February 1, 1969 marked the end of the New York Central System. Merged with the Pennsylvania Railroad in what could only result in doom. Yup, Super Bowl Sunday will also be the 40th anniversary of the demise of the NYCS. :tb-sad:
Ah yes, the Leslie Ragan painting from the NYC 1946 calendar. It shows the daily line-up of trains ready to depart Chicago's La Salle Street Station. The trains are gone as is the station - torn down to build another skyscraper. What would the trains be? My guess is right-to-left: Empire State Express 20th Century Limited Commodore Vanderbilt Niagara pulling Lake Shore Limited?
I believe you're correct, Charlie. I don't remember exactly, but I believe the Empire terminated at Buffalo....Jim, Roger? However, as an advertising work of art from the Central's Marketing Dept., the imagination was not that concerned with facts. :tb-wink:
"Yup, Super Bowl Sunday will also be the 40th anniversary of the demise of the NYCS. " Ahhh, so sad. It was a Pennsylvania team that robbed the NY Giants of another chance this year as well. There is another Pennsylvania team in the bowl. Leads me to wonder upon your original statement.....is Pennsylvania "doomed" to fail today as well? Happy railroading! Russ
Good call! That is one of the Empire State Express locomotives (although it should have a RED oval plate on the pilot). By 1946 those locomotives were bumped from Empire service and used instead on the Chicago Mercury, thus they could appear in this grouping at this time. Still not sure about the Niagara's train though. Any other guesses?
Initially the Empire State Express ran only as far as Buffalo. In later years the service was extended as far west as Cleveland. I think the service included cars connecting to/from Boston as well. You are correct, though, the ESE never ran as far as Chicago.
Couple of interesting observations about that photo (was that from the movie?) The oval is the modern script style, not what was traditionally used on NYC locomotives of the era. Modelers who are complaining about the dark shades of grey being used on recent passenger cars and locomotives (e.g. from Walthers) should note how dark the greys are on this locomotive. Especially note the lack of contrast between the light and dark greys. These compare favorably with the original color chips I have.
The Niagara was first delivered in 1945, so I assume it was used as a "pretty face" for the poster. I assume the E7 was included for the same reason. I don't know when the Century and Empire Hudsons were de-shrouded, but I think it was about the same time, because, IIRC, they were the first trains to be assigned E7s. I think the poster was just an imaginative creation by the Central's Marketing Dept., not meant to show a real situation.
Yep, that's from the movie.. there are some good closeup shots of Cary grant walking along the passenger cars too.
The color scheme of 4044 compares with a photo of 4028 in the book, New York Central Color Photography of Ed Nowak. Though the logo oval is not correct as Mike said. I suspect this loco was borrowed and re-painted just for the movie Other Ed Nowak E7 photos show many different grey shades. For instance, 4002 has the same dark grey both in and out of the lightning stripes. However, 4007 is dark grey in the stripes and light grey outside. 4009 is light grey outside the stripes, but an even lighter grey inside. So any one who complains about a model not having the "correct" color scheme probably has not looked at enough photos......:tb-wink:
I guess I copied that from last year's calendar. Thanks for the corrections, and for the great discussion that followed. ESE didn't go to Chicago, as you reported, and yes, Mr. Ragan took some liberties in that neat painting of his. :tb-biggrin:
According to my father who's from Cold Spring, NY, a friend's father worked at Croton Harmon for the Central. He told my dad to see the new Hitchcock film as the loco was cleaned and prepped for the movie. According to my dad, his friend's father told him it was just a regular loco from the rotation. Nothing borrowed or special, and my dad suspects the old nameplate was beat up so they threw what they had available on.
One of the photos in Jim Shaughnessy's new book, The Call of Trains, has a Central E unit with number 404X, can't read the last digit, that has that same oval emblem on the front, taken at Rensselaer, Ny in 1961. I don't know that much about the Central diesels, but I sure don't remember that particular oval. Any comments? :tb-biggrin:
