Can anyone shed some light on PRR passenger train #7, operating at least in 1947 if not other years? What was the origin, destination, way stations or route, and name assigned to the train, if any?
Also, what train numbers were assigned to The General, eastbound and westbound?
I don’t have the 1947 timetable. Train #7 would have been a westbound train. However, as per below, I found it in my 1953 timetable.
Train #6 was The Allegheny eastbound from St. Louis to Pittsburgh and New York. It had a sleeper and at least one coach to Pittsburgh. East of the Steel City it had a parlor car, dining car, and apparently several coaches. Train #27 appears to be its westbound counterpart. It had a parlor car, dining car, and coaches from New York to Pittsburgh, where it dropped the dinner and parlor car but picked up a sleeper for the Pittsburgh to St. Louis leg. The sleeper was a 12 section, one drawing room car in both directions, suggesting it was the same car or at least the same configuration.
In 1953 The Duquesne was designated Train #25-7. It carried a parlor car, parlor cafe car, and coaches from Philadelphia and Washington to Pittsburgh. From Pittsburgh to Indianapolis it was designated Train #7, with coaches only from Pittsburgh to Indianapolis and Louisville. It made every stop between Pittsburgh and Indianapolis, arriving there at 2:00 a.m., suggesting that it was a mail and express train west of Pittsburgh with a coach for anyone who wanted to rough it in the middle of the night.
In 1953 The General, which was combined with The Trail Blazer, was designated #48 eastbound and #49 westbound. They had the same numbers in 1957. And my guess is that The General was 48 and 49 in 1947. If I remember correctly, The General and The Train Blazer were separate trains in 1947.
My December 1947 Official Guide lists PRR #7 as follows:
The Red Bird (also train 8) - "drawing room Parlor Car, Parlor Loung Car, Dining Car (with Buffet Service), Observation Buffet Loung Coach and Coaches - Chicago to Detroit.
Train 8 left Chicago Union Station at 915am with stops in Englewood, Gary, Ft Wayne, Montpelier, Oh, and Adrian, Mi before arriving in Detroit at 315pm.
The return train 7 left Detroit at 5pm with the same stops, arriving in Chicago at 900pm.
The 294.5 miles were handled in 5 hours via the PRR/Ft Wayne/Wabash.
Ed
The May 1945 Official Guide lists the Red Bird, No’s 7 & 8, as Ed (MP173) posted. Times are the same, as are the route and the stops.
The consists for 7 & 8 are a bit different, perhaps because of the war.
Copied from the Guide: Parlor Car, Drawing-room Parlor Car, Dining Car (with Buffet Service), Broiler Buffet Coaches - Chicago and Detroit.