Overview | |
---|---|
Service type | Inter-city rail |
Status | Discontinued |
Locale | Midwestern United States |
First service | 1956 |
Last service | 1957 |
Former operator(s) | New York Central Railroad |
Route | |
Start | Cincinnati, Ohio |
End | Cleveland, Ohio |
Distance travelled | 290.0 miles (466.7 km) |
Service frequency | Daily |
Train number(s) | 421: southwest-bound; 422: northeast-bound |
On-board services | |
Seating arrangements | Reclining seat coaches |
Catering facilities | Food service |
Observation facilities | Lounge coach |
Technical | |
Track gauge | 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) |
The Xplorer, or Ohio Xplorer, was a named train of the New York Central Railroad (NYC) that traveled between Cleveland and Cincinnati, Ohio. Although the railroad first announced the train in its April 29, 1956, timetable, that timetable did not contain its schedule. [1] The train entered revenue service on June 3, 1956. [2]
The Pullman-Standard Car Manufacturing Company constructed the train's streamlined coaches to its lightweight Train-X design. A Baldwin RP-210 diesel-hydraulic locomotive pulled the train's consist. [2]
The train contained the locomotive and nine short all-aluminum coaches that were articulated together. The center car had two axles (one at each end), with the remaining cars having a single axle each, being supported by adjacent cars at the end opposite the axle. [2] The ride was rough, as with most of the other lightweight trains of the period, and the train was not a success. [3]
The NYC's July 15, 1956, timetable was the first to contain the train's schedule. [4] The train, numbered 421 southwest-bound and 422 northeast-bound on the timetable, [4] was an attempt by the New York Central to modernize intrastate rail travel in Ohio and lure people out of their cars.
The train made its last run on August 17, 1957, after less than 15 months of operations. [2] As a result, the train's name (Ohio-Xplorer or Xplorer) did not appear on the railroad's October 27, 1957, timetable. [5]
The equipment was retired in 1960, and was sold to Jones Tours for excursion service. After a long period of storage in South Carolina, the train and locomotive were scrapped around 1970. [6]
CSX Transportation, known colloquially as simply CSX, is a Class I freight railroad operating in the eastern United States and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. The railroad operates approximately 21,000 route miles (34,000 km) of track. The company operates as a subsidiary of CSX Corporation, a Fortune 500 company headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida.
The Pennsylvania Railroad was an American Class I railroad that was established in 1846 and was headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was so named because it was established in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
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The 20th Century Limited was an express passenger train on the New York Central Railroad (NYC) from 1902 to 1967. The train traveled between Grand Central Terminal in New York City and LaSalle Street Station in Chicago, Illinois, along the railroad's "Water Level Route".
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The Aerotrain was a streamlined trainset that the General Motors (GM) Electro-Motive Division (EMD) introduced in 1955. GM originally designated the light-weight consist as Train-Y before the company adopted the Aerotrain marketing name.
The Endeavour Railcars are a class of diesel multiple unit operated by NSW TrainLink on passenger rail services in New South Wales, Australia on the Hunter Valley, Main Western, Southern Highlands and Illawarra lines. They are mechanically identical to the Xplorers. All 30 carriages were built by ABB Transportation in Dandenong, Victoria.
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The National Limited was the premier train of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O) on its route between New York City and St. Louis, Missouri, with major station stops in Washington, D.C., and Cincinnati, Ohio. It operated from 1925 to 1971. For much of its life it offered exclusive all-Pullman service, and it was the first long-distance train to be entirely air-conditioned. The National Limited was one of many trains discontinued when Amtrak began operations on May 1, 1971. Amtrak revived the name for another New York–St. Louis service which did not use the B&O route.
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The Royal Palm was a named train of the Southern Railway which ran from Cincinnati, Ohio, to Jacksonville, Florida, and then on the Florida East Coast Railway's East Coast Champion to Miami, Florida. The train was discontinued in 1970.
The Royal Blue was the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O)'s flagship passenger train between New York City and Washington, D.C., in the United States, beginning in 1890. The Baltimore-based B&O also used the name between 1890 and 1917 for its improved passenger service between New York and Washington, collectively dubbed the Royal Blue Line. Using variants such as the Royal Limited and Royal Special for individual Royal Blue trains, the B&O operated the service in partnership with the Reading Railroad and the Central Railroad of New Jersey. Principal intermediate cities served were Philadelphia, Wilmington, and Baltimore. Later, as Europe reeled from the carnage of World War I and connotations of European royalty fell into disfavor, the B&O discreetly omitted the sobriquet Royal Blue Line from its New York passenger service and the Royal Blue disappeared from B&O timetables. Beginning in 1917, former Royal Blue Line trains were renamed: the Royal Limited, for example, became the National Limited, continuing west from Washington to St. Louis via Cincinnati. During the Depression, the B&O hearkened back to the halcyon pre-World War I era when it launched a re-christened Royal Blue train between New York and Washington in 1935. The B&O finally discontinued all passenger service north of Baltimore on April 26, 1958, including the Royal Blue.
Mercury was the name used by the New York Central Railroad for a family of daytime streamliner passenger trains operating between midwestern cities. The Mercury train sets were designed by the noted industrial designer Henry Dreyfuss, and are considered a prime example of Streamline Moderne design. The success of the Mercury led to Dreyfuss getting the commission for the 1938 redesign of the NYC's flagship, the 20th Century Limited, one of the most famous trains in America.
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