The ''Daylight Speedliner'' was an American named passenger train of the

Baltimore and Ohio Railroad The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was the first common carrier railroad and the oldest railroad in the United States, with its first section opening in 1830. Merchants from Baltimore, which had benefited to some extent from the construction of ...

(B&O) in the 1950s and early 1960s. Equipped with three or four

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 ...

, self-propelled

Budd Rail Diesel Car The Budd Rail Diesel Car, RDC, Budd car or Buddliner is a self-propelled diesel multiple unit (DMU) railcar. Between 1949 and 1962, 398 RDCs were built by the Budd Company of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. The cars were primarily adop ...

s (RDCs) coupled together, it initially operated between

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

and

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

, via

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

, and

Washington, D. C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, Na ...

, as Trains #21–22. The B&O had been using RDCs in local Baltimore–Washington, D.C., commuter service since 1950. Pleased with their reliability and lower operating costs compared to heavyweight passenger trains drawn by

steam locomotive A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, oil or, rarely, wood) to heat water in the locomot ...

s, the B&O decided in 1955 to replace its money-losing '' Washingtonian'' steam train with RDCs, ordering four RDC-1s with reclining coach seats and two RDC-2s with baggage compartments. The RDC-equipped ''Daylight Speedliner'' entered service on October 28, 1956, and reduced the railroad's operating expenses by almost half, compared to the ''Washingtonian'' train it replaced.Harry Stegmaier, ''Baltimore & Ohio Passenger Service, Vol. 2 – Route of the Capitol Limited''. Lynchburg, Va.: TLC Publishing, 1997 (). After B&O discontinued passenger service north of Baltimore on April 26, 1958, the ''Daylight Speedliner'' operated between Baltimore and Pittsburgh, covering the route on a seven-hour schedule, until its discontinuation on January 21, 1963.

Stations

Schedule and equipment

In 1961, the westbound ''Daylight Speedliner'', operating as B&O's Train # 21, departed Baltimore at 9:00 a.m. and then Washington, D.C., at 10:00 a.m., arriving in Pittsburgh at 4:20 p.m. on the following schedule (principal stops shown in blue):''Baltimore & Ohio Railroad System Time Tables'', April 30, 1961. Unusual for RDCs, the lead RDC-2 car was configured by B&O as a combination

dining car A dining car (American English) or a restaurant car (British English), also a diner, is a railroad passenger car that serves meals in the manner of a full-service, sit-down restaurant. It is distinct from other railroad food service cars that ...

baggage car A passenger railroad car or passenger car (United States), also called a passenger carriage, passenger coach (United Kingdom and International Union of Railways), or passenger bogie (India) is a railroad car that is designed to carry passen ...

/coach ''(pictured)'' offering full meal service, with the addition of a kitchen and six tables, listed in B&O's 1961 time table as a "refreshment diner". Two of these unique cars were built for the service; both survive today. One is on display at the

B&O Railroad Museum The B&O Railroad Museum is a museum and historic railway station exhibiting historic railroad equipment in Baltimore, Maryland. The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O) company originally opened the museum on July 4, 1953, with the name of the Balti ...

in Baltimore, Md; the other is at the

Danbury Railway Museum The Danbury Railway Museum RailincSearch MARKs accessed September 2009 is a railway museum housed in the former Union Station on the east end of downtown Danbury, Connecticut, United States. It was established in the mid-1990s following the clos ...

in Danbury, Conn.

References

{{Infobox B&O Named Trains Named passenger trains of the United States Passenger trains of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Transportation in Baltimore Transportation in Pittsburgh Railway services introduced in 1956 Railway services discontinued in 1963