All through May 2023, Classic Trains editors are celebrating the legacy of everyone’s favorite bankrupt railroad: Penn Central.
At Logansport, Ind.’s station on April 20, 1971, there was time for a photo during the crew change on PC No. 66, the remnant of Pennsy’s Buckeye. Only about a quarter of the seats in former NYC coach 2926 were occupied when we left Chicago on-time at 10:25 a.m. Ahead were one of the ubiquitous PRR B60 baggage cars and PC E7 4211, also ex-PRR. J. David Ingles photo
E8 4310 arrives at Dayton Union Station with Pittsburgh-St. Louis train 13 as a freight train heads east on April 24, 1971, one week before Amtrak. David P. Oroszi photo
New “Jersey Arrow” electric commuter cars repose at Trenton, N.J., with Penn Central heralds. Even after Amtrak took over intercity passenger service on April 1, 1971, Penn Central operated significant commuter routes in the Northeast. General Electric photo
A Penn Central-lettered United Aircraft Turbo-Train makes its first revenue run on April 8, 1969, on former New Haven trackage at Cos Cob, Conn. Charles W. Stark photo
Penn Central Metroliner car 859 rounds a bend with a mate. PC inherited the Metroliner project from the Pennsylvania Railroad, which developed the cars jointly with the U.S. Department of Transportation in the 1960s. Their basic design would carry over to new Amfleet I coaches in the 1970s. Classic Trains collection
The venerable Pennsylvania Limited has rounded Horseshoe Curve and is a few minutes away from its Altoona, Pa., station stop on Sept. 13, 1970. Ahead of the two E8s that have brought No. 54 from Chicago are ex-PRR C630 6323 and SD45 6265, taking a break from helping freights over the mountain. David P. Oroszi photo
The Admiral slinks out of Chicago on its final run to Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, and New York on April 30, 1971. The following day, Amtrak, created largely to relieve Penn Central of the burden of intercity passenger service, would do just that. George W. Hamlin photo
Penn Central train 427, the Boston-Albany remnant of NYC’s all-Pullman New England States to Chicago, trundles west at Riverside, Mass., on April 11, 1970. PC’s bankruptcy two months later prompted the creation of Amtrak the following year. Tom Nelligan photo
The train formerly known as the South Wind departs Chicago Union Station on April 19, 1971, bound for Louisville, Ky. Beyond are bilevel commuter cars of Chicago, Burlington & Quincy. John H. Kuehl photo
The last trip for Penn Central train 66 from Chicago to Cincinnati via Richmond, Ind., saw lead E8 painted with a final epitaph: “No. 66 JUST FADES AWAY WITH AMTRK” (sic). Black flags were mounted, matching the mood of the crew and passenger. Herb Pence Jr. photo
The last edition of Penn Central train 51 arrives at Chicago Union Station on May 1, 1971, from Buffalo. As of this day, all intercity passenger trains are operated by Amtrak. Harold Edmonson photo
Please enjoy this photo gallery of Penn Central passenger trains selected from the files in Kalmbach Media‘s David P. Morgan Library.
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Recall a summer trip prior to AMTRAK on either the Spirit of St. Louis, or the Penn-Texas from Columbus to New York City. The train was about 3 to 4 hours late getting into Columbus, and for some reason the sleeper 10-6 was directly behind the diesel engine. And to make for even a more enjoyable trip, there was no air-conditioning in the sleeper and so all of the doors were open and we were able to enjoy the diesel fumes from the engine plus the heat during the night. Sad experience.
Bill Grant
Cold., OH
Memorializing the Penn Central? Why celebrate a Fallen Flag of Failure?
The train at Logansport is a remnant of The Red Bird.
The Buckeye was the night run ,dropped I 68 or 69.
I rode one PC train, from Chicago to Warsaw, Indiana in about 1969 or 70. It was dirty, (especially the windows) and seemed slow. A brick or rock was thrown into the window a few seats ahead of me in a stretch of especially slow running somewhere in NW Indiana. There were other passengers but not very many. This was an afternoon departure as I remember and seemed to take hours to go the 100 or so miles. Worst train I was ever on, and I rode the Rock Island many times, and the Monon back in the end days of their passenger service.
My most lasting memory of the Penn Central was taking the Patriot, a Washington-Boston train I often took in Pennsy/New Haven days.. A onetime great train, once taking it from New York to Boston under PC, it arrived in New York without any water having been added to it when it originated in the nation’s capitol. Toilets wouldn’t flush, giving the whole train the oder of urine/feces.
When Amtrak arrived, they harassed it. Taking the Bay State on the newly inaugurated Boston-Springfield-New Haven-New York route, I remember being stuck in Worcester for an hour while a PC train refused to yield while it was switching cars around.
Their trains were filthy, and rarely ran on time. They are the main reason Amtrak came into existence.