The ''Clocker'' was a passenger train service between

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

and

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

on the

Northeast Corridor The Northeast Corridor (NEC) is an electrified railroad line in the Northeast megalopolis of the United States. Owned primarily by Amtrak, it runs from Boston in the north to Washington, D.C., in the south, with major stops in Providence, Rhod ...

at first by the

Pennsylvania Railroad The Pennsylvania Railroad ( reporting mark PRR), legal name as 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. At its ...

and later by

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak (; ), is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates intercity rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...

. The service was nicknamed the ''Clocker'' by riders as trains were scheduled to leave each terminal at the top of the hour. The name was eventually adopted into official use by Amtrak in 1981. The service was briefly renamed ''Acela Commuter'' in 1999 before the name reverted to ''Clocker'' in 2003. Amtrak discontinued the service on October 28, 2005, and it was partially replaced by additional NJ Transit express trains between

Trenton, New Jersey Trenton is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of New Jersey and the county seat of Mercer County, New Jersey, Mercer County. It was the federal capital, capital of the United States from November 1 until D ...

, and

at times approximating the ''Clocker'' schedule.

History

Pennsylvania Railroad

The ''Clocker'' was originally a

express train service between New York and Broad Street Station in Philadelphia;; 15 the name was unofficial, and PRR timetables did not use it. Soon after New York Penn Station opened in 1910, the express trains began departing New York and Philadelphia on the hour through the day, giving rise to the Clocker name (which the railroad itself seems never to have used). Until the

electrification Electrification is the process of powering by electricity and, in many contexts, the introduction of such power by changing over from an earlier power source. In the context of history of technology and economic development, electrification refe ...

of the Northeast Corridor in 1933, most ''Clockers'' were scheduled to both leave and arrive on each hour, but faster schedules after electrification eliminated the on the hour arrival. Pennsylvania Railroad cut back on the schedule, and by the time Amtrak took over the nation's passenger rail service on May 1, 1971, the ''Clocker'' service no longer ran hourly.

Amtrak

At the launch of

, the railroad assigned each run an individual name (listed in the table below). Starting with the October 1981 timetable, Amtrak officially adopted the ''Clocker'' name for the service. The trains were unreserved, coach class only, and Amtrak targeted the ''Clocker'' service at commuters travelling to local stops bypassed by the high-speed ''Metroliner'' trains, the ''

Regional In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as areas, zones, lands or territories, are portions of the Earth's surface that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and ...

'' trains, and other named long-distance trains. During the 1990s, NJ Transit started contracting with Amtrak to accept their monthly passes on the ''Clocker'' trains. These two decisions drastically shifted the clientele on the trains. Monthly ticket holders from New Jersey preferred the ''Clocker'' trains over the NJ Transit trains because they were faster and more comfortable, meanwhile, Amtrak's passengers avoided the ''Clocker'' trains because they were slower and frequently crowded. Also, the monthlies meant that few passengers traveled to or from Philadelphia. Until 2002, the 7:59 AM ''Clocker'' from Princeton Junction included a private club car known as Club 200 that members paid up to $1,200 per year to join (). This was the last private club car used in regular commuter service on the Northeast Corridor. When the ''Acela Express'' was introduced in 1999, Amtrak launched what it called the Capstone Program, a short-lived plan to re-brand the '' NortheastDirect'', '' Keystone Service'' and '' Empire Service'' trains as ''Acela Regional'' and the ''Clocker'' trains as ''Acela Commuter''. Following mass rider confusion between this service and the high-speed

Acela Express The ''Acela'' ( ; originally the ''Acela Express'' until September 2019) is Amtrak's flagship passenger train service along the Northeast Corridor (NEC) in the Northeastern megalopolis, Northeastern United States between Washington, D.C. and ...

service, the name reverted to ''Clocker'' in 2003. By the early 2000s, NJ Transit was paying $6 million per year to compensate Amtrak for monthly ticket holders riding Clocker trains, and was loaning Amtrak its new ALP-46 locomotives to haul the trains'

Amfleet Amfleet is a fleet of single-level intercity railroad passenger car (rail), passenger cars built by the Budd Company for American company Amtrak in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Budd based the Amfleet design on its earlier Budd Metroliner, Me ...

coaches. On October 28, 2005, Amtrak discontinued the ''Clocker'' service altogether and sold the Northeast Corridor operating slots to NJ Transit which used them to partially replace the service with additional

Northeast Corridor Line The Northeast Corridor Line is a commuter rail service operated by NJ Transit between the Trenton Transit Center and New York Penn Station on Amtrak's Northeast Corridor in the United States. The service is the successor to Pennsylvania Railroad ...

express trains between Trenton and New York City at times approximating the ''Clocker'' schedule.

Naming

Notes

External links

* {{Former Amtrak routes Former Amtrak routes Railway services introduced in 1971 Railway services discontinued in 2005