NEW YORK — The fabled Broadway Limited rolled once more along the former Pennsylvania Railroad main line, if only for the weekend of July 12 to 14 with a special consist of just three cars.
The trio of gold-striped Tuscan-red trio of ex-PRR lightweights delivered by Pullman-Standard in 1949 operated from New York to Pittsburgh as part of Amtrak’s Pennsylvanian.
The cars were:
•Catalpa Falls: one of 24 Falls-series 6-double bedroom buffet-lounges. It made its maiden voyage last weekend after 18 years of restoration. The car is owned by the Catalpa Falls Group LLC of San Antonio, Texas, but is based in Philadelphia.
•Frank Thompson: a 2-drawing room, 1-compartment, 1-double bedroom observation-lounge. It was one of seven Presidents-series cars, named for former Pennsy presidents, and that were part of the same order and used on PRR flagships such as the Liberty Limited, Spirit of St. Louis, and Cincinnati Limited. The car is owned by Keystone Pullman Rail Tours.
•Colonial Crafts: one of eight Colonial-series 1-drawing room, 3-double bedroom buffet-lounge cars. Bob and Susan Lowe own the car and base it in Philadelphia.
Passengers occupied each of the cars’ sleeping spaces and the lounges, with remaining passengers spending the nights off the train at the Omni William Penn Hotel in Pittsburgh.
Meals aboard the cars were culled from Broadway Limited menus and included such specialties as a PRR triple decker club sandwich for lunch and breaded pork tenderloin for dinner.
Was the William Penn a railroad station? I stayed there a few years ago and the building reminded me of Cleveland union terminal (Terminal Tower) but none of the current employees could shed light, granted most weren’t born when the building would have been in service.
The correct spelling is Frank Thomson; he was the sixth President of the PRR, serving from 1897 to 1899.
I rode on Catalpa Falls on the combined Cincinnati Limited- Spirit of St. Louis in 1970…. It was still in great shape then.
Truly, the only way to fly.
It was wonderful to see rounding Horseshoe Curve. Let’s hope that we’ll see these beautiful cars again soon.
Beautiful addition to the Pennsylvanian! Just curious how the owners managed to get this “private varnish” accommodated on a regularly scheduled Amtrak Train? Thought it took “an act of Congress” these days…