Erie Limited

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Erie Limited
Erie-Lackawanna Limited
Erie Limited.JPG
The Erie Limited near Port Jervis, New York
Overview
Service type Inter-city rail
Statusdiscontinued
Locale Midwestern United States/Northeastern United States
PredecessorSouthern Tier Express
First serviceJune 2, 1929
Last serviceOctober 27, 1963
Successor Phoebe Snow
Former operator(s) Erie Railroad
Erie Lackawanna Railway
Route
Start Jersey City, New Jersey until 1956; Hoboken, New Jersey afterwards
End Chicago, Illinois
Distance travelled998.7 miles (1,607.3 km) [1954]
Service frequencyDaily
Train number(s)1 westbound; 2 eastbound

The Erie Limited was a streamlined passenger train operated by the Erie Railroad between Jersey City, New Jersey (for New York City) and Chicago, Illinois via the Southern Tier. It operated from 1929 to 1963. After the merger of the Erie and the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad (DL&W) in 1960 it was known as the Erie-Lackawanna Limited. Once the premier passenger train on the Erie, repeated service reductions in the 1950s and 1960s left it a shell of its former self. The Phoebe Snow replaced it in 1963.

Contents

History

The Erie Limited debuted on June 2, 1929, replacing the Southern Tier Express , which had run between Jersey City and Buffalo, New York. [1] The new service joined two other Jersey City–Chicago trains: the Atlantic Express/Pacific Express and Chicago Express/New York Express. [2] The train included a Buffalo section with parlor and buffet service which split at Hornell, New York. [3]

The primary competitors to the Erie Limited were the New York Central Railroad's 20th Century Limited and the Pennsylvania Railroad's Broadway Limited . Both trains were well-established on the New York–Chicago run and enjoyed several advantages over the Erie Limited: direct access to Manhattan, faster running times (16 hours versus 24), and more luxurious accommodations. The Erie eschewed competition on these fronts and scheduled the Erie Limited for a morning departure from Jersey City so that it traversed the "spectacular..Delaware and Susquehanna river valleys" in daylight. [4]

Erie began offering packaged tours in the early 1930s as the Great Depression curtailed patronage. [5] One such was the "3-way tours" announced in 1930, which involved a combination of bus, train, and steamship travel. The Erie offered a "Six Day All Expense Personally Conducted" tour for US$85, originating from Pavonia Terminal in Jersey City, which included a tour of the Finger Lakes area, a steamship journey to Alexandria Bay, New York in the Thousand Islands, a tour of Toronto, and trip across Niagara Falls via the Great Gorge Route. [6] The Erie later expanded these tours to "4-way", adding air travel to the mix. Passengers would take the Chicago Express to Cleveland, Ohio, fly to Detroit, Michigan, take a steamship to Buffalo, New York, tour Niagara Falls, then return to New York on the Erie Limited. All this still in six days, and at "moderate" price. [7]

The Erie discontinued the Buffalo section on February 12, 1951. The train continued running after the Erie's 1960 merger with the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad, but was renamed the Erie-Lackawanna Limited in January 1961. The train was re-routed over the Lackwanna's line between Hoboken and Binghamton and combined with the Phoebe Snow between Hoboken and Elmira. This change, carried out on April 30, 1961, proved short-lived. The Erie Lackawanna dropped the Phoebe Snow name on October 28, 1962, and put the Erie-Lackawanna Limited back on the ex-Erie route. By 1963 sleeping cars ran between Chicago and Binghamton only, although coaches continued to run through to the East Coast. [8]

Cutbacks continued through 1963: sleeping car service now ended at Hornell, while the diner-lounge ran between Hoboken and Youngstown, Ohio. The final blow came with the arrival of a new president of the Erie Lackawanna, William H. White. Although favorably disposed to passenger service, White had served as president of the Lackawanna from 1941–1952. White upgraded the Erie-Lackawanna Limited with a tavern-lounge car and restored through sleeping car service, but he also ordered it renamed the Phoebe Snow, effective October 27, 1963. [9]

Equipment

Sample consist
June 2, 1947
Location Jamestown, New York
TrainWestbound No. 1
  • 4-6-2 No. 2935
  • No. 575 baggage-express
  • No. 529 baggage-express
  • No. 609 baggage-mail
  • No. 1008 coach
  • No. 2205 coach
  • No. 2256 coach
  • No. 946 diner-lounge
  • Scenic Island sleeping car (10 sections, 1 drawing room, 2 double bedrooms)
  • American Life sleeping car (6 sections, 6 roomettes, 4 double bedrooms)
  • Telos sleeping car (12 sections, 1 drawing room)
[10]

In its original incarnation the Erie Limited had Pullman sleeping cars, coaches, a dining car, and a club-lounge. [2] All the equipment was heavyweight. [11] The Erie acquired four American series sleeping cars from Pullman-Standard in 1942. These lightweight cars had six sections, six roomettes, and four double bedrooms. One ran on each train. After World War II the Erie acquired seven more lightweight sleepers from Pullman-Standard, each with ten roomettes and six double bedrooms. [12] The Erie Limited was assigned three of the sleepers: one in each direction between New York and Chicago, and one on the westbound Erie Limited between Akron and Chicago which returned on the Atlantic Express . [13]

Route

The Erie Limited used the Erie's main line between the Pavonia Terminal in Jersey City and Chicago's Dearborn Station. From Jersey City passengers traveled to Manhattan via bus or the Pavonia Ferry. Major stops included Binghamton, New York and Akron, Ohio (Union Station). In 1956 the eastern terminal shifted to the DL&W's Hoboken Terminal. [8] For a short period in 1961–1963 the train used the ex-Lackawanna line between Hoboken and Binghamton. [8]

Notes

  1. Grant 1994 , p. 15
  2. 1 2 Sanders 2003 , p. 143
  3. Erie Railroad System (April 26, 1931). "Time Table".
  4. Grant 1994 , p. 57
  5. Sanders 2003 , p. 144
  6. 3-Way Tours. Erie Railroad System.
  7. Grant 1994 , p. 17
  8. 1 2 3 Sanders 2003 , p. 145
  9. Sanders 2003 , p. 146
  10. Wayner, p. 42
  11. Welsh 2006 , p. 147
  12. Wayner 1972 , p. 111
  13. "Now in Service! All-Room Sleeping Cars". Erie Railroad Magazine. 45 (5): 11. July 1949.

Related Research Articles

The Erie Railroad was a railroad that operated in the northeastern United States, originally connecting New York City — more specifically Jersey City, New Jersey, where Erie's Pavonia Terminal, long demolished, used to stand — with Lake Erie. It expanded west to Chicago with its 1865 merger with the former Atlantic and Great Western Railroad, also known as the New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio Railroad. Its mainline route proved influential in the development and economic growth of the Southern Tier of New York State, including cities such as Binghamton, Elmira, and Hornell. The Erie Railroad repair shops were located in Hornell and was Hornell's largest employer. Hornell was also where Erie's mainline split into two routes, one north to Buffalo and the other west to Chicago.

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The Northern Branch is a railroad line that runs from Jersey City to Northvale in northeastern New Jersey. The line was constructed in 1859 by the Northern Railroad of New Jersey to connect the New York and Erie Railroad's Piermont Branch terminus in Piermont, New York, to Erie's Pavonia Terminal in Jersey City. The line was then extended to Nyack, New York in 1870 and provided passenger service until 1966. Ownership of the line passed into the hands of Conrail upon the its formation in 1976.

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References