Talk:Royal Blue (train)

Article created

• Just created this new article about the notable Royal Blue trains of the B&O Railroad. JGHowes ^talk - 17:20, 24 October 2007 (UTC)

update: I've added additional images of the Royal Blue from 1898 and 1937; the latter is shown with both diesel and steam power, the P7a Pacific #5304 steam engine in its first Otto Kuhler streamlining of 1937–1939. Also, a recent photo of American Flyer's S-guage model made in the early 1950s. I also have a free-license image of the Lord Baltimore steam locomotive posed at the 1939 NY World's Fair with the iconic trylon and perisphere in the background, but have omitted it because any more images would overload this article, I'm afraid.JGHowes ^talk - 19:43, 17 December 2007 (UTC)

Royal Blue Line

As mentioned in the article Lead, Harwood states that the B&O collectively referred to its Washington–New York passenger service as the "Royal Blue Line", at first calling the premier train on the route the "Royal Limited" and then calling the trains "Royal Blues". Later, after omitting the term during WWI, only one of the eight NY-Wash. trains was called the "Royal Blue" and the rest had separate names, e.g., "Marylander", "Diplomat", etc. Kind of like the C&NW "400" trains. JGHowes ^talk - 15:05, 29 February 2008 (UTC)

Electrification

As best I can tell from other pages the only part of the Royal Blue that was electrified was a long tunnel. Does this warrant the statement that: "The B&O's use of electrification instead of steam power on the Royal Blue, beginning in 1895, marked the first use of electric locomotives by an American railroad and presaged the dawn of practical alternatives to steam power in the 20th century." Specifically, I don't know that the phrase "on the Royal Blue" feels true. As far as I know the electric locomotives moved ALL trains through this tunnel, and electrification is only tangetially related to the Royal Blue trains themselves. Paulc206 (talk) 04:32, 15 May 2008 (UTC)

I've clarified the sentence to say Royal Blue Line trains. Prior to construction of the Baltimore Belt Line (which gives more details on the electrification project), B&O used carfloats to get freight across Baltimore harbor. While that was somewhat satisfactory for freight, the tunnel was essential for B&O to resume its Washington-NY passenger service in the 1890s when their erstwhile PW&B RR connection was lost. Once the tunnel was completed, it was used by both passenger and freight trains. JGHowes ^talk - 09:09, 15 May 2008 (UTC)

Images

I've swapped the "Royal Blue" and #51 pictures as the former picture doesn't properly belong in the section in which it was placed (by that period the engine in question had been re-shrouded and moved to the Cincinnatian). It's not ideal to use #51 for the '50s, but it is more representative of equipment in that era. Mangoe (talk) 19:33, 7 March 2008 (UTC)

Congratulations on Main Page

Another collaborative WP job well-done. Mark in Historic Triangle of Virginia (talk) 02:49, 15 May 2008 (UTC)

Trenton stop?

I've removed the mention of a Trenton stop, because it is not shown in either the 1920 or 1956 B&O timetables I have. Harwood says in his book, Royal Blue Line, that when the Reading cut some local train service during the Depression: "Beginning in November 1933, five B&O trains each way were routed over [the Reading's] Jenkintown line...Some B&O trains also stopped at West Trenton, another Reading local point. The Jenkintown detour added time to the B&O runs, and it was ended in April 1935..." (p. 137). JGHowes ^talk - 19:17, 22 May 2008 (UTC)

What other stops still exist?

I saw something about a stop at "Wayne Junction, Pa.". Is this the same Wayne Junction that now serves as a massive SEPTA Regional Rail hub? And what other existing stations were used by this train? ----DanTD (talk) 23:26, 23 March 2009 (UTC)

The B&O's Royal Blue Line used Reading Company rails north of Philadelphia, including the Reading's station in Wayne Jct. As noted above, the B&O used the cut-off and did not go thru Jenkintown except for a brief period in the mid-1930's. Part of the Reading's mainline is now the SEPTA R3 line to West Trenton, so I've added a wikilink in that article to this one. Other than Wayne Jct., B&O's trains did not stop at any other Reading station, going thru West Trenton without stopping and continuing north to Bound Brook, NJ, where the Central RR of NJ took over. JGHowes  ^talk 03:52, 24 March 2009 (UTC)

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Reference notes

• B&O's Royal Blue Makes Its Final Run (col 3) Story continued: (col 1) (Washington Evening Star)

• Royal Blue Line: The Classic B&O Train Between Washington and New York (Herbert H. Harwood Jr., Johns Hopkins University Press)
• Book of the Royal Blue (vol. 1) (Passenger Department, Baltimore and Ohio Railroad)
• Book of the Royal Blue (vol. 12) (Passenger Department, Baltimore and Ohio Railroad)
• Lonesome Whistle Blew for Last Time (Baltimore Sun, May 12, 2008)
• Passenger Train Losing in U.S. (The Canberra Times, January 3,1959)