Hello friends!
I was wondering does anyone possibly have photos or knows the consist of the Great Steel Fleet Wolverine & Pacemaker during the years of 1950 to 57? A friend and I have been looking for information and it seems to to be documented too well. Thanks very much.
Darj,
You might want to specify a series of years. I lived a half block away from where the Wolverine ran between Detroit and Chicago. You can bet that the consist in the early 50âs was different from then even fifteen years later.
John
I thought the âGreat Steel Fleetâ referred to the heavyweight era. Even by the late '40s wouldnât those trains have been âDieselinersâ?
Does this have anything to do with⌠Bard College?
Thatâs my understanding. The phrase was an advertising term that I donât think was used after the war.
Hi there John, my apologies. Specifically around the 1950 to 57. Thanks very much.
Before Ed gets here with the rosters, hereâs a fire hose drink on the car types:
Darj,
I turned 6 in at the beginning of summer in '50. NYC was still lugging freight consists on this route with steam - and would do so for at least another three to five years. I MAY remember some steam leading some passenger service as late as '50 or '51, but if so it would have been unusual. The two top passenger trains between Detroit and Chicago were the Wolverine and the Twilight Limited. Iâd bet that by '50 they were hauled by diesel. I didnât know the difference then between various diesls but suspect they were 6 axle E units, all in Lightning Stripe.
BTW, welcome to the forums. 
John
See if you can secure a copy of âThe Official Guideâ for the time period you are interested in. The OG has in one location the Public Timetables of all the carriers in the USA. Those Public Timetables have the schedules and equipment make-up of all the trains the carriers operated at the time of publication.
The OG was published monthly. The primary customers for the the OG were each carriers primary passenger agencies and the independent Travel Agent businesses. On the railroads, the OG would be âhanded downâ to lesser volume agencies upon receipt of the new months publication. OGâs would work their way down to the freight agent offices in the middle of nowhere six to eight months after the original publication.
OGâs from the years before Amtrak are treasured among collectors.
The Great Steel Fleet was adopted by the NYC for their huge investment in passenger equipment. The order was for 731 cars from Pullman standard, Budd and ACF. Iâm not sure if they adopted it before the War when the Century and Commodore Vanderbilt was re-equipped (1938) but they certainly got some use out of the slogan post-war:
NYC_Steel-Fleet by Edmund, on Flickr
The ârivalâ Pennsylvania Railroad chose the âFleet of Modernismâ as their moniker for the new equipment to replace the War-weary roster.
Iâll do some digging as time permits. I recently came across a database of train consists that was rather detailed, copied from a conductorâs time book. Now to dig for the link! I do have some consists from 1960 but these are later than your âwindowâ. Note that there are âconsistsâ which would indicate the order of the cars in the train, car assignments which show what particular cars were âgenerallyâ used on specific trains, but these tended to be flexible unless, say, for the Century and Commodore Vanderbilt where specific cars were singled out for their particular amenities.
The Pacemaker (No. 1 and 2) was an all-coach train aimed at the budget-minded traveler. New Budd equipment arrived beginning 1949. In 1950 it was combined with the Advance Commodore Vanderbilt until 1955, generally with the Commodoreâs Pullmans at the head of the train. In 1957 the tavern-observation was dropped in a budget cutting move.
The Wolverine (No. 8 and 17) operated New York to Chicago via the Michigan Central route through Detroit and southern Ontario before reaching Buffalo. Some of the equipment was âhand-me-downâ lightweights from the Century including one of the twin-unit dining cars. In October of 1958 The Wolverine was combined with the Detroiter and inherited even more sleepers in its consist. Keep in mind that not all cars were carried on the entire route. It was common for overnight trains to drop or pickup sleepers at any of the stops en-route.
There are many more details and as was suggested, you really need to pinpoint a date as the NYC made many changes to passenger operations, combining trains while discontinuing others. It was always in flux.
Cheers, Ed
I cheerfully stand corrected! Nothing like proof to support a point. Thanks, Ed.
Hereâs some examples of equipment assigned to various NYC trains from the October 25, 1959 Form 1001 (System Timetable):
Note just how many cars are added and removed en-route, for instance Pullmans from Pittsburgh are added to #2 in Ashtabula headed for Toronto (except saturday!). I believe many modelers donât appreciate the extent to which passenger trains are reconfigured along the route.
NYC 1001_0001 by Edmund, on Flickr
NYC 1001_0002 by Edmund, on Flickr
NYC 1001_0003 by Edmund, on Flickr
NYC 1001_0005 by Edmund, on Flickr
A good reference to Pullman operations on their various âlinesâ would be the excellent book Night Trains (1989 Peter T. Maiken) or Some Classic Trains (1964 Arthur D. Dubin). Of course, there are several good reference volumes for New York Central Passenger operations and consists including equipment lists.
Is this Meryl Streep?
NYC Pacemaker by Edmund, on Flickr
Regards, Ed
The Pacemaker being the all-coach streamliner to Chicago to compete with the PRR Trail Blazer all-coach streamliner to Chicago.
But where do all those rose and gray Pacemaker boxcars fit into the timeline?
thanks so much!
Rear of the New England States, westbound, in its all-Budd days next to the first scheduled RDC, in Worcester, Massachusetts November 1949
Welcome aboard ColonelDarjeeling! 
In 1950, NYC was still doing a pretty good job of keeping car types together, so trains were generally all two-tone smoothside cars, or all stainless steel cars. By the later fifties, it was more mix-and-match; heavyweights (green or two-tone, or both), smoothside cars, and stainless steel all on one train.
