| Blue Comet | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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A reproduced sign for former Blue Comet service at Communipaw Terminal in Jersey City |
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| Overview | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Service type | Inter-city rail | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Status | Defunct | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Locale | New Jersey, United States | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| First service | February 21, 1929 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Last service | September 27, 1941 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Former operator(s) | CNJ (1929–1941) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Route | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Start | Jersey City, New Jersey | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| End | Atlantic City, New Jersey | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Average journey time | 3 hours | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Service frequency | varied | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| On-board services | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Seating arrangements | Reserved coach seat | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Catering facilities | Dining car | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Observation facilities | Observation car | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Technical | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Gauge | 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Blue Comet was a named passenger train operated by Central Railroad of New Jersey from 1929 to 1941 between the New York metropolitan area and Atlantic City. Designed by Central Railroad of New Jersey (CNJ) president R.B. White in 1928, this train whisked passengers from Communipaw Terminal in Jersey City to Atlantic City, making the total trip from Manhattan (via ferry to the Jersey City terminal) to Atlantic City in three hours. The Blue Comet would take NY&LB trackage to Red Bank, then follow the Southern Division Main Line to Winslow Junction, where it would travel over the Atlantic City Railroad's tracks to Atlantic City.[1]
The colors chosen for the Blue Comet's locomotive and passenger cars were ultramarine, for the sea, cream, for the sandy coastal beaches, and nickel. The tickets for the train were blue, the dining car chairs were upholstered in blue linen, and the porters were dressed in blue as well. The locomotive was capable of 100 miles per hour, and the railroad claimed the train itself was the first east of the Mississippi to be equipped with roller bearings for easy starting and stopping.[2]
Contents |
There were three factors behind the creation of the Blue Comet:
The Blue Comet would offer extra accommodations at the regular coach fare and have assigned seats so passengers knew exactly where they would sit. The PRR charged extra for its all parlor car Atlantic City Limited and its New York Limited. In addition, the PRR charged extra fees for parlor cars on the Nellie Bly. The Blue Comet ran on schedule 97% of the time for the first five years.[3] A billboard was put up on the Routes 33 and 34 overpass at Farmingdale listing the times the train would pass that area.
Initially, the Blue Comet was a huge success. The first train was on February 21, 1929, as thousands of spectators along the line came to see the new train. However, as the great depression continued, passenger travel on the line continued to plummet. On April 30, 1933, the Blue Comet was reduced to one daily round trip as opposed to the two round trips being run prior. Also that year, the PRR and Reading consolidated their southern New Jersey routes and formed the Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore Lines. An immediate impact was felt on the Blue Comet service. Prior to the merger, the Blue Comet traveled over the friendly Reading's track from Winslow Junction to Atlantic City.[4] After the merger, the PRR owned two-thirds of the trackage. Reports from travelers indicate that Blue Comet information was not readily available at the Atlantic City station. This had the Blue Comet service at a disadvantage, as PRR Atlantic City-New York information was readily available for passengers heading to points north.
Ocean County stops for the Blue Comet included Lakewood and Lakehurst. The Lakewood stop was to pick up and drop off passengers as well as Jolly Tar Trail bus service. The stop at Lakehurst was for people needing a connection for the Barnegat Branch, later replaced by Jolly Tar Trail service during off-peak hours in the early 1930s, and for the locomotives to take on water. For residents of the more isolated sections of the Pine Barrens who did not have radios or electricity, the Blue Comet provided local residents with a goodwill gesture. The Blue Comet crew would drop off newspapers for the residents, allowing them to keep up with the latest news. Showing their appreciation, the residents would bring baskets of freshly picked berries for the crew. Indeed, the Blue Comet had a positive effect on the lives of the people who lived near the tracks.
