Broadway Limited

The Broadway Limited in the early 1920s.

Broadway Limited
0 mi 0 km New York New York New Jersey 10.0 mi 16.1 km Newark New Jersey Pennsylvania 85.9 mi 138.2 km North Philadelphia 111.4 mi 179.3 km Paoli 194.6 mi 313.2 km Harrisburg 325.4 mi 523.7 km Altoona 439.3 mi 707 km Pittsburgh Pennsylvania Ohio 628.1 mi 1010.8 km Crestline Ohio Indiana 759.7 mi 1222.6 km Fort Wayne Indiana Illinois 900.7 mi 1449.5 km Englewood 907.7 mi 1460.8 km Chicago Union Station

The Pennsylvania Special was one of nine express trains the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) operated between New York City and Chicago. On November 14, 1912, PRR renamed it the Broadway Limited, to avoid confusion with the similarly-named Pennsylvania Limited. The name, though spelled as "Broadway", honored PRR's four-track "broad way" main line.[1] In the heavyweight era the Broadway Limited was an extra-fare, all sleeper (no coach service) train with an open-platform observation car at the end, such as Continental Hall and Washington Hall.[2] The scheduled running time was 20 hours until it was reduced to 18 hours in 1932. Further reductions took place between 1932 and 1935, with the final heavyweight running time at 16 hours, 30 minutes.[3]

On June 15, 1938, the Broadway Limited received lightweight streamlined cars to replace its heavyweight steel cars; on the same day rival New York Central Railroad's (NYC) 20th Century Limited was streamlined.[4] Raymond Loewy styled the new cars and the PRR GG1 electric locomotive as well as some streamlined steam locomotives for PRR, notably the S1 and T1 Duplex drive engines. The Broadway Limited was one of four pre-World War II PRR trains to receive such equipment; the others being the General (New York–Chicago), Spirit of St. Louis (New York–St. Louis), and Liberty Limited (Washington–Chicago). Other PRR trains continued to use heavyweight cars until after the end of World War II. Most of the 1938 cars were built new by Pullman-Standard between March and May of that year, but the diners, RPO and baggage cars were rebuilt from heavyweight cars by the railroad's Altoona shops. The Broadway Limited was the only PRR train to be completely re-equipped with lightweight sleeping cars before World War II.[5] The train's running time was further reduced to 16 hours.[6]

Equipment and services on the Broadway Limited in the 1920s.

In 1949 PRR again re-equipped the Broadway Limited with new streamlined equipment. The all-sleeper train carried compartments, bedrooms, duplex rooms, roomettes for a single occupant and drawing rooms for three persons. The buffet-lounge-observation cars built by Pullman Standard were named Mountain View and Tower View. They had squared-off observation ends, instead of the tapered or rounded ends in the 1938 version, and contained two master rooms with radio and showers.[7]

The Broadway Limited 1928

Also introduced was a twin-unit dining car and a mid-train lounge car, such as Harbor Rest, described by a PRR brochure as "cheerful, spacious ... richly appointed for leisure with deep, soft carpets ... latest periodicals are in the libraries."[8][9] The February 1956 Official Guide listed the westbound Broadway Limited (Train 29) consist as having fourteen cars normally assigned: nine sleeping cars between New York and Chicago, one additional sleeping car from New York continuing through to Los Angeles on the Santa Fe's Super Chief, the twin-unit dining car, lounge car, and observation car. The train departed New York at 6:00 p.m. Eastern Time and arrived at Chicago the following morning at 9:00 a.m. Central Time.[10]

The Broadway Limited was not immune to the decline in passenger rail transport, though it resisted longer than most. The competitor 20th Century Limited began carrying coaches in 1957.[11] The PRR in October 1957 eliminated the train's transcontinental sleeping cars connecting with the original California Zephyr and the Santa Fe's Super Chief. Factors in the termination were declining ridership, and in the case of the Super Chief the time-consuming transfer of a sleeping car between Union Station, which the PRR used, and Dearborn Station, which the Santa Fe used.[12] In late 1967, when the Illinois Central Railroad's Panama Limited also began carrying coaches, the Broadway Limited became the last "all-Pullman" train in the United States, a distinction that did not last long.[13] PRR merged the Broadway Limited with the General on December 13, 1967. The train was one of the few long-distance trains to survive the merger of PRR and NYC into the Penn Central (PC).[14] Also, the train began stopping at some smaller cities it had bypassed until then.[15]

Amtrak Broadway Limited
0 mi 0 km New York NY NJ 10 mi 16 km Newark Penn 58 mi 93 km Trenton NJ PA North Philadelphia Bypasssed 1980 91 mi 146 km Philadelphia 110 mi 177 km Paoli 158 mi 254 km Lancaster 195 mi 314 km Harrisburg 256 mi 412 km Lewistown 293 mi 472 km Huntingdon 327 mi 526 km Altoona 366 mi 589 km Johnstown 413 mi 665 km Greensburg 444 mi 715 km Pittsburgh PA OH pre-1990 route 518 mi 834 km Youngstown 571 mi 919 km Akron Canton–Akron Crestline Lima 682 mi 1098 km Fostoria OH IN 772 mi 1242 km Garrett Fort Wayne Warsaw 817 mi 1315 km Nappanee Valparaiso Gary Bypasssed 1979 900 mi 1448 km Hammond–Whiting IN IL 915 mi 1473 km Chicago

Amtrak's incorporators selected the Broadway Limited as the new company's sole New York–Chicago route. Amtrak's Broadway Limited had a Washington, D.C. section east of Harrisburg that used the Port Road Branch.[16] Amtrak refurbished the train in 1972, but the improvements did not persist. Author George H. Drury was critical in a 1974 Trains article: "In May 1972... [t]he train was as fresh and new as a spring bride. In December 1973 the Broadway looked as though Amtrak had found a mistress elsewhere."[17] In the 1970s, the Broadway Limited experienced chronic lateness due to poor track conditions in the Midwest. The route changed in 1979 when PC successor Conrail abandoned trackage west of Youngstown, Ohio. These changes included:[18]

• A minor re-route over the ex-New York Central in Gary, Indiana in 1979.
• A major re-route over the ex-Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O) in Indiana and Ohio, due to Conrail's desire to abandon part of the former Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago Railway. This change took effect on November 10, 1990. This resulted in Fort Wayne, Indiana losing service; a new station was built 25 miles (40 km) to the north in Waterloo, and was used by Amtrak's Capitol Limited.[19] The new Broadway Limited route also resulted in the restoration of service to Akron, Ohio and Youngstown, Ohio.[20]

Amtrak ultimately discontinued the Broadway Limited on September 10, 1995, in the face of significant funding problems. The Broadway Limited then earned $6.6 million against costs of $24 million. Amtrak replaced it with the all-coach Three Rivers, which would in turn be discontinued in 2005.[21]

The Broadway Limited at Fort Wayne, Indiana in 1974.