passenger train
A passenger train is a train used to transport people along a railroad line. These trains may consist of unpowered passenger railroad cars (also known as coaches or carriages) hauled by one or more locomotives, or may be self-propelled; self pr ...
Southern Tier
The Southern Tier is a geographic subregion of the broader Upstate New York region of New York State, consisting of counties west of the Catskill Mountains in Delaware County and geographically situated along or very near the northern border ...
. It operated from 1929 to 1963. After the merger of the Erie and the
Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad
The Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad (also known as the DL&W or Lackawanna Railroad) was a U.S. Class 1 railroad that connected Buffalo, New York, and Hoboken, New Jersey (and by ferry with New York City), a distance of . Incorporated in ...
(DL&W) in 1960 it was known as the ''Erie-Lackawanna Limited''. Once the premier passenger train on the Erie, repeated service reductions in the 1950s and 1960s left it a shell of its former self. The '' Phoebe Snow'' replaced it in 1963.
History
The ''Erie Limited'' debuted on June 2, 1929, replacing the ''
Southern Tier Express
Southern may refer to:
Businesses
* China Southern Airlines, airline based in Guangzhou, China
* Southern Airways, defunct US airline
* Southern Air, air cargo transportation company based in Norwalk, Connecticut, US
* Southern Airways Express ...
'', which had run between Jersey City and Buffalo, New York. The new service joined two other Jersey City–Chicago trains: the ''Atlantic Express''/''Pacific Express'' and ''Chicago Express''/''New York Express''. The train included a Buffalo section with parlor and buffet service which split at
Hornell, New York
Hornell is a Administrative divisions of New York#City, city in Steuben County, New York, Steuben County, New York (state), New York, United States. The population was 8,259 at the 2020 census. The city is named after the Hornell family, early set ...
20th Century Limited
The ''20th Century Limited'' was an express passenger train on the New York Central Railroad (NYC) from 1902 to 1967. The train traveled between Grand Central Terminal in New York City and LaSalle Street Station in Chicago, Illinois, along th ...
'' and 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 ...
's '' Broadway Limited''. Both trains were well-established on the New York–Chicago run and enjoyed several advantages over the Erie Limited: direct access to Manhattan, faster running times (16 hours versus 24), and more luxurious accommodations. The Erie eschewed competition on these fronts and scheduled the ''Erie Limited'' for a morning departure from Jersey City so that it traversed the "spectacular.. Delaware and Susquehanna river valleys" in daylight.
Erie began offering packaged tours in the early 1930s as the
Great Depression
The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
curtailed patronage. One such was the "3-way tours" announced in 1930, which involved a combination of bus, train, and
steamship
A steamship, often referred to as a steamer, is a type of steam-powered vessel, typically ocean-faring and seaworthy, that is propelled by one or more steam engines that typically move (turn) propellers or paddlewheels. The first steamships ...
travel. The Erie offered a "Six Day All Expense Personally Conducted" tour for , originating from Pavonia Terminal in Jersey City, which included a tour of the Finger Lakes area, a steamship journey to Alexandria Bay, New York in the Thousand Islands, a tour of Toronto, and trip across Niagara Falls via the Great Gorge Route. The Erie later expanded these tours to "4-way", adding air travel to the mix. Passengers would take the ''Chicago Express'' to
Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...
, fly to Detroit, Michigan, take a steamship to Buffalo, New York, tour Niagara Falls, then return to New York on the ''Erie Limited''. All this still in six days, and at "moderate" price.
The Erie discontinued the Buffalo section on February 12, 1951. The train continued running after the Erie's 1960 merger with the
Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad
The Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad (also known as the DL&W or Lackawanna Railroad) was a U.S. Class 1 railroad that connected Buffalo, New York, and Hoboken, New Jersey (and by ferry with New York City), a distance of . Incorporated in ...
, but was renamed the ''Erie-Lackawanna Limited'' in January 1961. The train was re-routed over the Lackwanna's line between Hoboken and Binghamton and combined with the '' Phoebe Snow'' between Hoboken and Elmira. This change, carried out on April 30, 1961, proved short-lived. The Erie Lackawanna dropped the ''Phoebe Snow'' name on October 28, 1962, and put the ''Erie-Lackawanna Limited'' back on the ex-Erie route. By 1963 sleeping cars ran between Chicago and Binghamton only, although coaches continued to run through to the East Coast.
Cutbacks continued through 1963: sleeping car service now ended at Hornell, while the diner-lounge ran between Hoboken and Youngstown, Ohio. The final blow came with the arrival of a new president of the Erie Lackawanna, William H. White. Although favorably disposed to passenger service, White had served as president of the Lackawanna from 1941–1952. White upgraded the ''Erie-Lackawanna Limited'' with a tavern-lounge car and restored through sleeping car service, but he also ordered it renamed the ''Phoebe Snow'', effective October 27, 1963.
Equipment
In its original incarnation the ''Erie Limited'' had Pullman
sleeping car
The sleeping car or sleeper (often ) is a railway passenger car (rail), passenger car that can accommodate all passengers in beds of one kind or another, for the purpose of sleeping. George Pullman was the American innovator of the sleeper car.
...
s, coaches, a
dining car
A dining car (American English) or a restaurant car (British English), also a diner, is a railroad passenger car that serves meals in the manner of a full-service, sit-down restaurant.
It is distinct from other railroad food service cars that ...
, and a club-lounge. All the equipment was heavyweight. The Erie acquired four American series sleeping cars from Pullman-Standard in 1942. These lightweight cars had six sections, six roomettes, and four double bedrooms. One ran on each train. After World War II the Erie acquired seven more lightweight sleepers from Pullman-Standard, each with ten roomettes and six double bedrooms. The ''Erie Limited'' was assigned three of the sleepers: one in each direction between New York and Chicago, and one on the westbound ''Erie Limited'' between Akron and Chicago which returned on the '' Atlantic Express''.
Route
The ''Erie Limited'' used the Erie's main line between the Pavonia Terminal in Jersey City and Chicago's Dearborn Station. From Jersey City passengers traveled to Manhattan via
bus
A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a road vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van. It is most commonly used in public transport, but is also in use for cha ...
Binghamton, New York
Binghamton () is a city in the U.S. state of New York, and serves as the county seat of Broome County. Surrounded by rolling hills, it lies in the state's Southern Tier region near the Pennsylvania border, in a bowl-shaped valley at the conflue ...
and Akron, Ohio ( Union Station). In 1956 the eastern terminal shifted to the DL&W's Hoboken Terminal. For a short period in 1961–1963 the train used the ex-Lackawanna line between Hoboken and Binghamton.