FORT WAYNE, Ind. — The Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society has acquired seven cars built in 1941 for New York Central’s Empire State Express from New York’s Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum for use in its Indiana Rail Experience operation and future excursion use.
Estimated cost of restoring the entire fleet of cars is $1.2 million. The society’s initial goal is to raise $160,000 to place one coach in service in 2024; to that end, it has launched a fundraising campaign at greatsteelfleet.org.
Fort Wayne President Joe Knape said the acquisition ensures the organization has a dedicated fleet of its own equipment “and helps strengthen our business model. Rochester’s care and stewardship in preserving this equipment through the years means the cars will be enjoyed by thousands of people every year.”
Otto Vondrak, the Rochester museum’s president, said his organization “determined this train to be surplus to the museum’s collection. I’m proud of our museum’s accomplishments in preserving this historic trainset, and our members are excited for its future.”
The Empire State Express, which operated between New York City, Detroit, and Cleveland, famously made its debut on Dec. 7, 1941, just hours before the attack on Pearl Harbor. Later rebuilt for commuter service, six of the cars were acquired by the Rochester Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society in 1987 and were later joined by a Railway Post Office Car to complete a trainset. They were refurbished by volunteers and used fall foliage excursions beginning in the 1990s, with their most recent use in 2019.
The cars acquired are RPO car No. 5021, Alonzo B. Cornell; and coaches 2566; 2567; 2568; 2671, Hamilton Fish; 2572, David B. Hill; and 2578, Charles Whitman.
Acquisition of the cars was partially funded by a grant from the David A. Donoho Trust and the Central Indiana Foundation. They will undergo a several-year modernizations process of mechanical, heating, and electrical systems; two are candidates for conversion to first-class, dining, or parlor cars inspired by original NYC designs. While the Fort Wayne group has often leased cars for its operations, it has acquired two former Pennsylvania Railroad coaches and an unrestored Canadian Pacific dome-lounge-observation, restored a dining car and open-air car, and converted a baggage car into a power car.
“With rising costs, limited availability, and logistical constraints, leasing even the best cars can make or break this business,” said Fort Wayne Vice President Kelly Lynch. “We’ve gone from having no operating cars to a growing fleet in less than two years. As the Empire cars enter service over time, they will greatly expand our train sizes, capacity, and variety of trips, which means donations toward restoring our fleet can double and triple the impact our trains have.”
The cars are expected to arrive at the society’s restoration facility in New Haven, Ind., in mid-September.
The Empire State Express (ESE) was the first passenger train with a schedule speed of over 52 mph (84 km/h) and the first to make runs of 143 miles (230 km) between stops (between New York City and Albany: the longest scheduled nonstop run until then).
Dr. Güntürk Üstün
The Empire State Express stopped at Harmon to change from an electric motor to a steam locomotive and vice-versa (Assigned: J3a Hudson). Harmon (now Croton-Harmon) is 33 miles from GCT.
Glad to see that the “Alonzo B. Cornell” is still with us. Back in 1967 I traveled to Albany Union Station with some friends from the Hartford and Springfield MA area to check out this exotic-to-us location. One of the most interesting things we saw was a live RPO car on one of the station tracks. A NAMED RPO car – the only one I ever remember seeing anywhere. One of us asked the RPO clerk if he could please stamp our pocket notebooks with a cancellation stamp. Although I will probably never find that notebook that experience and the name “Alonzo B. Cornell” remains a very clear memory.