An Unremarked Anniversary

[Gilbert B Norman]

Fortieth anniversary of what I would dare say many who have only followed passenger train affairs for a short while would say, but Dec 3, 1967 was the final run of The Twentieth Century Limited.

Dec 13, 1967 was the final run of the all-Pullman PRR Broadway Limited, although the name was given to the Coach and Sleeper General. The Central replaced the Century with simply what could be called "the 61-27 Limited" as #61 was the train carrying New York Sleepers and Coaches to Albany to connect with #27 a Boston-Chicago train (formerly New England States).

Absent being a Home Delivery Subscriber, I'm not sure to what extent this material from New York Times archives is accessible, but if you are able to access such, here are links:

http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract. ... 5B878AF1D3

http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract. ... 5F438685F9

http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract. ... 5F438685F9

I guess I should not be surprised I have not seen any mention of this anniversary at any forum; however I found it quite interesting that this morning's 6AM hour "Smart Quiz' airing on WBBM 780 asked the question "On December 7th of what year was the attack on Pearl Harbor?" (they did have a winner). On that same event, I was some four months old when Pearl Harbor occurred, however, I have distinct recollection of being told "President Roosevelt died, it is now President Truman", "they dropped some kind of Big Bomb", "The War is over".

My Consists submission this month will honor those two great trains, on which I had collectively about a dozen rides during this life.

[David Benton]

Mr Norman , in regards to the broadway , i read that it was partly a reference to a 4 track mainline it ran on . But where was this 4 track stretch on the Albany route ?From what i can see of whats left today , i can see their may have been 2 tracks on each side of the hudson , but nowhere that 4 tracks were obvious .

[Gilbert B Norman]

Until about 1958, New York Central maintained a four track line Albany Chicago. There were stretches of the NY-Albany that were also four track as well. Two of the tracks were designated for passenger, two for freight with different speed limits. Train control was by manual switch towers directed by a Dispatcher.

However, during the mid 50's Central forsaw little need for mainiating essentially two separate roads ; they eliminated two of the four tracks and installed CTC, where the Dispatcher was essentially playing with 1:1 Lionels.now.

Pass through a station today's on Amtrak's Lake Shore such as Erie PA and it is quite evident just how much passenger related infrastructure Central, and successors, has abandoned over the years.

[Gilbert B Norman]

It appears that The New York Times did note the anniversary of the Century's passing with a Quiz posted at their blogsite:

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/ ... d-history/