Penn Central Passenger Equipment

Classic Trains General Discussion
1

Sorry, I know the Penn Central is a four letter word to some!

I read that the PC purchased a handful of coaches from the U.P. and lounge cars from the Rio Grande in 1968-69.

Can anyone supply some additional information on this?

2

The following information was obtained from the “UtahRails.net” web site:

There were six 44-seat coaches built in 1950 by Pullman-Standard that were sold to Penn Central inn 1969. See the attached details:

You will be interested in the cars with Notes number 24, 27, 30, 31, 37 and 46.

Chair (44 seats) — 50 cars
Pullman-Standard, 1950
Lightweight

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Car
Number

Date
Built

Date
Retired

Ringling Bros.
Number

Notes

UP 5400

Jun 1950

Aug 1951

1

UP 5401

Jul 1950

Dec 1971

RBBX 42001

2

UP 5402

Jun 1950

Dec 1971

RBBX 42002

3

UP 5403

Jul 1950

Dec 1971

4

UP 5404

Jul 1950

Dec 1971

5

UP 5405

Jul 1950

Oct 1968

RBBX 42003

6

UP 5406

Jul 1950

Oct 1971

RBBX 42004

7

UP 5407

Jul 1950

Oct 1971

RBBX 42005

8

UP 5408

Jul 1950

Dec 1971

9

UP 5409

Jul 1950

Oct 1971

10

UP 5410

Jul 1950

Oct 1971

RBBX 42006

11

UP 5411

Jul 1950

Oct 1971

12
3

Thanks for the very detailed response! I usually see the Ringling Bros train in Commerce, CA every year so I’ll be on the look out for these old UP coaches…if they’re still operating.

4

Since you are interested in the Ringling Brothers railcar fleet, it seems Ringling Brothers has (had) about 104 former passenger cars. Following is the link to the Utahrails.net website for these cars:

http://www.utahrails.net/pass/ringling-ex-up.php

5

The ex-UP coaches that GN bought in the late 1960s still had the interlocked UP in the linoleum floors when running in Big-Sky paint under Amtrak in 1974.

6

You’re right, 081552, I never had much affection for the Penn Central Railroad either. Therefore never made a point of taking pics of their freight cars or locomotives. Passenger cars, however, were another matter. And since you inquired about their acquisition of passenger cars from both the Rio Grande and “Uncle Pete”, I can provide you with a pic of one of the D&RGW coaches after Penn Central had “done its thing” with it.

This pic shows Penn Central coach 3165, the former D&RGW 1244. It is cut into the consist of PC #78, the decrepit remains of the once proud Cincinnati Limited, at Columbus OH Union Station on the evening of 6/19/70. By this late pre-Amtrak time frame, the standard consist of this poor train was a 10-6 sleeper and a coach, in that order. (Once in a while a baggage car would come trundling along on the rear as well.) In Columbus the train was coupled to the rear of PC #4, the Penn Texas, for New York. In this pic #78 is awaiting the arrival of #4. The coach looks fairly attractive to me with its green paint above the stainless steel fluting below the windows. Looking from the left rear. (This is one of 1600+ slides I submitted to George Elwood’s splendid “Fallen Flags” website which he was gracious enough to post.)

I also have a slide of Penn Central coach 3004, which is ex-UP 5436, in early Amtrak service. But it’s a little too grubby for posting due to early morning light. However, if you search on line for “Penn Central coach 3004” you should find at least one pic of it; I found a b&w shot of it in Chicago.

Hope this helps your search.

Dave

7

Wow, thanks for the photo and detailed information. The train, railroad, and station (?) are gone. Any photos of the Penn Texas that night?

8

“The train, railroad, and station (?) are gone.”

Yes, yes, and yes, 081552. (The station was demolished in the spring of 1977 for a convention center. Amtrak had moved to a cracker box “Amshack” just east of the old station, and used it until the National Limited was discontinued 10/01/79. Columbus hasn’t had scheduled rail passenger service since, and is, I believe, the second largest city in the United States without rail passenger service, Phoenix being the largest.)

“Any photos of the Penn Texas that night?”

As a matter of fact, yes again. Here are two shots of the train as it brakes past Scioto Tower, 0.9 mile west of Union Station, and bangs across the diamonds of two other main lines on the evening of 6/20/70: the first line grooved is the C&O’s main line from Ashland KY to Detroit (and was still the route of the Sportsman, or what was left of it by this time); the second line the train encounters is the NYC (Toledo & Ohio Central) line between Charleston WV, Columbus, and Toledo OH. In the first shot, note the Southern baggage car entering the frame of the pic on the right; always found foreign-road equipment showing up on passenger trains anywhere of interest. (By the way, Scioto Tower supposedly was the last open tower in Columbus, and the presence of three double-track main lines crossing each other here afforded a layout with 12 diamonds. The ex-NYC line has long since been single-tracked through here, but all three lines are still active.)

The second view shows the diner (PRR 4520) and the sleeper bringing up the rear passing the tower. Note that the sleeper is a PRR 4-4-2 car (the Richard Beatty Mellon); the normal assignment was a 10-6 car.

9

Thanks for the photos and story behind them. Nice Labor Day addition.