The ''Admiral'' was a named passenger train of the

Pennsylvania Railroad The Pennsylvania Railroad (reporting mark PRR), legal name The Pennsylvania Railroad Company also known as the "Pennsy", was an American Class I railroad that was established in 1846 and headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was named ...

and its successor

Penn Central The Penn Central Transportation Company, commonly abbreviated to Penn Central, was an American class I railroad that operated from 1968 to 1976. Penn Central combined three traditional corporate rivals (the Pennsylvania, New York Central and th ...

which operated between

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

and

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

. The ''Admiral'' began on April 27, 1941, when the Pennsylvania renamed the eastbound '' Advance General''.

''Advance General''

The ''Advance General'' was a train operated by the

(PRR). It was inaugurated in 1940, and was a second section of the PRR's popular ''

General A general officer is an officer of high rank in the armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colonel."general, adj. and n.". O ...

'', and was meant to take the coaches, then only being carried eastbound, and make that train an all-Pullman train. In 1941, it was renamed the ''Admiral''.

''Admiral''

The new train was eastbound-only until a year later on April 26, 1942, when the Pennsylvania added a westbound counterpart. The ''Admiral'' carried both sleepers and coaches plus a diner. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, the Pennsylvania put the ''Admiral'' on a 17-hour schedule between Chicago and New York along with the ''

Broadway Limited The ''Broadway Limited'' was a passenger train operated by the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) between New York City and Chicago. It operated from 1912 to 1995. It was the Pennsylvania's premier train, competing directly with the New York Central Ra ...

'', '' Trail Blazer'', ''

'' and ''

Pennsylvanian Pennsylvanian may refer to: * A person or thing from Pennsylvania * Pennsylvanian (geology) The Pennsylvanian ( , also known as Upper Carboniferous or Late Carboniferous) is, in the International Commission on Stratigraphy, ICS geologic timesca ...

''. At the time the ''Admiral'' carried transcontinental sleeping cars which it exchanged in Chicago with the ''

California Zephyr The ''California Zephyr'' is a passenger train operated by Amtrak between Chicago and the San Francisco Bay Area (at Emeryville), via Omaha, Denver, Salt Lake City, and Reno. At , it is Amtrak's longest daily route, and second-longest o ...

'' and other California-bound trains. Mounting losses on its passenger operations led the Pennsylvania to reduce service on the ''Admiral''. From April 29, 1956, onwards the ''Admiral'' operated as a local, making more intermediate stops with a longer overall running time. The westbound train ended altogether in 1958. The remaining eastbound ''Admiral'' lost its dining car in 1966 and the last of its sleeping cars in 1967, leaving it with mail and express cars, coaches and a snack bar. The eastbound ''Admiral'' remained after the merger of the Pennsylvania with the

New York Central Railroad The New York Central Railroad was a railroad primarily operating in the Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The railroad primarily connected greater New York and Boston in the east with Chicago and St. Louis in the Mi ...

as the

and the train was discontinued on the formation of

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous U.S. States and nine cities in Canada ...

on May 1, 1971.

References

{{PC named trains Night trains of the United States Railway services introduced in 1941 Passenger trains of the Pennsylvania Railroad Named passenger trains of the United States Railway services discontinued in 1971 Railway services introduced in 1940 Railway services discontinued in 1941 Passenger rail transportation in Pennsylvania Passenger rail transportation in New York (state) Passenger rail transportation in New Jersey Passenger rail transportation in Ohio Passenger rail transportation in Indiana Passenger rail transportation in Illinois