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Nickel Plate Limited

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Nickel Plate Limited
Overview
Service typeInter-city rail
StatusDiscontinued
LocaleNortheastern United States; Midwestern United States
First service1929
Last service1954
SuccessorCity of Chicago (westbound) / City of Cleveland (eastbound)
Former operator(s)Nickel Plate Road
Norfolk & Western, 1964-1965
Route
TerminiChicago, Illinois
Hoboken, New Jersey; for Buffalo-Hoboken segment: via Delaware, Lackawanna & Western trains
Distance travelled523.8 miles (843.0 km) Chicago-Buffalo; 919.0 miles (1,479.0 km) Chicago-Hoboken
Service frequencyDaily
Train number(s)5 westbound, 6 eastbound
On-board services
Seating arrangementsCoaches
Sleeping arrangementsSections, Roomettes, Double Bedrooms, Single Bedrooms, Drawing Room (1950)
Catering facilitiesDiner lounge
Technical
Track gauge4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)

The Nickel Plate Limited, later known as the City of Cleveland and City of Chicago, was a passenger night train operated by the New York, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad (Nickel Plate) between Chicago and Buffalo, New York via Cleveland, Ohio, with through service to Hoboken, New Jersey (for New York City) via Binghamton and Scranton and the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad for the Buffalo-Hoboken segment.

The Nickel Plate bestowed the name Nickel Plate Limited on an existing (unnamed) Chicago-New York service in April 1929. It was the first named Nickel Plate train since 1906. The Nickel Plate also added Pullman club cars and sleepers to compete with New York Central Railroad service (such as the Forest City) over the same route.[1]: 154  The DL&W's New York Mail handled eastbound through cars between Buffalo and New York while the Phoebe Snow (before 1949, the Lackawanna Limited) handled cars westbound.[2]: 45  Into the train's later years, it would offer the range of sleeper accommodations, from the open sections to the modern roomettes to a drawing room.[3] The Nickel Plate trains would link with the DLW trains at Lackawanna Station in Buffalo.[4]

Successor Train 5, The City of Chicago at Englewood Union Station, on Chicago's South Side, on April 21, 1965

In 1954 the Nickel Plate renamed the train: the westbound train became the City of Chicago while the eastbound train became the City of Cleveland. Through service to Hoboken ended in 1959. Both trains survived the Nickel Plate itself: service ended on September 10, 1965, a year after the Nickel Plate's 1964 merger with the Norfolk and Western Railway. They were the final remnants of the Nickel Plate's passenger service.[2]: 46 

Major stops

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The following are major station stops en route:[5]

References

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  1. ^ Sanders, Craig (2003). Limiteds, Locals, and Expresses in Indiana, 1838–1971. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press. ISBN 978-0-253-34216-4.
  2. ^ a b Schafer, Mike; Welsh, Joe (1997). Classic American Streamliners. Osceola, Wisconsin: MotorBooks International. ISBN 978-0-7603-0377-1.
  3. ^ "New York, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad Company, Condensed through schedules". Official Guide of the Railways. 82 (8). National Railway Publication Company. January 1950.
  4. ^ "Index of Railroad Stations, p 1034". Official Guide of the Railways. 94 (1). National Railway Publication Company. June 1961.
  5. ^ Official Guide of the Railways, December 1951, Nickel Plate section, Table 1
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