The ''Liberty Limited'' was a named train on 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 ...

. It ran from

Washington D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

, through

Baltimore Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the 30th-most populous U.S. city. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the 20th-large ...

Harrisburg Harrisburg ( ; ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), U.S. commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat, seat of Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, Dauphin County. With a population of 50, ...

and

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

. It began running on September 27, 1925, as a replacement for the '' Washington–Broadway Limited'', which had been introduced in 1923. It originally was scheduled to complete its route in 19 hours. In June 1938 it became one of the original trains making up the Pennsylvania Railroad's "Fleet of Modernism", using modern streamlined lightweight equipment, along with the ''

General A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air force, air and space forces, marines or naval infantry. In some usages, the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colone ...

'', the ''

Broadway Limited The ''Broadway Limited'' was a passenger train operated by the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) between New York City and Chicago from 1912 to 1995. It was the Pennsylvania's premier train, competing directly with the New York Central Railroad's '' 2 ...

'' and the ''

Spirit of St. Louis The ''Spirit of St. Louis'' (formally the Ryan NYP, registration: N-X-211) is the custom-built, single-engine, single-seat, high-wing monoplane that Charles Lindbergh flew on May 20–21, 1927, on the Charles Lindbergh#New York–Paris flight ...

''. Beside streamlining, its travel time was reduced to 16 hours 25 mins; 30 mins slower than B&O's premier train the Royal Blue. The train consisted of one lounge Car (Drawing-room, three Double Bedrooms, Buffet), a 14 sections heavyweight Pullman sleeper, a 12-5 and a 10-5 lightweight Pullman sleeper, one dining car, one coach with reclining seat which was regularly assigned, an observation car with two master bedrooms, one double bedroom and a buffet lounge. Prime power was

PRR K4s The Pennsylvania Railroad K4 was a class of 425 4-6-2 steam locomotives built between 1914 and 1928 for the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR), where they served as the primary mainline passenger steam locomotives on the entire PRR system until late 19 ...

PRR S1 The PRR S1 class steam locomotive (nicknamed "The Big Engine") was a single experimental duplex locomotive of the Pennsylvania Railroad. It was designed to demonstrate the advantages of duplex drives espoused by Baldwin Chief Engineer Ralph P. ...

#6100, T1s and diesel engines. Its primary competition were the Baltimore & Ohio's ''

Royal Blue Royal blue is a deep and vivid shade of blue. It is said to have been created by a consortium of mills in Rode, Wiltshire (in Somerset as of 1937), which won a competition to make a robe for Queen Charlotte, consort of King George III. I ...

'' and '' Capitol Limited''. It last ran on October 27, 1957, after which its equipment was moved to the Chicago–New York ''General'', which also picked up a leg connecting from Harrisburg to Washington, D.C.

Consist

6100 6-4-4-6 Duplex Steam Engine or PRR K4s 4-6-2 Steam Engine *Baggage-Lounge Car *3 Double Bedrooms, 1 Drawing Room lounge Car *14 Sections Heavyweight Sleeper *12 Duplex Single room, 5 Double Bedroom Lightweight Sleeper *10 Roomette, 5 Double Bedroom Lightweight Sleeper *Dining Car *Reclining Coach *2 Master Bedroom,1 Double Bedroom Buffet Lounge Observation Car

Army-Navy Liberty Limited

In late 2005, Bennet and Vivian Levin organized a commemorative private train dubbed Liberty Limited to take 88 veterans from the Washington Walter Reed Army Medical Center and the Bethesda Naval Hospital to the annual Army-Navy football game in Philadelphia on December 3, 2005. The train was created from Levin's historic private stock and joined with private cars from other supporters. The Army-Navy Liberty Limited run was repeated in later years (2006, 2010). A 2005 Ronnie Polaneczky, Liberty Limited, Philadelphia Daily News story was reprinted in 2015 as a photo blog by Michael Froio. The Army-Navy commemorative train runs were the subject of a 2017 podcast interview with Bennet Levin o
YouTube: Honoring Our Veterans: The Story of the Liberty Limited Special
The 2005 Polaneczky story has been the source of a 'the media never tells' fake news campaign, where the 2005 article is repeated but the game date is changed to a recent year.

Surviving Equipment

Fleet Of Modernism (1938)

* PS Buffet Lounge Observation Plan 4080, #8114 ''FEDERAL VIEW'' Located inside the Trackside Grille (Closed) Quaker Square, Akron, OH.

References

{{PRR named trains Passenger trains of the Pennsylvania Railroad Named passenger trains of the United States Railway services introduced in 1925 Railway services discontinued in 1957