On August 19, 1939, extraordinarily heavy rains caused a washout at Chatsworth.[5] Though the crew had been informed of a possible washout and reduced the train's speed, the tracks were under too much sand and water and the train derailed.[6] Reports that one hundred people were killed led to a flurry of ambulances from northern parts of the state. Actually, only forty-nine people were on board. Thirty-two were injured and a chef was killed by scalding in the kitchen car, which overturned.[7] The majority of the injuries were minor, resulting from the flying wicker chairs in the observation car. CNJ crews replaced about six hundred feet of damaged track in approximately forty-eight hours.
Eventually, the depression and the PRR's direct access to New York took the life out of the Blue Comet. The train's last run was on September 27, 1941, from Atlantic City to Jersey City. Its main competitor, the Nellie Bly, lasted until 1961.
Three brand new G3 Pacific locomotives were assigned to the train; numbers 831, 832 and 833. The CNJ totally refurbished sixteen cars for Blue Comet service, inside and out. Each train consisted of a baggage car, combine-smoker, coaches, and an observation car. The diner accompanied the early morning trip to Atlantic City and the evening return to Jersey City. Each car was named for a comet as follows:[8]
As passenger traffic diminished, the G3s were withdrawn from Blue Comet service and other locomotives pulled the train. Frequently, one would find camelback locomotive 592 at the point,[9] or other Pacifics. Pacific 820 was on the point for the only derailment of the Blue Comet on August 19, 1939.
CNJ Camelback locomotive #592 is preserved in the roundhouse at the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Museum in Maryland.[9]
In Rio Grande, New Jersey the Tri-State Railway Historical Society, Inc. has former Blue Comet observation car Tempel (later known as CNJ car #1169) parked awaiting restoration.[10] The historical society would like to restore the car and use it in passenger service along the Cape May Seashore Lines.[11]
A Blue Comet observation car called Biela was moved to Clinton, New Jersey in the 1970s and continues to serve as part of a restaurant there.[12]
The De Vico (later known as CNJ #1178) observation car was in use by New Jersey Transit as an inspection car from 1982 until 1993.[13] The car, renumbered NJT-1, was donated in 2003 to the United Railroad Historical Society (URHS) of New Jersey, an organization that plans to restore the car.[14][15] The URHS also owns Westphal (later known as CNJ #1172) and D'Arrest (later known as CNJ #1173) and plans to restore them too.[15]
In 2010 a "Jersey Coast" commuter club car, formerly used along the North Jersey Coast Line (but not in Blue Comet service), was rebuilt to appear like a Blue Coment observation car by the Whippany Railway Museum in Whippany, New Jersey.[16]
In the 1930s the Lionel Corporation produced a "Blue Comet" model train, which is now considered a very desirable collectable.[17][18] On season six of HBO's The Sopranos there was an episode called "The Blue Comet".[19] In that episode toy train buff and mobster Bobby Baccalieri is murdered in a hobby shop as he bargains for an antique Lionel "Blue Comet" set.
The Comet passenger railcar class of the 1960s and later was named to honor the Blue Comet.
In December 1975 a special Blue Comet Nostalgia Train operated with a steam locomotive from Raritan Bay to Bay Head along the former New York and Long Branch Railroad (today's North Jersey Coast Line).[20] The nostalgia train trip was filmed and appeared in a Christmas special edition of the Tomorrow television program with host Tom Snyder on December 25, 1975.
In 1979 an animated version of The Little Rascals appeared in a Christmas Special on NBC television. In that special program Spanky is at first pleased and surprised to find out that his mother (voiced by Darla Hood) will be getting him a "Blue Comet" model train set, only to later find out that his mother had to sell her winter overcoat to buy the train. He then tries to raise the funds with the gang in order to buy the coat back.[21]
Documentary filmmaker Robert A. Emmons Jr. details the history of the Blue Comet in his 2009 feature length documentary film De Luxe: The Tale of the Blue Comet.[22][23]
The Black Cat Motorcycle Club of Lansdale, Pennsylvania, often encountered the Blue Comet on their rides to the Jersey Shore. Members decided the rename the club Blue Comet MC in 1937, and the club survives to this day in Skippack, Pennsylvania.[24]