<html><head></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div>Some of the guys in the Lancaster NRHS used to hang out once in a while just for the fun of it on the platforms at the Lancaster station in the evenings in the early 1950s just to watch the trains go through. My mentors in my teenage days were ancient men in their 30s, 40s and some were even in their 50s. Hey, when you are a teenager, guys in their 30s are ancient, right? That was back in the days when the Broadway Limited was too prestigious to call at Lancaster (it went through on the middle tracks at 50 per … slowed down by a curve a few blocks to the west). But us guys did see trains like the Spirit of St. Louis, the Jeffersonian, the General and unnamed Erie and Buffalo connections . And of course there were a few eastbounds. It was fun watching the cooks work in the dining car kitchens. And maybe some cute blond in a sleeper forgot to pull the shades…. Before 1954 we still had the diesel car to York. And the old guys remembered when the York trains might have been pulled by an E3sd Atlantic or when there was still service over the Downingtown and Lancaster Branch through New Holland (I think it quit in 1928). But several of them told me of the time a wreck east of Lancaster forced the PRR to run the Broadway over the D&L! Now the tracks are gone east of Narvon. But we have our memories Bob. I even remember the graciousness of the Big Red Subway for letting me ride the cab of the Aerotrain in 1957 from Harrisburg to Altoona. </div><div><br></div><div>Today we still have as many trains in Lancaster as we did in the 1950s but they are essentially all commuter trains between Harrisburg, Philadelphia and Gotham. I do not believe that any of us believed when we moved east from Pittsburgh in 1949 that this heavenly farm country would turn into a massive suburb with millions of people between Harrisburg and Philadelphia. And the railroad is a different world … one in which the same person occupies the same seat every day and woe be unto the interloper who has the audacity to take his seat. (I've laughing as I write that.)</div><div><br></div><div>One night each summer (usually June because the days were longest) the local NRHS chapter usually scheduled a train watching meeting. The 1955 meeting was at the unused station in Atglen, which was the town where state highway 41 from Gap (on the Lincoln Highway) south to Newport and Wilmington, Delaware went under the PRR mainline. Atglen was about a mile east of where the Atglen and Susquehanna Branch (the Low Grade freight line) rejoined the mainline so you had both the flood of evening westbound passenger trains on the mainline pulled by GG1s and all those freights powered by P5s on the the two southern tracks. Of course this was before Tructrains and long before containers and unit coal trains. Most of those freights mixed frieghts … box cars, hoppers, gondolas, even refrigerator cars. And they had all those old heralds on their flanks … no CSX, or BNSF and if we saw NS it was the old Norfolk Southern that once ran interurban cars out of Norfolk and was running orange Baldwin diesels in 1955. And right in the middle of it, an L1 Mike came chuffing through. Steam was based at Thorndale into the Fall 1957 to help on the hill up over the fall line out of Philadelphia. </div><div><br></div><div>Thanks guys for reminding me. As Bob Hope would have said … well let him tell us:</div><div><br></div><div> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKgUq5dziEk">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKgUq5dziEk</a></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><br><div><div>On May 19, 2014, at 1:08 AM, Bob Rathke wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><blockquote type="cite"><div><div style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000"><div aria-label="Compose body">Fred,</div>
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<div aria-label="Compose body">Anyone interested in pre-Amtrak First Class passenger trains will enjoy Peter T. Maiken's book "Night Trains" (Lakme Press, 1989). Its 415 well documented pages describe the early 1950's which were the height of the post-War streamlined passenger train era. The book is organized by states and the railroads that operated Pullman cars in the 1950's. I find most interesting its approach which identifies the locations and consists of all Pullman trains that were operating at Midnight on a typical night in March, 1952. For example, in Pennsylvania it lists 20 PRR Pullman trains (and their consists) that were on the line between Pittsburgh and Harrisburg during the night in March, 1952. And it does the same for all the other passenger railroads in Pa., as well as each of the railroads in the other 49 states. <br> </div>
<div aria-label="Compose body">Bob</div>
