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Here will be found a wealth of information about the New York Central System, including sample freight and passenger schedules,
passenger train consists, diesel roster and other information about the Central, once billed as America's Greatest Railroad.
Among the great passenger trains will be found the 20th Century Limited, Empire State Express and others in their final years
of operation as name trains. Come board the Century, now ready for passenger boarding at Track 17,Grand Central Terminal in
New York City.
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PROFILE OF THE NEW YORK CENTRAL RAILROAD
Mileage:10,403
Locomotives: 629 road (1225 units),630 switchers
Freight cars: 118,439,including 1615 cabooses.
Passenger cars: 4292, including 375 electric MU,20 Budd RDCs.
SOME 1851 COMPONENTS OF THE NEW YORK CENTRAL SYSTEM
The following are a few of the smaller railroads of 1851 that went into the formation of the New York Central Railroad
in its 12,000 route mile form, which it reached by 1909. They are:
1.Hudson River Railroad
2.Albany and Schenectady RR
3.Utica and Schenctady
4.Utica and Syracuse
5.Rochester and Syracuse
6.Buffalo and Rochester
7.Cleveland,Columbus and Cincinnati(Big 4)
8.Michigan Central
9.Michigan Southern
10.Erie and Kalamazoo
11.Western Railroad
12.Schenectady and Troy
13.Hudson and Berkshire(Boston and Albany)
14.Troy and Greenbush
15.Harlem Railroad
16.Rome and Watertown
17.Buffalo and Niagara Falls
Once these and several hundred other companies began to be merged together under the leadership of Erastus Corning and
the Vanderbilts, the form that the New York Central Railroad would assume right up to the 1968 merger with the Pennsylvania
began to take shape. The railroad was completely dieselized by 1958. Here is the early 1960s diesel roster, many units still
with their original road numbers, some units renumbered:
Alco FA1 1500 hp 1000-1045 46 units
Alco FA2 1600 hp 1046-1123 77 units
EMD F3A 1500 hp 1606-1635 30 units
EMD F7A 1500 hp 1636-1873 238 units
EMD F3A 1500 hp 1874-75,1877 3 units
EMD F3B 1500 hp 2404-2419 15 units
EMD F7B 1500 hp 2420-2474 75 units
EMD F3B 1500 hp 2475-2476 2 units
Alco FB1 1500 hp 3301-3322 22 units
Alco FB2 1600 hp 3323-3372 50 units
EMD F3A psgr 1500 hp 3500-3503 4 units
EMD F3B psgr 1500 hp 3600-3601 2 units
BLW DR44-1500 1500 hp 3700-3701 2 units
BLW RF16 1600 hp 3702-3709 8 units
BLW DR44-1500 1500 hp 3800-3803 4 units
BLW RF16 1600hp 3804-3821 18 units
EMD E7A 2000 hp 4000-4035 36 units
EMD E8A 2250 hp 4036-4095 60 units
Alco PA2 2000 hp 4200-4203 4 units
MID 1960S DIESEL FLEET ADDITIONS.
Alco RS32 2000 hp 2020-2044 25 units
Alco C430 3000 hp 2050-2059 10 units
EMD GP30 2250 hp 2188-2197 10 units
EMD GP35 2500 hp 2369-2399 31 units
GE U25B 2500 hp 2500-2559 60 units
GE U28B 2800 hp 2800-2823 24 units
GE U30B 3000 hp 2830-2889 60 units
GE U33B 3300 hp 2890-2898 9 units
EMD GP40 3000 hp 3000-3104 105 units
Many older units were used as trade ins on many of these new units. Following are the road switchers that were in service
going into the 1960s:
EMD GP7 1500 hp 5600-5827 228 units
EMD GP9 1750 hp 5900-6075 176 units
EMD GP20 2000 hp 6100-6114 15 units
BLH RS12 1200 hp 6200-6236 37 units
Two GP20s were wrecked in 1961. Others renumbered 2100-2112. OLDER SWITCHERS AND ROAD SWITCHERS.
Alco RS2 1500 hp 5209-5222 13 units
Alco RS3 1600 hp 5223-5357 135 units
LH 1000 1000 hp 8400-8405 6 units
1200 1200 hp 8406-8411 6 units
Alco S-2 1000 hp 8500-8589 90 units
Alco S-4 1000 hp 8590-8667 78 units
EMD NW2 1000 hp 8700-8834 135 units
EMD SW7 1200 hp 8835-8921 87 units
EMD SW9 1200 hp 8922-8008 87 units
FM H10-44 1000 hp 9100-9110 11 units
FM H12-44 1200 hp 9111-9137 26 units
BLW VO1000 1000 hp 9300-9307 8 units
BLW S12 1200 hp 9308-9328 21 units
EMD NW2 1000 hp 9500-9516 17 units
EMD SW8 800 hp 9600-9627 28 units
EMD SW900 900 hp 9628-9646 18 units
PASSENGER ROUTES IN 1967
1.New York-Albany-Buffalo-Cleveland-Toledo-Chicago
2.Cleveland-Columbus-Cincinnati
3.Cincinnati-St.Louis
4.Chicago-Kalamazoo-Detroit-Buffalo
5.Cincinnati-Chicago
6.Albany-Pittsfield-Springfield-Boston
7.New York- Poughkeepsie(Suburban)
8.New York-Brewster-Dover Plains-Chatham.
NOTE; Portion ofthe New York-Chicago route hosted EMPIRE SERVICE corridor service between Buffalo,Albany,New York, and
intermediate points.
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Sample Passenger and Freight Schedules. Here in this section, will be presented a number of sample passenger and freight
schedules of the New York Central System, starting with a 1940s era condensed schedule of trains 25 and 26, The Twentieth
Century Limited, New York Central's flagship train and head of The Great Steel Fleet.
Table 1. Trains 25 and 26, The 20th Century Limited, Condensed Schedules.
Westbound, Train 25
Lv New York (Grand Central Terminal 1800
Lv Harmon h1846
Lv Albany
h 2039
Lv Syracuse
h 2305
Lv Buffalo
h 0120
Lv Englewood i0847
Ar Chicago (LaSalle St. Station) 0900 CST
h= stop only to receive passengers
i-stop only to discharge passengers.
Eastbound, Train 26
Lv Chicago (LaSalle St. Station) 1600 CT
Lv Englewood
h 1612
Lv Toledo h
2028 ET
Ar Albany
i 0602
Ar Harmon
i 0800
Ar New York (Grand Central) 0900
This train later got coaches in combination with another train and ran in as many as three sections as late as 1965 on
occasion. The condensed schedule above is from the steam era. For 6 5 years the Century was the Central's standard bearer
of the railroad's passenger fleet, which became known as the Great Steel Fleet starting in the 1940s. With valet service,
a barber, and a train secretary, the Century was truly luxury on steel wheels and a train that was well patronized by many
celebrities over the years when it ran as an all Pullman train.
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