There was never a train like the Century. It’ s the American version of the Orient Express. The only other train that would even come close is the Super Chief. Who cares about the fares? It’ s a cultural thing! In legend, story, what-have-you what other train has the mystique of the Twentieth Century Limited? Really, would that Hitchcock picture have had half the appeal if they were riding the Broadway Limited? No, it wouldn’t have. I felt like bawling on what; December 4th, 1967 when it was all over. And I was only 12 years old at the time. Denied the chance, damn it. I’m a classic car guy as well and wouldn’t it be amazing to have the classic 1938 Century back, and ride to the station in a fine Dietrich-bodied Packard Lebaron convertible? I’ve had a few pints as I write this, but damn it, 16 hours New York to Chicago! Why the hell does this not happen today?
CJtrainguy: If I were in NYC and wanted to go to Chicago and The Lake Shore Limited was unavailable, I’d go instead from NYP to Washington and board The Capitol Limited there, thus eliminating the less-than-pleasant 4 hour delay in the middle of the night in Pittsburgh. The routing Amtrak (and you) suggest is only useful if one is in Pennsylvania somewhere and needs to join the train en route between NYC and Chicago.
NYC’s 20th Century Limited ran along Cleveland’s lake shore and one could glimpse and pace it in a automobile on the parallel freeway for a few miles. But once I was on a Shaker Rapid Transit approaching the Cleveland Union Terminal as the Century slowly passed us (westbound) with her tail sign beautifully illuminated on the fishtail observation car. As we both entered the CUT’s maze of switches it was unforgettable to me to see this gorgeous train thread its way through the multi-colored
What happened was, the I.C. – no doubt counting on the media’s ignorance of rail even back then – announced that it was introducing a new coach train, the “Magnolia Star,” between Chicag
I would have LOVED to have seen the race between the “Century” and the “Broadway” out of Englewood Station.
I know, I know, OFFICIALLY the NYC and the PRR denied there was any kind of a race going on, and OFFICIALLY the crews were forbidden to race, but still…
There’s a story: A New York Central official was riding the “Century” east. As the train left Englewood he could feel the train surging forward. He looked out the window and saw the “Broadway Limited” passing, then felt the “Century” surge forward again. Back and forth they went, then he spoke to a conductor:
“Conductor! Step this way sir!”
“Yes sir!”
“Conductor, are we racing the ‘Broadway Limited?’”
“Uhhhhh, choke, grunt, hmmmm, choke…”
“I see.” He looked out the window one more time. “Get word to the engineer, if he loses, he’s FIRED!”
Absolutely agree on the routing New York to Chicago today. I’ve had the pleasure to ride the Lake Shore Limited and look forward to the next opportunity. I brought up the Capitol Limited/Pennsylvanian route because it’s the closest we can come today to tracing the Broadway Limited route, and even then it’s an approximation.
It is true that Amtrak at first operated the City of New Orleans between Chicago and New Orleans, but some time before July of 1972 this train was dropped, and the Panama Limited was reinstated, on approximately the same schedule it had before 5/1/71. (I rode it from Jackson, Miss. to Chicago in July of 1972, and my family and I made round trip Jackson-Chicago-Jackson in June of 1973). I do not remember just what year the name was changed to City of New Orleans, now with a much slower schedule than either train had pre-5/1/71.
If time is not of the essence, a no-change alternative to the Lake Cities between New York and Chicago is the Cardinal, which crosses northern Virginia and much of West Virginia during daylight hours.
Not quite, The Brodway did outlive the Century,and was still a pretty good train under Penn Central, and even under Amtrak, but it was really The General renamed. And it was dropped some 19 or 20 years ago. And at this moment there is not a through NY - Phildadelphia - Pittsburgh - Chicago train, although there certainly should be. But Amtrak’s Lake Shore Limited, via Albany, Buffalo, Clevaland, and Toledo, is the real ghost of the 20th Century Limited.
As far as I know, the Broadway never had an on-board barber shop. The 20th Century did.
Interurbans tended to have a more precise definition of their services: locals stopped everywhere, including all of the full stops and flagstops that were little more than a platform alongside the track or street corners in street running; expresses only stopped at stations that actually had a building; limiteds stopped only at major stations, usually the endpoints and one or two sizable towns.
The General after the all coach Trailblazer was eliminated became the principal coach train of the Pennsylvania between New York and Chicago complete with reserved seats. I believe that the General carried one Pullman sleeper but was otherwise all coach. The General was supposed to make a 45 minute connections with the Burlington’s Morning Zephyr and the Milwaukee’s Olympian Hiawatha but by the late 1950’s it didn’t always happen. We watched as the General was pulling out of Union Station just as the Zephyr was pulling in with us on board. We had reserved seats on the General. My mother didn’t like the idea of spending the extra money for a Pullman on the Broadway Limited. Her alternative was to wait for the Admiral and arrive in New York five hours after the Broadway. I had to listen to her complain about the price of the food in the diner which she said was higher than the diner on the General but I didn’t have to listen to her complain about riding all night in a coach either. It was my only ride in a Pullman as a child.
The General always had Pullmans, and at one time was also an all-Pullman train. I rode it once in 1959. when I was on a job in Philly, and was asked do go to Chicago right away and the Broadway was sold out, so I still enjoyed a night’s rest in a roomette and quite good Pennsy diner food on the General. I think, but am not sure, that it was also all-PUllman at the time, but added cars from Washington in Harrisburg. Boarded, traditionally, at North Philly.
The “Powhatan Arrow” would have certainly qualified as a “limited”. But the N&W was a road unfamiliar with running such trains, and came into the “streamliner” business after the announcement of the “Chessie” and B&O’s introduction of the “Cincinnatian” which is said to be in response to the “Chessie”. But the “Chessie” didn’t work out and the “Cincinnatian” and “Powhatan Arrow” were not, as I have read, that successful, due possibly to their introduction at the end of WWII when passenger ridership began its decline. But streamliner was a separate category, and what trains classed as limiteds also classify as streamliners may be examined later. My understanding is that a streamliner has special streamlined equipment, fast schedule (which may also qualify it as a limited) extra fare and/or reserved seats and were the trains run behind specially designed diesels or streamlined steam locomotives. As regarding the N&W, its ideal passenger train was probably the “Pocahontas” with its fast schedule though with mail and express cars, which was not a part of the “Arrow” until it was downgraded. It was also N&W’s longest lasting passenger train, ending on the eve of Amtrak in 1971. The “Arrow” in contrast, had been cancelled two years earlier, in 1969. lois
Robert R. Young decided that the “Chessie” would be a daylight Washington-Cincinnati train without doing any real market research to determine if such a market existed. B&O proved with the “Cincinnatian” that no such market really existed. N&W found out the same thing with the “Powhatan Arrow” on the Norfolk-Cincinnati run.
To me, this thread is a perfect illustration of the virtue of the Trains forums at their best. Talk about exhaustive examination of a “limited” subject! No stone left unturned, a now-superannuated railroad usage explored from every angle and in every application.
No excuse for a rookie being stumped the next time they hear “limited” being bandied about. (Could be quite a wait, though.)
Over on the Classic Trains forum, a thread on the defunct Midland Continental pike, all 70 miles of it, has steamed into its fifth page, and God bless it.