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<div style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; TEXT-DECORATION: none; FONT-FAMILY: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; FONT-WEIGHT: normal; COLOR: #000; FONT-STYLE: normal" data-mce-style="color: #000; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><b>From: </b>"Schneider, Fred" <<a href="mailto:fwschneider@comcast.net">fwschneider@comcast.net</a>><br><b>To: </b>"Rathke, Bob - Home" <<a href="mailto:bobrathke@comcast.net">bobrathke@comcast.net</a>><br><b>Sent: </b>Sunday, May 18, 2014 11:53:09 AM<br><b>Subject: </b>Re: [PRCo] Still more reading from the Pittsburgh Press<br>
<div><br></div>Remember when the Pennsy had a half a dozen Chicago trains every day plus more that originated in Pittsburgh? Remember when the Broadway and the General were only an hour apart? And there was a separate Washington - Chicago train called the Liberty Limited. <br>
<div><br></div>The Broadway, I've been told, served better food. You might get asparagus with Hollandaise sauce in that diner because it's patrons understood the better things in life. <br>
<div><br></div><br>On May 18, 2014, at 11:52 AM, Bob Rathke wrote:<br>
<div><br></div>> In the late 1980's and 90's there were two Chicago trains: the Capitol Limited via the old PR line along the Ohio River, and the Broadway Limited via the old B&O line (Etna-New Castle-Youngstown). The train names and routes were flipped from the pre-Amtrak routes of the old PRR and B&O flagship train. <br>> <br>> Also, when the Broadway Limited route was started on the B&O, a crossover track was built under or near the Bloomfield Bridge to allow the train to back into the PRR station, then continue eastbound on the PRR to N.Y. or westbound on the B&O to Youngstown. That crossover is no longer needed since the Capitol Limited is the only Chicago train that now stops in Pittsburgh. <br>> <br>> ----- Original Message -----<br>> <br>> From: "Dwight Long" <<a href="mailto:dwightlong@verizon.net">dwightlong@verizon.net</a>> <br>> To: "List, Pittsburgh" <<a href="mailto:pittsburgh-railways@mailman.dementix.org">pittsburgh-railways@mailman.dementix.org</a>> <br>> Cc: <a href="mailto:artwheeler@trolleybuses.net">artwheeler@trolleybuses.net</a> <br>> Sent: Sunday, May 18, 2014 9:45:34 AM <br>> Subject: Re: [PRCo] Still more reading from the Pittsburgh Press <br>> <br>> <br>> Fred <br>> <br>> Max Solomon told me his father’s company did the actual cutting up of the shed. I remember when it was done. This was interesting because I had no idea how the actual work was done—never thought of that aspect of the project. <br>> <br>> Dwight <br>> <br>> From: Fred Schneider <br>> Sent: Saturday, 17 May, 2014 22:39 <br>> To: Western PA Trolley discussion <br>> Subject: [PRCo] Still more reading from the Pittsburgh Press <br>> Some of you beside me might remember when trains used the Pennsy (Union) Station at Grant and Liberty Streets in Pittsburgh. This story tells us that tearing down the train shed and erecting the individual platform sheds will not delay any of the station's 250 daily trains. Wow. So many commuter trains. And in 17 years they were all gone … all that remained were the long distance trains. And in 24 years it was down to a mobile home and one Chicago train, one always late St. Louis train, and one additional cross Pennsylvania train. But the future was bright in 1947 … here is the story about tearing down the trainshed. <br>> <br>> <a href="http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=IysbAAAAIBAJ&sjid=CE0EAAAAIBAJ&pg=3353%2C2398224">http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=IysbAAAAIBAJ&sjid=CE0EAAAAIBAJ&pg=3353%2C2398224</a> <br>> <br>> Bottom of some page … anudder man tries to prove he is stronger than a moving trolley; loses that war. Like the Homestead incident a few days earlier, it was an old man. Maybe hard of hearing or visually challenged???? <br>> <br>> <a href="http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=IysbAAAAIBAJ&sjid=CE0EAAAAIBAJ&pg=4374%2C2403709">http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=IysbAAAAIBAJ&sjid=CE0EAAAAIBAJ&pg=4374%2C2403709</a> <br>> <br>> Five passengers hurt when Frankstown car derails. <br>> <br>> <a href="http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=JCsbAAAAIBAJ&sjid=CE0EAAAAIBAJ&pg=5987%2C2859649">http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=JCsbAAAAIBAJ&sjid=CE0EAAAAIBAJ&pg=5987%2C2859649</a> <br>> <br>> Another crash, same day … one streetcar rear ends another. Sounds like a clear case of pilot error. Slides into the rear of another car while piloting his car up hill???? As one friend of mine would have said, brakes failed to work in the space allocated for them to function. <br>> <br>> <a href="http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=JCsbAAAAIBAJ&sjid=CE0EAAAAIBAJ&pg=1608%2C2889962">http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=JCsbAAAAIBAJ&sjid=CE0EAAAAIBAJ&pg=1608%2C2889962</a> <br>> <br>> Not trolley … but a nice article on $600 million the railroads were spending