The ''Xplorer'', or ''Ohio Xplorer'', was a named train of 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 ...

(NYC) that traveled between

Cleveland 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. ...

and

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

, Ohio. Although the railroad first announced the train in its April 29, 1956, timetable, that timetable did not contain its schedule. The train entered revenue service on June 3, 1956.

Equipment

The Pullman-Standard Car Manufacturing Company constructed the train's

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 ...

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Co ...

es to its lightweight Train-X design. A Baldwin RP-210

diesel-hydraulic locomotive A diesel locomotive is a type of railway locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engine. Several types of diesel locomotives have been developed, differing mainly in the means by which mechanical power is conveyed to the driving wheels ...

pulled the train's

consist In rail transport, a train (from Old French , from Latin , "to pull, to draw") is a series of connected vehicles that run along a railway track and transport people or freight. Trains are typically pulled or pushed by locomotives (often know ...

. The train contained the locomotive and nine short all-

aluminum Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. It ha ...

coaches that were

articulated An articulated vehicle is a vehicle which has a permanent or semi-permanent pivot joint in its construction, allowing it to turn more sharply. There are many kinds, from heavy equipment to buses, trams and trains. Steam locomotives were sometim ...

together. The center car had two axles (one at each end), with the remaining cars having a single axle each, being supported by adjacent cars at the end opposite the axle. The ride was rough, as with most of the other lightweight trains of the period, and the train was not a success.

Operations

The NYC's July 15, 1956, timetable was the first to contain the train's schedule. The train, numbered 421 southwest-bound and 422 northeast-bound on the timetable, was an attempt by the New York Central to modernize intrastate rail travel in

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

and lure people out of their cars. The train made its last run on August 17, 1957, after less than 15 months of operations. As a result, the train's name (''Ohio-Xplorer'' or ''Xplorer'') did not appear on the railroad's October 27, 1957, timetable. The equipment was retired in 1960, and was sold to Jones Tours for excursion service. After a long period of storage in South Carolina, the train and locomotive were scrapped around 1970.

Notes

References

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External links

Xplorer engine 1956Xplorer Stewardess 1956Xplorer Columbus 1956Xplorer rear of trainXplorer car connectionXplorer Locomotive data display 1956
{{Pullman rolling stock Passenger trains of the New York Central Railroad Transportation in Cleveland Transportation in Ohio Vehicles introduced in 1956 Articulated passenger trains North American streamliner trains Named passenger trains of the United States

Equipment

Operations

See also

Notes

References

External links