It's hard to believe all those "heritage fleet" cars were still around into the early 80's.
Hopefully, a bunch managed to be preserved by museums and private owners allowing
them to be used on future charters - sure would be nice to see a matched streamlined
consist put back together. Nice shot, John. Looks like a photo from Penn Central days.
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If you look closely, underneath the numbers on the locomotive the words "N.J. Dept. of Transportation" appear. Also, on the sides of the coaches there are circular emblems with arrows that were the agency's logo. This was before the formation of NJ Transit. Hence the operator of this train was the N.J. DOT, and most likely it was bound for Bay Head Junction.
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| Posted by Joe Pusey on December 22, 2006 | |
Heritage fleet cars are still around, albeit on borrowed time. All of the diners Amtrak uses on eastern low-level long distance trains date from the 1950s and are still going strong. With the "Improvised Dining Service" on the way, the end may be near for these cars. The dorm lounges (former 10-6 sleepers) are dying a painful death, with their demise revenue sleeping car space is being used by crew. And last but not least, and probably the last to go off the roster, are the baggage cars. Nearly every long distance train on Amtrak is equipped with one of these! These cars' histories are fascinating, and it will be a shame when Amtrak rosters no Heritage equipment!
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| Posted by Nikko P on December 22, 2006 | |
Those Amtrak diners are still operating reliably. I'm hoping they will be transfered to other trains after the food service downgrading is finished. So if this train wasn't being run by Amtrak or NJ Transit...what exactly was NJDOT doing with the train? Is there any info about this service?
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| Posted by SeaSprinter on December 23, 2006 | |
NJ DOT owned the equipment, commuter service on the North Jersey Coast Line was operated by Conrail under contract to NJ DOT in the pre-NJT days.
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Mr. Simon is correct, I will change this in the info to NJDOT train, there are more trains from NJDOT to upload from that day. Thanks for your catch.
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What prideful and beautiful "she" is!
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