Other that the special Acela train that ran straight through without stopping Newark which lasted for a short time, was there any Amtrak or pre NJT Amtrak trains that bypassed Newark as an express train?
The Acela train did not bypass Penn Station Newark but ran throuogh the station without stopping. There is currently no electrified route between Penn Station Manhattan and Trenton and/or Philadelphia other than the route through Penn-Newark. (There are some round-about non-electrified routes.)
I know of no regular passenger train that did not have a scheduled stop at Newark. However, during WWII there were times when an Advanced Congressional Express (usually one of two such) with coaches, not parlor cars, left Washington five or ten miniutes before the regular late afternoon departure, and made the run nonstop to New York in 3 hours 5 minutes, not stopping either at Philadelphia or Neward. This was during very heavy traffic periods, coaches were crowded with standees, and the attempt was to utilize the equipment most intensively. It was not necessary to exceed 100mph to make such a quick trip.
Right Dave…and even in the days when the PRR did have a wired route which could have bypassed Penn Newark it would have been slow and cumbersome and not worth putting first class trains over it.
Like they said, passenger trains never “bypassed” Newark as far as we know. PRR was known to run a Clocker or two a day thru Newark without stopping-- in 1910-1920, let’s say.
Then around April 1969 the nonstop Metroliner began, NY to Washington in 2 hr 30 min with no stops. It soon started making one stop-- may have been Newark, I’ll check.
I thought the “nonstop” did stop at Newark. But I can be corrected, if it was Phily.
Didn’t the wired route, when it existed, require a reversal or back-up move? Penn Station to the Harrison Junction, then back to Waverly Yard via the Exchange Place line used almost to Journal Square by the H&M-PRR joint service, then forward again on the freight main line.
No idea whether the “nonstop” was really nonstop, but the public and empl timetables showed no stop at Newark.
Didn’t the X2000 skip Newark too?
True-- no way for a NY Penn to Philadelphia train to actually bypass Newark Penn without a backup.
The “non-stop” Metroliner stopped at Metropark (Iselin) - the station was built as part of the same program that created the Metroliners in the first place. Unlikely that patronage justified the stop.
Metropark opened… November 1971? The nonstop Metroliners were before that.
I meant running straight through without stopping.
I know allot about PRR and todays Amtrak and commuter agencies like NJT operations on the Northeast Corridor, but I don’t at all know how freight trains use the line. Like where does Weaverly yard go up north? Were there freight operations through New York Penn Station?
Let’s not say freight never went through Penn Sta. Newark, but very rarely for sure. Freight went over the other line to Meadows yard, about a mile east of the main. Was wired and, too. Ran from Waverly Yd to Hudson Tower. Still there, I believe but sans wire.
I was asked whether anything like the Advanced Congressional WWII experience exists today, and the answer is definitely not. During WWII passenger traffic NY-Washington almost overwhelmed the effficient PRR. If was really needed a seat and did not have a parlor reservation one had better use the B&O. There weret times when the standee load resembled a subway rush hour. So the nonstop was as much equipmenet utilization as anything else. Please excuse my computer’s occasional wish to use bold type.
PRR freights heading compass-NE from Waverly Yard came to the LV overhead truss bridge at http://binged.it/18QxK4H . One PRR line turned east on the south side of the LV and ran to Greenville Yard http://binged.it/1ivA7kP where cars were put on floats to go to NH or LIRR or whoever. The other PRR freight line crossed beneath the LV bridge (the two-track line that’s still there next to the passenger main) and went to the drawbridge at http://binged.it/18QxRNN and turned east to Meadows Yard (Kearny) and Jersey City. (Didn’t go to Hudson Tower.)
Soon after the PC merger they built the connection at http://binged.it/18QA6kj so trains could run direct from PRR to the West Shore line of New York Central. The connection at http://binged.it/18Qynv8 is newer-- 1990s I think.