Talk:Royal Blue (B&O train)

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[edit] 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)

[edit] 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)

[edit] 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)

[edit] 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)

[edit] Congratulations on Main Page

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

[edit] 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)