The 20th Century Limited Part 1/5 V1 | The New of New York Central
Hello Hello and welcome back to another episode of The Huber Show! I am your HOOOOOOST Mark Huber and today we are going to discuss, The 20th Century Limited. Yes, you have all been waiting very patiently for this, and it is finally here! Now I introduce you to the cars of the 20th Century Limited, this includes a lounge car, a diner car, an observer, a sleeper, and a baggage car. Enjoy this! Now, without further a’do, let’s begin, And let’s not forget, this isnt the end, there are another 4 parts!
If you want a realistic consist, you must complete the following consist:
Locomotive: J-3a Class (4-6-4 Hudson) steam locomotive;
Class CS Baggage-club car
Class PS Sleeper (14-section)
Class PS Sleeper (8-section 1-drawing room 2-compartment)
Class PS Sleeper (6-compartment 3-drawing room)
Class DA Dining car: NYC 387;
Class PS Sleeper (14-section)
Class PS Sleeper (10-section 2-double drawing rooms)
Class PS Sleeper (8-section 1-drawing room 2-compartments)
Class PSO Sleeper-Buffet-Lounge-Observation (1-drawing room 1-single bedroom)
The 20th Century Limited was an express passenger train on the New York Central Railroad (NYC) from 1902 to 1967. The train traveled between Grand Central Terminal in New York City and LaSalle Street Station in Chicago, Illinois, along the railroad’s "Water Level Route".
NYC inaugurated the 20th Century Limited as competition to the Pennsylvania Railroad, aimed at upper-class and business travelers. It made few station stops along the way and used track pans to take water at speed. On June 15, 1938, streamlined train sets designed by Henry Dreyfuss were added to the route.[1]
Widely considered to be one of the greatest American passenger trains of all time, the 20th Century Limited was the flagship train of the New York Central and was advertised as "The Most Famous Train in the World". It was described in The New York Times as having been "[…] known to railroad buffs for 65 years as the world’s greatest train",[2] and its style was described as "spectacularly understated". The phrase "red-carpet treatment" is derived from passengers’ walking to the train on a specially-designed crimson carpet.[3]
In 1938, industrial designer Henry Dreyfuss was commissioned by the New York Central to design streamlined train sets in Art Deco style, with the locomotive and passenger cars rendered in blues and grays (the colors of NYC). The streamlined sets were inaugurated on June 15, 1938. His design was probably the most famous American passenger train.[1] The first new 20th Century Limited train left New York City at 18:00 Eastern Time and arrived at Chicago’s La Salle Street Station the following morning at 09:00 Central Time, traveling the 960.7 miles (1,546 km) at an average 60 miles per hour (97 km/h).[9] The eastbound train left La Salle Street Station in Chicago at 15:00 and arrived at Grand Central Terminal the following morning at 08:00.[10] For a few years after World War II, the eastward schedule was shortened to 15½ hours.
In 1945, EMD diesel-electrics replaced steam, and two new diesel-electric-powered trainsets were commissioned. The replacement was inaugurated by General Dwight D. Eisenhower in September, 1948. This set was featured in postwar films such as North by Northwest and The Band Wagon.
Like many express passenger trains through the mid-1960s, the 20th Century Limited carried an East Division (E.D.) Railway Post Office (R.P.O.) car operated by the Railway Mail Service (RMS) of the United States Post Office Department which was staffed by USPOD clerks as a "fast mail" on each of its daily runs.[11] The mails received by, postmarked, processed, sorted and dispatched from the 20th Century Limited’s RPOs were either canceled or backstamped (as appropriate) during the trip by hand-applied circular date stamps (CDS) reading "N.Y. & CHI. R.P.O. E.D. 20TH CEN.LTD." and the train’s number: "25" (NY–CHI) or "26" (CHI–NY).
For much of its history before 1957, the all-Pullman train made station stops only at Grand Central Terminal and Harmon for New York–area passengers and LaSalle Street Station and Englewood for Chicago-area passengers. These traveled in as many as seven sections (each was a separate, complete train), of which the first was named the Advance 20th Century Limited.[1] In 1957, the 20th Century Limited schedule added more station stops to the original four (two terminals and two suburban stops). In the 1960s, the NYC added slumbercoaches to the roster of sleeping cars.
By the late 1960s, the train was in decline. On December 2, 1967 at 18:00, the half-full train left Grand Central Terminal’s Track 34 for the last time.[2] As always, carnations were given to men and perfume and flowers to women boarding the train.[2] The next day, it arrived at LaSalle Street Station in Chicago 9 hours 50 minutes late due to a freight derailment near Conneaut, Ohio, which forced a slow rerouting over the parallel Nickel Plate railroad freight line.[13]
Amtrak now operates the Lake Shore Limited between New York Penn Station and Chicago Union Station. It follows a route similar to the 20th Century’s, except west of Whiting, Indiana (near Chicago), where it switches to the former Pennsylvania Railroad’s Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago Railway.
On August 26, 1999, the United States Postal Service issued 33-cent All Aboard! 20th Century American Trains commemorative stamps featuring five celebrated American passenger trains from the 1930s and 1940s. One of the five stamps features an image of a streamlined J-3a steam locomotive leading the 20th Century Limited out of the Chicago railyards on its way to New York, with the Board of Trade Building in the background.
Several 20th Century Limited traincars and its red carpet were included in the Grand Central Centennial Parade of Trains, part of the terminal centennial celebration in 2013.[14]
For 2023, two of the restored traincars, Hickory Creek and Tavern-Lounge No. 43, are being offered for Spring and Fall day trip excursions between New York City and Albany, New York while attached to the rear of an Amtrak Empire Service train.[15][16] In September, a special trip from New York to Chicago and back will be offered.[15] All 2023 tickets were sold, but there is a waiting list.
Credits to CygnusOX for the amazing streamlined passenger cars, and Dreyfuss Hudson.
And as always, This is Mark Huber, And I bid you all a FOOOOND Farewell.
