by rdgrailfan
Anyone out their have any information on this train out of Philly, I have seen postings but cant seem to find it on any schedules that I have for the Reading Company.
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kevikens wrote:I don't know if this is any help, or even that relevant, but when I was toddler in the late 1940's my father had to travel from Phila. to Hornel, Ny on a business trip, a trip today that would be a short day's drive. He loved the old B&O ( he hated the Pennsy for some reason) and rode it whenever possible, a bit of a feat with this NY State trip. He used to take me to Wayne Junction to watch the trains, many still steam powered then, and whenever he went on a trip I would follow his travels on a big wall map of the US ( I still love reading old maps). On this particulat trip to Hornel he got on at Wayne Junction and since the B&O went no where near there I guess it was the Reading. It was an overnight trip (big deal, then) and I remember the train went through Northeast Pa. into NY. Would this be the train you are referring to ? As far as I can remember he did not have to transfer at any stations but I know he stopped at the Bethlehem Station as I marked it on the map. I never knew this train had a name but maybe it is the one you are referring to.Wow, I realize this post is over 5 years old, but I just stumbled upon it.
vector_one75 wrote: ↑Wed Jun 14, 2006 10:31 pmBack in the 1960's while I was a student on day trip between Jersey City and Allentown, a trainman told me that in spite of the "apparent gap" in CNJ passenger service between Allentown and Jim Thorpe (as alluded to by a previous post: the night-time Jim Thorpe-Wilkes-Barre "shuttle"), an "all-rail" route on the CNJ was actually possible up on til the Aldene Plan from JersetyCity all the way to Wilkes-Barre by taking the "Queen of the Valley" from Jersey City and detraining at Bethlehem (short of Allentown), have dinner a few hours in Bethlehen, then walking over to the Reading (not CNJ) station in Bethlehem where the train would actually stop and you could then board the rider coach (again as alluded to by a previous post) and actually pay an officially recognized tariff cash fare to the conductor to continue to Wilkes Barre. The only intermediate stop would be Jim Thorpe.This link with photo of the passenger car claims that, after the Aldene Plan, the Central RR of Pennsylvania was stuck with running between Allentown and Easton for more than 4 months, and the last trip used coach 1198: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Cate ... own_PA.jpg
Apparently the reason that the train appeared in CNJ timetables only as a Jim Thorpe - Wilkes-Barre "shuttle" was probably that you had to board the RDG rather the CNJ station, so in the era of discouragement of pasenger service, the Bethlehem stop was simply not shown, but the Jim Thorpe - Wilkes-Barre "shuttle" was! Previous to that info from the trainman, I had always wondered why such a middle-of-the-night service between only end points could make sense on an isolated service removed from the major passenger service areas on the CNJ. I was eventually intending to make that trip via Bethlehem in a few months' time, but I missed out when I did not notice when the Aldene Plan appeared "suddenly" in my still innocent student state. Apparently, the Pennsylvania authorities did not immediately approve the discontinuance of the "published" timetable (ie Jim Thorpe - Wilkes-Barre "shuttle"), so while the through rider coach from Bethlehem was discontinued, this non-stop service for a few more weeks continued on the night run between the two towns using a single RDC (without mention any more in the CNJ public timetables), but with the difficulties of accessing Jim Thorpe at an ungodly hour from New York, I even missed out onthat opportunity. Considering the hours and only end points, as well as no "official" information on the service in the public timetables, I wonder how many, if at all, pasengers used the "real" RDC "shuttle", as opposed to the through train that had been carded as a "shuttle"!
So as a through train at least as far as Wilkes-Barre from Philadelphia coach-only, yes, the Intestate Express, having died a slow death starting 1951 as described in an earlier post, finally died at the implementation of the Aldene Plan, though I doubt the name was even called that in its last years.