Nostalgia & History > A few pre-Amtrak passenger trains Chicago area mostly

This post has a few minutes of some passenger action around Chicago, pre-Amtrak. I have no info on what trains are shown, and the clips probably aren't in any chronological order. Any info is appreciated, Jim woolford photographer, my collection, KCRW287

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Some awesome clips here!  

Wow!  Very enjoyable, thank you.  Really like the extra-long Denver Zephyr and Rock Island clips.

-John

The good old days !!!

The opening RI scenes are of the morning suburban trains arriving, backing their trains into 12th St. coach yard and
then coming out with the road power to head south to 16th St. or 47th St.

The inbound "NYC" train arriving LaSalle St. with the trailing PRR unit would have been during the brief period between the PC merger and the move of the ex NYC trains to Union Station.
 

Good stuff, Jim!

:^)

Great Material!
What would that giagantic passenger train with 4 CB&Q E's be?
Thanks for posting.
Regards, Jim Evans

FiveChime Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Great Material!
> What would that giagantic passenger train with 4
> CB&Q E's be?
> Thanks for posting.
> Regards, Jim Evans

CB&Q Denver Zephyr arriving from Denver.

Posted from iPhone

Here are my guesses.  The first train is an unknown Rock Island passenger train followed by a light engine move. Next are several Rock Island commuter trains using the 1920s era Al Capone cars. 
The New York Central added Flexi-Vans to several of its passenger trains, so I don't know which one this is.  I'm pretty sure it's not the 20th Century Limited. 
Next up is the B&O Capitol Limited.  The domes give it away. After the B&O light engine move are NYC and RI unknown passenger trains. 
I'm not sure about the C&O train, but again, based on the length of the consist it could be the Pere Marquette.  But that's just a guess. 
The New York Central units are backing into the Pennsylvania Railroad coach yards at Union Station.  Next up is the Denver Zephyr followed by another Rock Island passenger train.  Since I don't see any SP cars in the consist, my WAG is it's the Rocky Mountain Rocket rather than the Golden State or Imperial, 
Following the RI light engine move is the Erie Lackawana Lake Cities departing Dearborn Street Station. It is the former Erie train by the same name.
I can't identify any of the next three B&O or C&O trains. 
After that is either the San Francisco Chief or the Chief departing Dearborn Street Station.   Both trains used the Santa Fe's Big Dome lounge cars.   
And finally, the Grand Trunk Western train also departing Dearborn Street Station with some Erie Lackawana power backing into the station.  Based on the length of the train, my guess is; this is probably the combined GTW/CN thru train that ran to Toronto by way of Port Huron. Also, if you look really close, there is a B&O coach in that train. It's obscured by the locomotives, but the color scheme caught my eye since it's not the typical CN or GT passenger colors.  Some stop frame action is what revealed it to be a B&O coach.  That is extremely unusual.   

I hope this helps
Bob

Superb content. I agree with those who observed that the shorter C&O consistis a Pere Marquette schedule.

Art House

Wow, did that bring back great memories, especially seeing all the B&O and C&O trains.  Thanks so much for sharing this film with all of us.  And yes, that Grand Trunk Train with the B&O Coach was very unusual and my only thought is that they were short on coaches and just borrowed the B&O paired-narrow window heavy weight coach for that trip.
John in White Marsh, Maryland