Pennsylvania’s Broadway Limited, 1949-1967, first string (Kato) cars

 

Fred Klein, 2010, 2016

The Pennsylvania railroad was the largest in the US by revenue and traffic, and called itself the standard railroad of the world. The PRR made the Broadway Limited its most luxurious train. It ran the New York to Chicago route and carried only first class sleeping cars. The sleepers were all-room cars: cars with Pullman sections shielded by curtains were unpopular and relegated in 1949 to less luxurious trains. The Broadway trains ran overnight, #28 eastbound and #29 westbound. The train was launched in 1912, upgraded with metal heavyweight cars in the 1920s, upgraded again with streamlined lightweight cars in 1938 in the “fleet of modernism” two-toned paint scheme, and upgraded again with a simpler solid Tuscan paint scheme with three pinstripes in March 1949. Because of a court ruling requiring Pullman Company to divest itself of passenger car ownership while servicing them, cars were sold to the railroads and leased back to Pullman for staffing. This meant starting in 1949 that the letter boards carried “Pennsylvania” instead of “Pullman”, and Pullman was in smaller letters at the end of the car.

 

Broadway trains east of Harrisburg were pulled by streamlined GG1 electric locomotives, and by E7 diesels on the un-electrified line west to Chicago. The GG1s were initially painted a dark “brunswick” green with five pinstripes. The paint scheme and other improvements were designed by Richard Loewy. In 1952, 10 of PRRs GG1s were painted in the same Tuscan paint as the cars also with 5 stripes, and a single wide stripe and red keystone appeared on the GG1s starting in the late 1950s. The GG1s had two 4-6-0 wheel arrangements (4 pony wheels, 6 driving wheels) using the letter G in PRR parlance, hence GG1 for the first locomotive of this type. An equivalent designation is 2-C+C-2.

 

The Broadway generally did not carry any lowly, workaday baggage cars to slow the train down at station stops, but did have a railway post office car because of its high revenue. The Broadway generally did not change out and switch cars along the way, but other secondary passenger trains sent and received cars to different cities. In 1967, the Broadway Limited was combined with the General, acquiring its coaches but not its name.

 

The 1949 Broadway Limited posed for a publicity shot by PRR.

 

The Broadway Limited in Chicago, Dec 1965, page 141 of Pennsy Streamliners by Joe Welsh, Kalmbach Books, 1999, John Dziobko photo.

 

The Broadway Limited arriving at Chicago’s Union Station. Photo taken from a postcard.

 

The best source of information on the 1949 Broadway for the modeler is a Model Railroader article by Robert McGonigcal in October 1994. The article contains a nice, sexy foldout of the train. The train is very easy to have in N scale because Kato made the whole train as a prototypical set in a box. The set of Kato cars follows the 1949 consist in the MR article very closely. The consist of sleeping car types did change slightly over the years, and I have a companion page for the 1949-67 Broadway that follows a 1953 consist as closely as I can.

 

The Broadway ran with the vestibules (door end) of the cars facing forward, but I photographed some cars from the opposite side to show the differences. I have another web page next to this one of second string (non Kato) cars that make a decent but not quite prototypical train. Many other reference books exist, a couple of which are listed at the end. Basic information on the Broadway plus relevant links can be found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broadway_Limited.

 

The exact prototype train below is from Harrisburg PA on 5/23/1953 in Wayner’s 1923-1973 consist book and differs slightly from the 1949 Kato consist. I list the exact prototype of the 5/23/1953 consist below. All models are made by Kato and are prototypical.

 

 

 

Power and head end

 

The GG1 electric locomotive is the epitome of streamlined design. It is a Kato model manufactured to coincide with the release of this Kato train. The RPO car is a PRR BM70m prototype with a 60’ RPO section and a 10’ baggage compartment for checked passenger baggage. The RPO is a modernized 1910 era design. The RPO may not have been included on Sundays.

 

Alternate power east of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania

 

Diesel power was used on the non-electrified tracks from Harrisburg to Chicago, such as these E7 diesels. These are Life-like models.

 

First sleeper section

 

The Santa Fe sleeper is a 4 compartment-4 double bedroom-2 drawing room car in the Regal series that ran through Chicago to Los Angeles. From 1946 to 1954 it connected with the Chief, and was transferred to the Super Chief from 1955 to 1957 when it was discontinued. Next are two 21 roomette sleepers (Massillion Inn and Ravenna Inn), made by ACF and Budd in 1948-49. The Kato model is of the Budd car (note the corrugated roof).  The car with staggered windows is the 12 duplex roomette-4 double bedroom sleeper College Creek, built by Pullman Standard in 1949. The next sleepers are in the Imperial series, and are smooth side 1948 4-4-2 cars from ACF. The view of the Imperial Trees car is of the aisle side, but later I show the room side of Imperial Bower with the uneven spacing of the room windows.

 

Lounge and dining section

 

When it is time to socialize and eat, passengers go to the buffet-lounge car Harbor Cove, made by PS in 1948. Harbor cars also had 3 double bedrooms, a secretary’s room and a barber shop. The twin unit diner-kitchen cars had a large diner that sat 68 people. The diner mated with the kitchen car that also housed a pantry and crew dormitory.

 

Second sleeper section

 

After the diner-kitchen cars is another 4-4-2 sleeper, Imperial Bower. The most numerous and popular sleepers in the Broadway are 10 roomette-6 double bedroom cars in the Rapids series. These were supplied by PS in 1948-49 and ACF in 1949-50.  The Broadway carried four Rapids cars except for occasional expansions for peak travel periods. The Kato set has Raccoon Rapids, Schuylkill Rapids, Octoraro Rapids, and Turtle Rapids.

 

More sleepers and observation-lounge

 

The last signature car was always a sleeper-lounge-observation car in the View series. It also had 2 master bedrooms and a double bedroom. Like the Harbor lounge car earlier in the train, the View cars had an antenna for the radio and train phone. The tail sign built into the rear door initially carried a lighted keystone with four tracks (symbolizing the PRR “broad” way of 4 tracks), as shown. It was later replaced with a larger black sign with only the words “Broadway Limited” in white letters.

 

 

References

 

McGonigcal, Robert, The 1949 Broadway Limited, Model Railroader, October 1994.

Rosenbaum, Joel and Tom Gallo, The Broadway Limited, Railpace Company, 1988.

Welsh, Joe, Pennsy Streamliners, Kalmbach Books, 1999.

Welsh, Joe, Pennsylvania Railroad’s Broadway Limited, MBI Books, 2006.

 

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