buffalo.

Trains 10 & 15 were running when I transferred from the D&H to Hoboken in November 1968, and they came off in 1969. I want to say that they went away with the spring timetable change, but I would have to look that up in the archives.

Several railroad officials were happy to see them go, because while they were running they were the officially approved means of travel between Hoboken or Scranton and Buffalo. The overnight trip was not conducive to a good night's sleep.

There was also a No. 11 until late in 1968. It handled 15's traffic on Saturday night/Sunday morning, plus the Sunday newspapers from New York. No. 11 ran via the Boonton Line, while 10/15 ran all the way on the M&E. The running times between West End and Denville were practically the same. I think I figured out the reason for the different routing was a combination of interference with an M&E local and earlier closing time for Summit Tower on Saturday nights.

Sat nite train was #19.

Henry, we're both wrong. It was 17, at least in 1967/68 when it last operated. That's what I get for trying to memorize a timetable.

By the way, I got some jawbone history on 7/8 and 3/4. It seems that 7 and 8 continued for a few months with no passengers, but one of the states (probably New York) told EL that a "train off" petition was just that, and if they continued to run 7 and 8 they would have to carry passengers on it. So, 7 and 8 went away, to be replaced by 3 and 4.

#15 left Hoboken at 1:01am. I always wondered why it ran via the M&E, since its first stop was Stroudsburg. I remember asking around, but I never got an answer.

But, when you look at the freight timetables, HB-5 left Hoboken at 11:45pm. I figured that it was to keep #15 from having to see yellow lights, if HB-5 was late or slow.