December 7, 1941

[Roger Hensley]

The New York Central debuted the Empire State Express, on December 7, 1941. This was to receive all kinds of media publicity. It was overshadowed by another historic event, the bombing of Pearl Harbor by the Japanese.
Let us remember both events, 75 years ago.
Photo "stolen" from the net. Link to a NYCS video touting the Express.

[urr304]

According to the Dec 7th schedule:
Westbound #51 left Schenectady we were still at 'peace' and by arrival in Utica, we were at war.
The eastbound sections from Cleveland and Detroit were arriving at Buffalo at the same time.

The Empire State Express was well used for the next four years.

[Roger Hensley]

"Photo "stolen" from the net. Link to a NYCS video touting the Express."

As far as I know, this photo was never a part of a video. It was a scan and recomposition by Paul F. Doering from a NYC publicity photo! And it said that right at the bottom of the photo! When I use a photo, I always try to give credit where credit is due.

I don't steal anything!

[NYCRRson]

"The New York Central debuted the Empire State Express, on December 7, 1941"

I hate to be a nitpicker, but I will anyway, just for historical accuracy. The ESE on the NYCRR dated to the ESE on the NYC&HRRR and was debuted in the 1880's. Originally ran NYC to Buffalo, later extended to Cleveland and Detroit.

Heavyweight passenger cars (3 or 4 including a "smoker") and "smaller" steam locomotives

The Stainless Steel Budd Built ESE of 1941 was an equipment upgrade to a train that had already been in service for well over 50 years. There is a US Post Office Stamp dedicated to the original ESE which allegedly set a land speed record in 1891 of 112 mph around Batavia NY.

I knew what you meant, but the ESE was around long before the Budd Company existed.

Cheers, Kevin

[wjstix]

Ironically the NYC chose Dec. 7th because Sundays were always 'slow news days', so they figured the new streamlined train would get more newspaper coverage than it would have on another day of the week.

[Allen Hazen]

NYCRRson--
There is an important conceptual distinction between a TRAIN (identified by train number in the timetable) and the CONSIST (the cars run as a particular train). Philosophers arguing about the concept of identity have often pointed to this as an ambiguity in the ordinary-language expression "train": I've long thought that it is relevant to the philosophical point that the people to whom the distinction is most important -- railwaymen -- don't make do with an ambiguous word, but have two distinct words (viz, "train" and "consist") for the two concepts!
Some trains have names (like "Twentieth Century Limited" and "Empire State Express"). Then again, sometimes a particular consist of cars (with maybe special features or a special paint scheme) is bought for dedicated use on a particular train. In such cases I have seen the train name used (perhaps with the date as a distinguishing adjective) metonymously for the consist: certainly I have seen this in the case of the "Century". If Roger Hensley had been writing a bit more pedantically, he would have said (and this would be in accordance with a standard usage) "The New York Central debuted the 1941 Empire State Express..."
--
Which said, thanks for reminding us of the history, NYCRRson. And, with respect to the 7th of December, I second Roger Hensley's plea: "Let us remember both events, [79] years ago."