The ''Erie Limited'' was a

streamlined Streamlines, streaklines and pathlines are field lines in a fluid flow. They differ only when the flow changes with time, that is, when the flow is not steady. Considering a velocity vector field in three-dimensional space in the framework of ...

passenger train operated by the

Erie Railroad The Erie Railroad was a railroad that operated in the northeastern United States, originally connecting New York City — more specifically Jersey City, New Jersey, where Erie's Pavonia Terminal, long demolished, used to stand — with Lake Er ...

between Jersey City, New Jersey (for

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

) and

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockf ...

via the Southern Tier. It operated from 1929 to 1963. After the merger of the Erie and the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad (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 Phoebe Snow (born Phoebe Ann Laub; July 17, 1950 – April 26, 2011) was an American roots music singer-songwriter and guitarist, known for her hit 1974 and 1975 songs " San Francisco Bay Blues", " Poetry Man", "Harpo's Blues", and her credited ...

'' replaced it in 1963.

History

The ''Erie Limited'' debuted on June 2, 1929, replacing the '' Southern Tier Express'', which had run between Jersey City and

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from Sou ...

. 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. The primary competitors to the ''Erie Limited'' were the

New York Central Railroad The New York Central Railroad was a railroad primarily operating in the Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The railroad primarily connected greater New York and Boston in the east with Chicago and St. Louis in the Mid ...

's ''

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 ...

'' and the Pennsylvania Railroad's ''

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

''. 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 Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacent Del ...

and Susquehanna river valleys" in daylight. Erie began offering packaged tours in the early 1930s as the Great Depression curtailed patronage. One such was the "3-way tours" announced in 1930, which involved a combination of bus, train, and steamship travel. The Erie offered a "Six Day All Expense Personally Conducted" tour for , originating from

Pavonia Terminal Pavonia Terminal was the Erie Railroad terminal on the Hudson River situated on the landfilled Harsimus Cove in Jersey City, New Jersey. The station opened in 1861 and closed in 1958 when the Erie Railroad moved its passenger services to nearby ...

in Jersey City, which included a tour of the

Finger Lakes The Finger Lakes are a group of eleven long, narrow, roughly north–south lakes located south of Lake Ontario in an area called the ''Finger Lakes region'' in New York, in the United States. This region straddles the northern and transitional ...

area, a steamship journey to

Alexandria Bay, New York Alexandria Bay is a village in Jefferson County, New York, United States, within the town of Alexandria. It is located in the Thousand Islands region of northern New York. The population of the village was 1,078 at the 2010 United States Census. I ...

in the

Thousand Islands The Thousand Islands (french: Mille-Îles) constitute a North American archipelago of 1,864 islands that straddles the Canada–US border in the Saint Lawrence River as it emerges from the northeast corner of Lake Ontario. They stretch for abo ...

, a tour of Toronto, and trip across

Niagara Falls Niagara Falls () is a group of three waterfalls at the southern end of Niagara Gorge, spanning the border between the province of Ontario in Canada and the state of New York in the United States. The largest of the three is Horseshoe Fall ...

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, fly to

Detroit, Michigan Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at ...

, take a steamship to

, tour

, 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, 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 ''

'' 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 Youngstown is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio, and the largest city and county seat of Mahoning County. At the 2020 census, Youngstown had a city population of 60,068. It is a principal city of the Youngstown–Warren metropolitan area, whi ...

. 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 cars, coaches, a dining car, 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

roomette A roomette is a type of sleeping car compartment in a railroad passenger train. The term was first used in North America, and was later carried over into Australia and New Zealand. Roomette rooms are relatively small, and were originally g ...

s, and four double bedrooms. One ran on each train. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

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

in Jersey City and Chicago's

Dearborn Station Dearborn Station (also referred to as Polk Street Depot) was, beginning in the late 1800s, one of six intercity train stations serving downtown Chicago, Illinois. It remained in operation until May 1, 1971. Built in 1883, it is located at ...

. From Jersey City passengers traveled to

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

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 ...

or the

Pavonia Ferry The Pavonia Ferry was a ferry service on the North River (Hudson River), Hudson River which conveyed passengers between New York City and Jersey City. It was launched in 1854. It was sold to the Pavonia Ferry Company of Jersey City for what was co ...

. Major stops included Binghamton, New York and

Akron, Ohio Akron () is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Summit County. It is located on the western edge of the Glaciated Allegheny Plateau, about south of downtown Cleveland. As of the 2020 Census, the city prop ...

(

Union Station A union station (also known as a union terminal, a joint station in Europe, and a joint-use station in Japan) is a railway station at which the tracks and facilities are shared by two or more separate railway companies, allowing passengers to ...

). In 1956 the eastern terminal shifted to the DL&W's

Hoboken Terminal Hoboken Terminal is a commuter-oriented intermodal passenger station in Hoboken, Hudson County, New Jersey. One of the New York metropolitan area's major transportation hubs, it is served by nine NJ Transit (NJT) commuter rail lines, one Metr ...

. For a short period in 1961–1963 the train used the ex-Lackawanna line between Hoboken and Binghamton.

Notes

References

* * * * *

External links

1951 timetable
{{EL named trains Night trains of the United States Passenger rail transportation in Illinois Passenger rail transportation in Indiana Passenger rail transportation in New Jersey Passenger rail transportation in New York (state) Passenger rail transportation in Ohio Passenger rail transportation in Pennsylvania Passenger trains of the Erie Railroad Passenger trains of the Erie Lackawanna Railway Named passenger trains of the United States Railway services introduced in 1929 Railway services discontinued in 1963