to rebuild after the war. Then it for two more days. <br>> <br>> <a href="http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=JCsbAAAAIBAJ&sjid=CE0EAAAAIBAJ&pg=3812%2C2960178">http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=JCsbAAAAIBAJ&sjid=CE0EAAAAIBAJ&pg=3812%2C2960178</a> <br>> <br>> <a href="http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=JSsbAAAAIBAJ&sjid=CE0EAAAAIBAJ&pg=3783%2C3232435">http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=JSsbAAAAIBAJ&sjid=CE0EAAAAIBAJ&pg=3783%2C3232435</a> <br>> <br>> <a href="http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=JisbAAAAIBAJ&sjid=CE0EAAAAIBAJ&pg=4067%2C3513471">http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=JisbAAAAIBAJ&sjid=CE0EAAAAIBAJ&pg=4067%2C3513471</a> <br>> <br>> Philadelphia Company serves warning that it will appeal if it doesn't get what it wants from the PUC. Two consecutive days of stores on the hearings. <br>> <br>> <a href="http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=JSsbAAAAIBAJ&sjid=CE0EAAAAIBAJ&pg=5256%2C3090484">http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=JSsbAAAAIBAJ&sjid=CE0EAAAAIBAJ&pg=5256%2C3090484</a> <br>> <br>> <a href="http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=JisbAAAAIBAJ&sjid=CE0EAAAAIBAJ&pg=4576%2C3361655">http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=JisbAAAAIBAJ&sjid=CE0EAAAAIBAJ&pg=4576%2C3361655</a> <br>> <br>> <a href="http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=JisbAAAAIBAJ&sjid=CE0EAAAAIBAJ&pg=1584%2C3699688">http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=JisbAAAAIBAJ&sjid=CE0EAAAAIBAJ&pg=1584%2C3699688</a> <br>> <br>> Six at Woodlawn & Southern Bus Co. caught stealing fares. <br>> <br>> <a href="http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=JisbAAAAIBAJ&sjid=CE0EAAAAIBAJ&pg=4576%2C3361655">http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=JisbAAAAIBAJ&sjid=CE0EAAAAIBAJ&pg=4576%2C3361655</a> <br>> <br>> Several days after the Red Arrow derails on the mountain, a car Pullman breaks loose from a train and rolls free down the mountain. <br>> <br>> <a href="http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=JysbAAAAIBAJ&sjid=CE0EAAAAIBAJ&pg=4159%2C3980744">http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=JysbAAAAIBAJ&sjid=CE0EAAAAIBAJ&pg=4159%2C3980744</a> <br>> <br>> This is funny as hell … city bill drinking water for a cow in East Liberty that has been dead for six years because the city assessors are so short handed that they haven't visited the property in ten years. <br>> <br>> <a href="http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=JysbAAAAIBAJ&sjid=CE0EAAAAIBAJ&pg=6351%2C3993046">http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=JysbAAAAIBAJ&sjid=CE0EAAAAIBAJ&pg=6351%2C3993046</a> <br>> <br>> AND THIS ENDS FEBRUARY 1947 <br>> <br>> <br>> <br>> <br>> -------------- next part -------------- <br>> An HTML attachment was scrubbed... <br>> URL: <a href="http://mailman.dementix.org/pipermail/pittsburgh-railways/attachments/20140517/1b0885b4/attachment.html">http://mailman.dementix.org/pipermail/pittsburgh-railways/attachments/20140517/1b0885b4/attachment.html</a> <br>> _______________________________________________ <br>> Pittsburgh-railways mailing list <br>> <a href="mailto:Pittsburgh-railways@mailman.dementix.org">Pittsburgh-railways@mailman.dementix.org</a> <br>> <a href="https://mailman.dementix.org/mailman/listinfo/pittsburgh-railways">https://mailman.dementix.org/mailman/listinfo/pittsburgh-railways</a> <br>> <br>> <br>> <br>> -------------- next part -------------- <br>> An HTML attachment was scrubbed... <br>> URL: <a href="http://mailman.dementix.org/pipermail/pittsburgh-railways/attachments/20140518/137538ba/attachment.html">http://mailman.dementix.org/pipermail/pittsburgh-railways/attachments/20140518/137538ba/attachment.html</a> <br>> _______________________________________________ <br>> Pittsburgh-railways mailing list <br>> <a href="mailto:Pittsburgh-railways@mailman.dementix.org">Pittsburgh-railways@mailman.dementix.org</a> <br>> <a href="https://mailman.dementix.org/mailman/listinfo/pittsburgh-railways">https://mailman.dementix.org/mailman/listinfo/pittsburgh-railways</a> <br>> <br>> <br>> <br>> <br>> -------------- next part --------------<br>> An HTML attachment was scrubbed...<br>> URL: <a href="http://mailman.dementix.org/pipermail/pittsburgh-railways/attachments/20140518/2f8ce11d/attachment.html">http://mailman.dementix.org/pipermail/pittsburgh-railways/attachments/20140518/2f8ce11d/attachment.html</a> <br>> _______________________________________________<br>> Pittsburgh-railways mailing list<br>> <a href="mailto:Pittsburgh-railways@mailman.dementix.org">Pittsburgh-railways@mailman.dementix.org</a><br>> <a href="https://mailman.dementix.org/mailman/listinfo/pittsburgh-railways">https://mailman.dementix.org/mailman/listinfo/pittsburgh-railways</a><br>
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