Nostalgia & History > More from #40's Dutch Door in the Mid-70's

Here are another series of pictures I took from the eastbound Broadway Limited sometime in the mid to late 1970's. The first three are some random shots along the line leading into Harrisburg. Remember when we could still ship cars without protective cover?

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Susquehanna River looking downstream toward Harrisburg. Overtaking an eastbound freight with a caboose. And, a couple of hard working engines headed west.

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Heading onto the bridge leading into Harrisburg, looking upstream, the tail-end clearing the bridge with a switcher headed west.

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Arriving in Harrisburg, soon to be power, and heading east to Philadelphia. Enjoy!

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Another nice set of photos. These would not have been taken any sooner than April 1976 as evidenced by the Conrail units in your photos. I am still guessing 1977 or 1978 as SDP40Fs were assigned to the Broadway Limited in 1976 although they were also used with E-units.

Great shots. Reminds me of riding the Broadway in June 78 as a teenager, spent a lot of time in the vestibule. I recall being delayed a couple hours somewhere west of Harrisburg with a broken wheel on the baggage car. Of course that was fine with me as it extended the trip and I got to see a parade of CR trains go by. Too bad I only had a cheap 110 camera.

What is that horn on top of the electrical / signal box (Photo #8) used for??



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/24/12 23:44 by coach.

coach Wrote:
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> What is that horn on top of the electrical /
> signal box (Photo #8) used for??

That is the interlocking "Whistle" used by the operator to signal men in the interlocking or stop a train. The only place that I know that still uses the interlocking whistle for signalling people is K tower in Washington.

One long blast meant stop all movements within the interlocking.
two short resume movement
three short horn test
four short Signal maintainer must call operator
five short ET employee must call operator
six short trackman must call operator

Great photos. Thanks very much for posting them.

Pictures 1 and 2 show there's a baggage car on the head end.

The picture of the rear of the coming off of Rockville Bridge on the east end of the bridge shows two baggage cars on the rear, and the picture of the train arriving Philadelphia shows no bags/mail on the head end.

Was this when the train was still splitting at Harrisburg? Perhaps the New York section was operating via the New York & Pittsburgh tunnel, not stopping at 30th St Station, while the Washington section was used to service 30th St, Wilmington, Baltimore and Washington.

But I thought that they switched the train at Harrisburg, moving baggage cars between trains. These photos, though, make it look like the Chicago-Washington baggage and mail cars operated on the rear all the way from Chicago to Washington.

Anyone else have any thoughts or recollections on this?

They definitely did all the switching in Harrisburg and the train was split there. I don't recall what all was involved, but when it left harrisburg it went to Washington and the rest of the train to NYC>

On the Rockville Bridge shot, I see at least eight cars in front of the lounge car - likely five-six coaches and two slumbercoahces. Behind the lounge is the twin unit diner and a sleeper lounge, followed by sleeping cars, where you are standing for the picture.