My father in law was telling me about the B&O royal blue passenger train he would ride to work when he lived in the Philly area. He said the coaches were a beautiful blue with streamline steam locomotives. From the little info I can find online, it appears this train ran from Washington DC to NYC over the B&O, Reading & New York Central switching locomotives as it changed railroads. I am looking for more info on this train as I would like to make this train for his next birthday. Any help in locating more info will be appreciated.
Sounds like what he described was the "Improved Royal Blue" hich began service on April 25, 1937. It was an eight car streamliner made from standard heavyweights that were reworked at the Mt. Clare shops. The train was made up of a baggage-coach combine, three coaches, a coach-buffet car, a diner-lunch counter car, a parlor car, and a blunt end lounge-observation car. The steam engine was a P-7 Pacific no. 5304 with a streamline shroud. Here's a website with some info: The Baltimore Ohio Railroad in New Jersey
Take a look at George Elwood's site. He has some good ones of B&O 5304. http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/bo/bo-s5304.jpg
Here is a copy of the picture I have found of this train. The info you have added seems to pointing me in the correct direction. I wonder why this train never reached the "famous" status as others.
I wish for a time machine! Just to watch this train rush past me once. Wouldn't that be something special? Boxcab E50
I think it never made the famous status because it didn't last very long. The loco lost it's streamlining in 1940. It is a beautiful loco and train set. The loco was then was rebuilt in another streamline form for the Cincinnatian along with 3 other loco's in 1947. The Cincinnatian lasted from 47-50 in a DC to Cincinnati route, then was switched to Cincinnati to Detorit and was steam powered till 56-57.
This may not bear directly on the Royal Blue. It is also kind of a cross post to O gauge. Anyway, Dwight Eisenhower toured the U.S. in his 1952 campaign via train. I believe he had some close links to the B&O. Anyway, I came upon a nice Lionel set of passenger cars featuring a "campaign" observation car complete with bunting and Ike's name. The questions is, what was the power? Also, were the cars part of Royal Blue? I ran across a great picture from the presidential museum from somewhere in the midwest where they were having all sorts of trouble turning the train on the Y. It seemed to show an ALCO. I have spent more time on this than I have and I am not sure if it was steam, one of the Presidents, the streamlined version (beautiful pictures in this thread) or diesel (P-7, that strange box end job? ALCO)?
To more directly address the original post, as far as I know no HO model of the streamlined B&O Royal Blue locomotive is currently available other than in brass. For a time (maybe around 1990?) a very limited production shell or craftsman kit did appeared on the market but I don't recall it being offered for very long. American Flyer did a rough approximation of the locomotive in S scale half a century ago and even earlier Varney offered a kit for a loco resembling the Royal Blue. NYW&B
John, I can't answer your questions, but would like to welcome you to Trainboard. Someone should know the answers. :tb-biggrin:
The event where they had difficulty turning the train happened in Jackson Michigan on October 1st, 1952. Apparently because of scheduling, the Michigan Central crews only had 45 minutes to turn the train around using the wye in the yard - plus they had to service the train (cleaning, adding ice, changing crew). From pictures I remember seeing, I would bet that while Ike toured here in Michigan, the power for the train was either E7's or E8's - and I think it was a New York Central train...
As a small child I remember having an S guage Royal Blue engine produced by A C Gilbert in their Amaerican Flyer line of model trains. That was back in the early 50's.
AF Royal Blue and Bullet Nosed Streamlining MM116: You are right on. It was not a high end trainset, but was more faithful (as were most AF 'S' scale stuff) to the real thing, than LIONEL or other toy offerings of bullet nosed streamlined locos. LIONEL also made some bathtub streamlined versions of "Commodore Vanderbilt" in 'O' tinplate. There were early standard gauge tinplate streamliners, but I am not knowledgeable in these areas beyond remembered sightings. The Pennsy, ATSF, and CN in the real world, along with other B&O design offerings, mentioned in earlier posts, were the best of these - if you prefer clean lines and lack of clutter. The L&N, Southern, and some others had cluttered, downright ugly efforts to employ bullet nosed designs that count as failures. The DL&W , along with the NYC used the sheet metal to produce Art Deco units... which are not to everyone's taste, secondary to a lack of appeal by the mechanistic nature of these types of designs to people having a desire for more humane elements within their industrial designs. Interestingly, the ability of the NYC to keep their passenger locos clean in public, because they had so many (NYC ran more passenger trains than any other North American carrier), played a role in the public's admiration or acceptance of Dreyfus designs, as an example. It also worked against carriers like the the Lackawanna , which had a tough time in the cold and snowy winters across there territory, keeping their limited pool of streamlined deco locos clean of soot and water streaked dirt . Some designs based upon the bullet nosed approach, that were relatively mediocre versions, from a design aesthetic (since they convey uncertainty rather than seize a positive direction), achieved great fame by outlasting all the alternatives. So the last men stand- ing, if you will, achieved fame and became beloved icons, even with anachronistic spoked pilot wheels that were jarring notes in presenting a modern moment. Even then - there are curiosities, for if you encountered their 'K's as well as the 'Js' , it is pretty clear the former were a more successful packaging effort. I believe some of this was due to the 70inch drivers on the larger locos detracted from the overall effect. Having offended the legions of their fans, I suppose it is times to go. So I will close wishing all a merry Christmas, and Good-Luck in your endeavors, PJB
