PC GG-1 with CoFC at Darien, CT anno 1972

[.Taurus.]

Hello

I recently found this picture : http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=271650
It shows a PC GG-1 with a containertrain at Darien, CT.

Does anybody know its start and destination station ?
If this train rolls northbound (toward New Haven), did the train start in Long Island City or
did it run through New York Penn Staion and starts further south on the NEC ? (for example in Newark, Morrisville, Phily, etc ...)

I ask because of two reasons:
Frist, 1972 the catenary only reach until New Haven.
And second, i always hear/read that no (*) freight trains run through New York Penn Station because of the clearence of its tunnels.

So it would be only a short tour for the GG-1, if she pulls the train only from Long Island to New Haven ( maybe 75 miles). Why using a electric unit for only 75 miles under wire and still having engine change at both ends (Long Island City and New Haven) ?

Or did the train really run under the Hudson and East River.
A single container on a flatcar isn't higher than a passenger car (check out picture above)

(*) I only read that PRR once run a coal test train through NY Penn Station, but the train later stalled on Hell Gate Brigde. Also the Ringling Brother Circus Train run also through NY Penn Staion when riding to Long Island.

Bye

[shlustig]

That was probably one of the 2 daily mail trains that ran WAS to BOS. Power was changed at NHV and the trains ran via Springfield.

[Noel Weaver]

To add to the two previous entries.
Train 16 and 17 ran for some time between Penn Station and Springfield and for a period in 1972 it actually ran all the way
to Boston via Springfield. I pulled a timetable from the period the the operation of the mail trains during that period was
changed a number of times and the train numbers were also changed as well. The post office was changing the way they
were handling mail and the Penn Central was changing the way they were carrying it too.
The cars were "Flexi Vans" which were a fixture on the former New York Central. I think the mail trains of the period was
one of the last uses of these cars as they would clear through Penn Station. Often this train ran with two GG-1's instead
of one, just why, I don't know because one motor would do an adequate job with both trains. While they ran as mail trains
and were in the timetable and ran at passenger speeds, they were considered freight trains for train handling purposes and
had a former PRR caboose on the rear end.
At the time of the picture train 16 left Penn Station in mid afternoon and 17 left New Haven sometime around midnight.
Both ran non-stop between Springfield and New York except for the power change at New Haven.
I had a regular MU job out of New York for a period of time I think in 1973 or so which left Grand Central Terminal just after
10:00 PM and returned the next morning on the first commuter job of the morning. On Friday's it ran to New Haven and
the return was deadhead. If I had a good trip to New Haven and arrived on time I could sometimes grab the caboose on
train 17 which saved me a lot of time getting back to New York. If I missed 17, it was a long wait until the first local in the
morning. I am not sure whether Amtrak was running an overnight train at the time but if it was, it was still pretty late to
get back. I can tell you it was some ride in that old PRR caboose (cabin car to you PRR people but I did not like that term
one bit) and with electric power, we really moved along.
Noel Weaver

[Otto Vondrak]

Looks like Flexi-Vans to me...

[ATK]

I was re-reading this thread and a question came to mind for Noel (or whoever else might know the answer). Assuming trains 16 & 17 carried mostly Flexi-Vans, were the containers loaded on or unloaded off their flat cars in New York? In other words, when 17 arrived in New York, were its containers placed on bogies for highway service? I believe that the Flexi-Vans designated for mail service were equipped with side doors, so perhaps the containers were loaded and unloaded right on the platform in Penn Station(?)

[Noel Weaver]

I don't think they were touched in New York. The train ran through but I don't remember the details south of New York.
Noel Weaver

[ATK]

Oh, sorry -- I guess I was under the impression that 16 & 17 originated/terminated in New York. My mistake.

Couple more questions regarding Flexi-Vans, were all the flat cars equipped with steam and signal lines so that they could be used as head-end traffic in passenger service? I know at least some of them were:
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPi ... id=1000332

Did PC ever load/unload Flexi-Vans on/off flat cars in Sunnyside Yard? I would assume that prior to the merger, the NYC never had the option of operating Flexi-Vans as head-end traffic on passenger trains inbound to New York as there was really no place to unload the cars....

[Noel Weaver]

Oh, sorry -- I guess I was under the impression that 16 & 17 originated/terminated in New York. My mistake.

Couple more questions regarding Flexi-Vans, were all the flat cars equipped with steam and signal lines so that they could be used as head-end traffic in passenger service? I know at least some of them were:
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPi ... id=1000332

I doubt if the cars used on 16 and 17 were equipped with signal or steam lines. I don't think very many of them were.

Did PC ever load/unload Flexi-Vans on/off flat cars in Sunnyside Yard? I would assume that prior to the merger, the NYC never had the option of operating Flexi-Vans as head-end traffic on passenger trains inbound to New York as there was really no place to unload the cars....

Not to my knowledge. I think they may have been headed for Philadelphia where 17 terminated but they may have gone
beyond as mail 3 wasn't too far behind. Mail 3 remember was the last RPO run in the country but the vans may have been
put on the rear southbound out of Philadelphia.

Noel Weaver