TRACK QUALITY

Classic Trains General Discussion
1

The question came up on one question thread conerning interurban line track quality . Rather than go into detail about what I remember from the riding I was able to do while interurbans lasted on that thred, I decided to start a new thread that should be open to all remembered observations about what track quality was 50 or so years ago.

Here are my memories concerning interurban lines:

North Shore: Smooth, except Greenleaf Ave. street trackage on the Shore Line, and on CTA tracks south of Howard Street on the embankment. The North Shore Shore Line tracks were in better shape than the adjacent C&NW main line!

CA&E Only rough spots on the Batavia branch and alongside the Fox River in Elgin.

CSS&SB Don’t remember any rough spots

Waterloo Ceder Falls and Northern. Rough ride only on the Waterloo - Ceder Falls local car because of frequent freight sidings and their switches.

Crandic Did not ride it. The one interurban I know of with a reputation for rough riding.

Pittsburgh Rys. Some of the local streetcar lines had rough track, but the only interurban track that seemed rough was on the Donora branch bridge and between Charleroi and Rosco.

West Penn. Cinder ballast from coke overns, no stone ballast but still very smooth . Some rough street trackage on the Connoslville - S. Connnolsville local car line.

Laurel Line Smooth ride except for a few spots in Willksbarre

Liberty Bell generally looked awful and rode smoothly anyway

Easton Limited same comment, but speeds not as awe inspiring

Baltimore and Annapolis Not bad but less smooth than most of the others

Quebec - St. Joachim (CN) Smooth ride, but not particularly fast

2

Never rode an interurban, but did ride a rail street car in Indianapolis, Indiana, I was much too young to pay much attention to the ride quality, so I cannot comment about it.

But I have spoken to people that rode the CRandIC line between Cedar Rapids, Iowa and Iowa City, or Cedar Rapids and Mount Vernon, IA. They always got a silly grin when they would remember the unofficial nickname for the line, “The Vomit Comet”. I bet there were other interurban lines that got that same nickname.

3

Does Norristown High Speed line and trolley lines 101 and 102, all out of 69th St, Philadelphia and under SEPTA, count? If so, track ride is excellent on streets and on private rights of way!

Can vaguely remember the Queensboro Bridge trolley ride nor those along Jamaica Ave and Queens Blvd. except they were enrapturing to a 5 year old boy!

Newark City Subway, too, is an example of semi interurban and semi street trolley…especially the origional route…but never got to ride until the 90’s(!) but was impressed with the PCC ride ability and speeds (driver said she loved the way they got up to 55 mph with no problem and great ride.(.“why they getting rid of them, I don’t know!”).

And the old Riverside Line…the red PCC’s…of Boston. Great ride…was able to do that back in the mid 60’s.

Ahh, yes! The NJ Public Service climb up the viaduct from DL&W Hoboken Terminal to the plateau on Union Hill…what a high!

4

The reason LVT (Liberty Bell) and West Penn and Pittsburgh Railways got by with minimum maintenance and still preserved good ride quality was lack of any heavy freight. Crandic and Waterloo both had heavy freight, but Waterloo practiced standard railroad high-qualtiy maintenance. So did the three Insull Chicago interurbans. I estimate that the Crandic condition was a minoritiy. Someone can comment on Pacific Electric and Illinois Terminal, probably ran from awful to good. But I’ll bet Bamburger and Texas Electric were good.

5

Queensboro Bridge track got rough toward the end. Jamaica Ave. track was in good shape on the last night, the only time I rode the whole line. The double-end 8000-series Peter Witts were in good shape too and replaced deck roof 4100’s on Rockaway Avenue (Canarsie) until that went bus.

6

I hope this thread can be used to discuss track quality in general, for passenger service, and not just interurban lines. Any thoughts?

And some Chicago experts may want to comment on my comment on the three Insull Chicago interurbans.

7

Quickly coming to mind is Ridewithmehenry’s recent first ride on Acela from Philadelphia to Newark, NJ. The first several miles out of 30th St. Station were rough not unlike any other train I suppose. But once into the speeds it was better. But for some stupid and unknown reason I was not that impressed compared to standard trains, even commuter trains on this same stretch. In fact, I thought our ride about a month earlier out of NYP to Bridgeport, CT was as smooth and quiet. and not much different than our trips from NYP to Poughkeepsie, NY. LIRR also offers some amazingly fast and smooth rides especially east of Babylon to Montauk and east of Ronkonkoma to Greenport.

8

See CT Summer 2013 article “Seeking Sunshine somewhere, anywhere!” By Edward Theisinger. On page 64, he describes a rough interurban trip.on the Illinois Terminal in the spring of 1952.

9

for what it’s woretrh there was an aretricle in Keystone several yrs ago re the PRR T-1s and urban legends about their speed. One story involved a WWII troop train leaving Crestline W to CHI under a seriously hot schedule that may have set a new unofficial speed record. The track issue was this: as troops woke up and tried to get to the lavs to shave, the ride was so rough do to the speed it was impossible and they conmplained when they got to CHI.

10

for what it’s worth there was an article in Keystone several yrs ago re the PRR T-1s and urban legends about their speed. One story involved a WWII troop train leaving Crestline W to CHI under a seriously hot schedule that may have set a new unofficial speed record. The track issue was this: as troops woke up and tried to get to the lavs to shave, the ride was so rough due to the speed it was impossible and they complained when they got to CHI.