[PRCo] The Steel Kings

Fri Jul 12 14:56:37 EDT 2013

Bob

Well done!

P&LE #277 was NOT the STEEL KING. It was the PITTSBURGH-BUFFALO EXPRESS.  The STEEL KING went to Cleveland via the Erie and used the Erie station in Youngstown.  The PITTSBURGH-BUFFALO EXPRESS used the NYC station in Youngstown and the NYC branch to Ashtabula.  I rode the last run out of Pittsburgh (AIR in fall of 1963) but only as far as Coraopolis.  Tried to take some flash pictures but with similar results to yours at Ashtabula.

I also rode both last runs of the DAYLIGHT SPEEDLINER, Eastbound to Connellsville and Westbound back to da Burgh. On that occasion I used Kodachrome and the results are somewhat better, although it was a very dreary day, so they are not front page of TRAINS magazine material.

Sorry for all the caps—I’ve tried to use italics but the dreaded Ecartis changes them to regular font.

Dwight

From: Bob Rathke 
Sent: Friday, 12 July, 2013 12:04
To: Western PA Trolley discussion 
Subject: Re: [PRCo] The Steel Kings

The photo I took was the westbound Morning Steel King at Aliquippa on 7/15/57.  I got off the train to take the photo, and I had a little time to do this since the baggage car was being loaded or unloaded (seen in the photo). 

On 8/3/62 I took  photos of the Steel King (train 277) after it arrived in Ashtabula, Ohio, but it was in the early hours of the morning and the platform was dimly lighted, so the flashbulbs didn't illuminate much - see attached photo.  A few minutes later the eastbound 20th Century Limited rolled through the station, and all I was able to capture on film was a blurred image of the "20th Century Limited" drumhead on the rear of the boat-tail observation car. 

When the B&O's Daylight Speedliner moved from the P&LE station to the B&O station in Pittsburgh, during the layover  the Daylight Speedliner RDC's were used for at least one roundtrip (probably around 6PM) on the B&O's commuter lin e to McKeesport. I took the attached photo in the B&O station on 10 /6/ 65 during the train's layover (the dining section didn't serve food on the McKeesport commuter runs). 

Bob 

----- Original Message -----

From: "Dwight Long" <dwightlong at verizon.net> 
To: "Western PA Trolley discussion" <pittsburgh-railways at mailman.dementix.org> 
Sent: Friday, July 12, 2013 1:56:44 AM 
Subject: Re: [PRCo] The Steel Kings 

Bob 

From the size of the consist that appears to be #25, the Morning Steel King.    #23, the Evening Steel King, had a heftier consist, including an Erie RR parlor/diner, and perhaps into 1957, depending on the day, a sleeper to Boston (following the discontinuance of train 33, which formerly carried the sleepers to eastern points).  In earlier years the parlor/diner had run through from Washington to Cleveland, coming off the B&O Washingtonian at Pittsburgh, but when the B&O substituted the RDC-equipped Daylight Speedliner, they refused to let it run through to Cleveland.  A transfer at P&LE Terminal was required initially, but later B&O terminated the train at their own shack in da Burgh, requiring any through pax to transfer between stations. 

The Morning Steel King was off the schedule by early 1960.  I don’t know the exact date.  The Evening Steel King, renamed simply the Steel King after the demise of the counterpart morning train, lasted until sometime in 1963, but as coach only. 

Dwight 

From: Bob Rathke 
Sent: Friday, 12 July, 2013 01:31 
To: Western PA Trolley discussion 
Subject: Re: [PRCo] PRCo Route72 

Attached is a photo of the westbound P&LE/Erie Pittsburgh-Cleveland Steel King at Aliqu ippa, PA     that I took on 6/15/57. 

In my earlier post I  neglected to mention that the PRR "Steeler' train names referred to the steel industries in Pittsburgh and Cleveland , and not to the Pittsburgh football team. 

