“Broadway Limited”

Photo by Paul Kutta.

Observation-car “Tower View” westbound at Englewood, IL; 6/67.

I’ve started reading a giant treatment of the Pennsylvania Railroad’s Broadway Limited in my Summer 2006 issue of the National Railway Historical Society Bulletin which arrived the other day.
Apparently publication of the NRHS Bulletin fell vastly behind, although I hadn’t noticed — it’s not like I wait for them with baited breath.
So now they are catching up; which explains my recent Summer 2006 issue.
The NRHS Bulletin has become a full-fledged 8&1/2 by 11 inch magazine with color reproduction — used to be half that size.
The National Railway Historical Society apparently fell on hard times. It’s based in Philadelphia, and all was in disarray.
I joined the National Railway Historical Society long ago in 1985, mainly to get the newsletter of the local NRHS Chapter (Rochester Chapter, NRHS) in Rochester.
There had been an excursion across Western New York with Nickel Plate 765, and I only found out about it at the last minute — i.e. not in time to ride it.
I thought the local newsletter might apprise me of upcoming railfan events of interest, and it did.
Because of it I rode behind Norfolk & Western 611 and 1218. I chased 611 once with Jack, and rode a diesel excursion on the old New York Central Corning Secondary.
The National Railway Historical Society is a nationwide umbrella organization for a slew of local railfan groups, one of which is the Rochester Chapter.
So since I continue to belong to the Rochester Chapter, I also get stuff out of Philly; e.g. the NRHS Bulletin.
When I joined in 1985, The Rochester Chapter was just a small group of railfans that met in an abandoned rural depot on Erie’s old Rochester branch. (They also met at the Rochester 40&8 during winter.)
The railroad is still there, but now operated by Livonia, Avon (“AYE-von”) & Lakeville, and it no longer goes to Rochester.
It’s a way of serviceing a lumberyard out along the old Lehigh-Valley Rochester branch.
LA&L had to build a connector, and most of the LV Rochester branch is gone; including into Rochester. —In fact, the LV overpass over Elmwood Ave. in the city is now a parking-lot feeder for the University of Rochester.
(Livonia, Avon & Lakeville is the shortline that operates all that remains of the Erie Rochester branch, that went from Corning [NY], on the Erie main, to Rochester.
It was abandoned south of Livonia and largely obliterated.
LA&L took over the Livonia-to-Avon segment and had a short branch to Lakeville, where it served a corn-syrup distributer.
LA&L operated steam passenger excursions for a while (I rode it), but now LA&L is only a freight-line. In fact, the line to Livonia has been abandoned. They only operate to Lakeville.
I suppose Conrail had the Avon-to-Rochester segment, but wanted to abandon it, as well as the entire Lehigh-Valley Buffalo Extension (also Conrail), thereby stranding that lumberyard out along the LV Rochester branch.
So LA&L bought the Conrail remnant of the Erie Rochester branch, plus the LV line to the lumberyard, and connected the two in a field in the Rochester suburb of Henrietta.
I asked a guy at the lumberyard if they still got carloads of lumber from the railroad, and he said yes — it was Livonia, Avon & Lakeville.)
The Rochester Chapter has since grown, adding land to shelter its railroad equipment in a new shed. In 1985 all it was was a bunch of depot-side sidings to store all its rusting equipment outside — e.g. an EMD-powered Lehigh-Valley Alco road-switcher, and various critters from Rochester area industries, like an Alco RS1 from Kodak.
But they needed more space to store stuff, so they added land up a hillside — the depot was in a depression.
They also built a railroad up the hill from the depot so they could store stuff on their new land.
I call it their life-size Lionel-set — Grampaw playing with the real thing.
They couldn’t afford to grade (cut/fill) like a real railroad, so their life-size Lionel-set follows the lay-of-the-land: over hill-and-dale like a real railroad would never do. I rode it once: up-and-down over hill-and-dale at 5 mph — Grampaw playing with the real thing. (Their hill is too steep for a real railroad — they could never climb it with more than a few cars.)

Photo by Frank G. Tatnall.

The eastbound “Broadway” with GG1 #4902. The GG1 was the greatest railroad locomotive ever — many lasted over 40 years. The train is stopped at Paoli, a suburb west of Philly, to unload Philadelphia passengers, since it didn’t stop in Philly at that time. (5/30/61.)

The “Broadway” was Pennsy’s premier Chicago-New York City passenger train; competing with New York Central’s “20th Century Limited” — or perhaps it was the reverse.
The Broadway was the creme-de-la-creme; all Pullman drawing-rooms, and no coaches.
In fact, it had two master suites that were larger than drawing-rooms, and had their own shower and even a radio.
The Master-suites were extra-cost; as was the “Broadway.” And if any lineside dispatcher delayed it, he was fired.
Of course, that was back before air transport became the accepted norm, where people get lobbed like cattle.
In the first half of the 20th century the normal means of transit between two distant cities was by rail.
But the Boeing 707 ended all that after 1958 when it went into service.
The Broadway would leave Chicago at breakneck speed, often racing the Century on parallel tracks.
But the Century would always win, since it had more modern power: the J3 Hudson.
The Broadway was getting by with double K4s from the late ‘20s.
Both the Century and the Broadway had semi circuitous routes to New York City, especially the Century, which had to dogleg through Albany and then down the Hudson.
But the Broadway was doglegging too to Philly and then up to New York City.
Plus it had to crest the Alleghenies, which the Century didn’t have to do, since it’s route was “water-level;” along rivers.
The Broadway lasted into the Amtrak era, although all it was by then was just an east-west accommodation with coaches.
But even that was eventually discontinued.
The Broadway was Pennsy’s classiest act.

The Pennsylvania Railroad (“Pennsy”) is no longer in existence. It merged with arch-competitor New York Central Railroad in 1968 as Penn-Central, and that went bankrupt in about two years. “Pennsy” was once the largest railroad in the world.

“Nickel Plate 765” and “611” and “1218” are all restored steam-locomotives that operated (or still operate) steam-locomotive excursion-service. 611 (a 4-8-4) and 1218 (a huge 4-6-6-4 articulated), both previously of the Norfolk & Western Railroad, have since been retired, but Nickel Plate SuperPower Berkshire (2-8-4) #765 is still in service.

“Jack” (“Jack Hughes”) is my loudmouthed macho brother-from-Boston. He noisily badmouths everything I do or say. At that time he was living in Fulton, NY, supervising construction of the Nine-Mile Point nuclear generating facility.

The “New York Central Corning Secondary” is their railroad-line from Lyons, NY to Corning, NY; now owned and operated by Norfolk Southern Railroad.

“EMD” is Electromotive Division of General Motors, GM’s manufacturer of railroad diesel-locomotives. Most railroads used EMD when they dieselized; although many now use General-Electric railroad diesel-locomotives. “Alco” is American Locomotive Company of Schenectady, N.Y., a long-time manufacturer of steam-locomotives. (Actually it was an amalgamation of earlier steam locomotive builders.) Alco entered the diesel-locomotive business when the railroads began switching from steam to diesel, but eventually tanked because their diesels were less reliable than EMD. Alco is out of business. The Rochester Chapter’s ex Lehigh-Valley diesel is an Alco repowered by the railroad with an EMD engine.

A “J3 Hudson” (4-6-4) could run continuously at high speed without running out of steam. Double-headed Pennsy K4 Pacifics (4-6-2 — “double-headed” equals two engines) at that speed were courting running out of steam.