Eastbound Crusader

mitch kennedy wrote: Two Pacifics, 108 and 178 (?) were done with smooth boiler jacketing but not identical to each other, with recessed headlight into the smokebox and stack flanges, almost like the Euro-style D&H steamers, but not weird...

Pic of the 108 in her semi-streamline makeup. Don't think the 178 was done up like this as she was a G-2sa,but I might be wrong.

erielackawanna wrote:This is my dad's shot of train #614, the afternoon eastbound Reading Crusader.

http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.p ... 271&nseq=0

Does anyone know a way to tell if this was #117 or #118?

Charles Freericks

Pics of both G-1sas 117 and 118. Hmmmmm.

A bit off topic,but beings we are discussing G-class engines.
Inspiration for the new front end configuration of R&N 425?

ah, most venerable Rules Examiner Avis-look at page 94 in Pennypackers's Rdg Power Pictorial. 178 redone in 1936 (108 done in 1934) identical to 108 except for skyline casing from steam dome back to cab, like the B&M "Steamtown" pacific 3713. Also-according to bossler's Rdg Color Guide, class PBt coaches were rebuilt from PBm for the Wall St (2000 series) --one of which the 2002 was on the Push Pull to Rdg. PBu 2010 to 2016 were reblt from PBm for King Coal and Schulkill service, seem identical to Wall St coaches. Also PBr 1500 series coaches were modernized for the Wall St (see page 11 of same). And lastly the 2050 was reblt along the same lines as other 50's rebuilds (skirting, larger windows) into the "Wall Street", a named Club car for same (page 13 of same) Have a safe TCIU (ex-BRAC) day from the Senior Agent of the North!

CarterB wrote:Did the pre RDC Wall Street or Seven O'Clocker have a snack/dining car like the Crusader? Also what did the RDC service have in the way of a 'snack bar' or was it just an attendant with a plywood board across two seats?

The RDCs had a small bar in the baggage section. On my one trip (1974) it was a lot of fun sipping a cocktail on the rear platform with the door open as we bounded down the RDG New York branch at 70 mph. <G>

I was fortunate enough to ride this train south/west from Newark Penn Station to Philadelphia Reading Terminal one afternoon in 1981. I think we had a consist of two, maybe three, RDCs. I remember it as a fast trip.

I 'm wondering if my one way ticket was marked Conrail, NJ Transit or SEPTA ... or maybe something else?

One train had 2 RDCs, the other had 3, but I forget which was which. One of the snack cars had been a RDC-2, the other a RDC-3.

For reference, the Conrail-era Crusader schedule...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ottomatic77/3808101593

So who's train was it? Conrail operated, Conrail crews, but was it an NJDOT train or a SEPTA train? Looks like they both chipped in some funds for the operation...

-otto-

I think that the legal answer is that the trains on the linked schedule are, as it says, operated by ConRail for the emblems of New Jersey Department of Transportation and South Eastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, so they are ConRail trains. Commuter agencies took over operating trains from ConRail in 1983.

JimBoylan wrote:I think that the legal answer is that the trains on the linked schedule are, as it says, operated by ConRail for the emblems of New Jersey Department of Transportation and South Eastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, so they are ConRail trains. Commuter agencies took over operating trains from ConRail in 1983.

One thing that may have made these trains rather unique, at least during certain years in that era, was the fact that these trains were operated by one railroad (Conrail) for and on behalf of two separate state transportation agencies (New Jersey DOT and SEPTA).

Maybe that was also true of the Hoboken - Port Jervis trains of that era, in that they were operated by Conrail for and on behalf of both NJ DOT and NY MTA.

The typical commuter train was usually operated by one railroad on behalf of only one transportation agency.

Prior to Conrail (April 1, 1976), did Reading crews work the trains over their entire run, or was there a crew change somewhere in New Jersey?

The crew change was by the calendar, the total of each year's trips was split so that each road's crews worked the same proportion of train miles as their employers owned route miles. The Lehigh Valley and Pennsylvania - PennCentral miles were probably included in the Central Railroad company of New Jersey's proportion. The Lehigh Valley Brotherhoods did not demand to be included in the Aldine Plan, and the PRR Brotherhoods lost their suit to be included. When there had been more than 2 round trips, the equipment was split in a similar way. In 1962, the 3rd trip often used CNJ cars and Trainmaster locomotives.

The morning RDC's would serve a continental breakfast and the return home would serve liquor.

on the subject of power or equipment usage,the reading and cnj always used a milage agreement.

I rode the "Wall Street" (the later train) from Newark to Reading Terminal twice in 1979 and 1980, while I was working at USRA. I made frequent business trips from WAS to PHL to visit Conrail, and twice I left Conrail's Six Penn Center office, caught Amtrak to Newark, and came back on the "Wall Street". I remember three RDCs, and I remember well the small dining area with stools and tables and, yes, cocktails in the afternnon. I also remember the train did quite a bit of business at Jenkintown. There seemed to be a lot of Bucks County to New York commuters on those trains.

I remember the ride being quite fast through New Jersey. The New York Branch was still double track at that point, and the diamonds at Bound Brook were still intact, and the move from CNJ to RDG was fairly fast as well.

In 1988, I rode one of the trips run for the infamous Tri-State NRHS convention, and everything had changed. We departed the NJT Bound Brook station by backing up and then inching through a new connection to the Port Reading Secondary, from which we turned onto the (now single track) New York Branch at Manville. The only new mileage on that trip (to Reading and return over the LV) was the New York Short Line from CP "Nesh" to Wayne Junction. It was fun to use the "low grade" line rather than the Blue Line Connector (which was still shown with that name on the Conrail track chart).

Some photos of the last morning and afternoon runs of the Crusader and Wall Street.

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/archiv ... x?id=62268