Also, over the years I have answered comments from nat ive, over age 80, Cleveland railfans  who said that the PRR never had a station in downtown Cleveland....until I showed them my 1958 photo and scans of PRR timetables from that era. 

Bob   

----- Original Message ----- 

From: "Dwight Long" <dwightlong at verizon.net> 
To: "Western PA Trolley discussion" <pittsburgh-railways at mailman.dementix.org> 
Cc: ge13031 at yahoo.com, billvigrass at verizon.net 
Sent: Thursday, July 11, 2013 11:29:58 PM 
Subject: Re: [PRCo] PRCo Route72 

Herb 

But they greeted the Morning Steeler with open arms? 

The competing trains via P&LE/ERIE were only slightly less offensive to hard core residents of the Forest City—they were called Steel Kings. 

Dwight 

From: Herb Brannon 
Sent: Thursday, 11 July, 2013 22:57 
To: Western PA Trolley discussion 
Subject: Re: [PRCo] PRCo Route72 
Bob, 
I'm surprised that a train with the name, "Afternoon Steeler" was permitted 
inside Cleveland Union Terminal. 

On Thu, Jul 11, 2013 at 4:52 PM, Bob Rathke <bobrathke at comcast.net> wrote: 

> I watched the first westbound train to leave Penn St ation on that bridge 
> in 1955 - the Afternoon Steeler to Cleveland. 
> 
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Fred Schneider" <fwschneider at comcast.net> 
> To: "Western PA Trolley discussion" < 
> pittsburgh-railways at mailman.dementix.org> 
> Sent: Thursday, July 11, 2013 3:26:38 PM 
> Subject: Re: [PRCo] PRCo  Route72 
> 
> Anyone else would have bought a 4-8-4.    Change that.   Anyone else with 
> brains would have bought a diesel.   Think of NP, GN, Southern, ACL, SAL, 
> ATSF, even Reading … all those who proved during WW2 how well EMD's product 
> worked. 
> 
> 
> 
> On Jul 11, 2013, at 3:40 PM, Dwight Long wrote: 
> 
> > 
> > Bob 
> > 
> > Done so that T1 locos would not stall leaving the station westbound. 
>  The rigid frame caused the drivers to bind up on the curve, and most 
> westbound trains with T1s had to be assisted by a snapper to get out of the 
> station. 
> > 
> > Of course before the project was finished, so were the T1s. 
> > 
> > Dwight 
> > 
> > From: Bob Rathke 
> > Sent: Thursday, 11 July, 2013 12:55 
> > To: Western PA Trolley discussion 
> > Subject: Re: [PRCo] PRCo Route72 
> > That bridge from the PRR station to the 6-track double-deck bridge over 
> the Allegheny River was replaced by the current bridge (with a more gradual 
> curve) in the spring of 1955. 
> > 
> > ----- Original Message ----- 
> > From: "Raymond Lattner" <rlattner at pa.gov> 
> > To: "Western PA Trolley discussion ( 
> pittsburgh-railways at mailman.dementix.org)" < 
> pittsburgh-railways at mailman.dementix.org> 
> > Sent: Thursday, July 11, 2013 11:22:33 AM 
> > Subject: [PRCo] PRCo  Route72 
> > 
> > Attached is a pic of route 72 Bloomfield car. Penn ave. downtown. 
> > 
> >> From 
> http://images.library.pitt.edu/cgi-bin/i/image/image-idx?rgn1=hpicasc_ci;med=1;q1=AIS.2012.03;size=20;c=hpicasc;back=back1373559754;subview=detail;resnum=322;view=entry;lastview=thumbnail;cc=hpicasc;entryid=x-201203.1917.6503;viewid=20130206-HPICASC-0323.TIF# 
> > 
> > Ray 
> > 
> > 
> > 
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-- 
Herb Brannon 
Back In The Burgh ! 
Let's Go Bucs 

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