Royal Blue (B&O train)

The "Royal Blue" was the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O)'s flagship passenger train between New York City and Washington, D.C., in the United States, beginning in 1890. The Baltimore-based B&O also used the name between 1890 and 1917 for its improved passenger service between New York and Washington launched in the 1890s, collectively dubbed the "Royal Blue Line". Using variants such as the "Royal Limited" and "Royal Special" for individual "Royal Blue" trains, the B&O operated the service in partnership with the Reading Railroad and the Central Railroad of New Jersey. Principal intermediate cities served were Philadelphia, Wilmington, and Baltimore. Later, as Europe reeled from the carnage of World War I and connotations of European royalty fell into disfavor, the B&O discreetly omitted the sobriquet "Royal Blue Line" from its New York passenger service and the "Royal Blue" disappeared from B&O timetables. Beginning in 1917, former "Royal Blue Line" trains were renamed: the "Royal Limited" (inaugurated on May 15, 1898), for example, became the "National Limited", continuing west from Washington to St. Louis via Cincinnati. During the Depression, the B&O hearkened back to the halcyon pre-World War I era when it launched a re-christened "Royal Blue" train between New York and Washington in 1935. The B&O finally discontinued passenger service north of Baltimore on April 26, 1958, and the "Royal Blue" faded into history. Railroad historian Herbert Harwood said, in his seminal history of the service, "First conceived in late Victorian times to promote a new railroad line ... it was indeed one of the most memorable images in the transportation business, an inspired blend of majesty and mystique ... Royal Blue Line ... Royal Blue Trains ... the "Royal Blue" all meant different things at different times. But essentially they all symbolized one thing: the B&O's regal route." [Herbert H. Harwood, Jr., "Royal Blue Line". Sykesville, Md.: Greenberg Publishing, 1990 (ISBN 0-89778-155-4), p. ix.] . After the Baltimore Belt Line project was completed, travel time between New York and Washington was reduced to five hours, compared to nine hours in the late 1860s. [Harwood, "Royal Blue Line", p. 114.] ["Official Guide of the Railways". New York: National Railway Publication Co., June 1868, p. 138.]

The trains were noted for their elegance and luxury. The parlor cars' ceilings and upholstery were covered in royal blue, and the dining cars "Queen" and "Waldorf", panelled in mahogany, featured elaborate cuisine such as terrapin and canvasback prepared by French-trained chefs. [Stover, p. 228.] A "Railway Age" magazine article of the time reporting on the "Royal Blue" called it "the climax in railway car building". ["Railway Age" article from 1895, as quoted in "Royal Blue Line's Diners Were Elaborate Examples of Gay Nineties' Styling", "Baltimore & Ohio Magazine", April, 1940.]

1918–1920s

As a result of the U.S. entry into World War I and resulting congestion on the nation's railroads, the wartime U.S. Railroad Administration (USRA) ordered the Pennsylvania Railroad to permit B&O passenger trains to use its Hudson River tunnels and Pennsylvania Station in Manhattan, beginning April 28, 1918, eliminating the B&O's need for the ferry connection from Jersey City.Harwood, "Royal Blue Line", pp. 118–127.] Following the end of World War I, the Pennsylvania Railroad continued to allow B&O passenger trains to use Pennsylvania Station for another eight years. On September 1, 1926, the Pennsylvania Railroad terminated its contract with the B&O, and the latter's trains reverted to the use of the Jersey Central's Jersey City Terminal. Passengers were then transferred to buses that met the train right on the platform. These buses were ferried across the Hudson River into Manhattan and Brooklyn, where they proceeded to various "stations" around the city on four different routes, including the Vanderbilt Hotel, Wanamaker's, Columbus Circle, and Rockefeller Center. [Harwood, "Royal Blue Line", pp. 118–127, 150.] B&O's busiest "Royal Blue" bus terminal at nowrap|42^nd street in Manhattan opened on December 17, 1928. Connected to Grand Central Terminal by an underground concourse, it was trimmed in marble and furnished with Art Deco lighting fixtures and leather sofas. [Harwood, "Royal Blue Line", p. 127.] This arrangement would continue until the eventual demise of the "Royal Blue" in 1958.

1930s–1940s

As the 1930s dawned, the B&O's New York passenger service faced two significant competitive disadvantages, compared to the Pennsylvania Railroad. First, the B&O lacked direct access to Manhattan, resulting in slower overall travel time. Second, the Pennsylvania's move in the early 1930s to replace steam power with modern, smoke-free electrification along its entire New York–Washington mainline was met with enthusiastic public approval. The B&O responded by introducing diesel locomotives, air conditioning, and streamlining on its New York trains. On June 24, 1935, the B&O inaugurated the first lightweight, streamlined train in the eastern U.S., when it began operating a re-christened "Royal Blue" train between Washington and New York. [Harwood, "Royal Blue Line", p. 142.] The B&O partially dieselized the train with locomotive # 50, buying the nation's first non-articulated road diesel from General Motors' Electro Motive Company.cite journal |author=David P. Morgan |title=Those esthetic E's |publisher="Trains" magazine |month=May | year=1964 |pages=pp. 20–23 ] Previously, early experiments with internal combustion engines to replace steam in railroad applications were limited to short, articulated trainsets (such as Burlington's "Pioneer Zephyr") or to motive power using exotic fuels (such as Union Pacific's "M-10000"). [Harwood, "Royal Blue Line", p. 139.] The B&O's pioneering introduction of its diesel-powered "Royal Blue" demonstrated the improved efficiency and reduced maintenance costs of diesel power in daily service compared to steam and gave impetus to the dieselization of the railroad industry.Herbert W. Harwood, Jr., "Impossible Challenge". Baltimore, Md.: Bernard, Roberts and Co., 1979 (ISBN 0-934118-17-5), pp. 252–254.] [Jacobs, p. 104.]

Recalling the past glamor of the 1890s "Royal Blue Line", the B&O introduced its "Martha Washington"-series dining cars, which were particularly noted for their fresh Chesapeake Bay cuisine, served on Dresden china in ornate cars with glass chandeliers and colonial-style furnishings.William W. Kratville, "Steam, Steel & Limiteds". Omaha, Neb.: Barnhart Press, 1962, p. 168.] The B&O's manager of dining car services said his department's objective was "...to be hospitable to our patrons in all respects — to make them feel the comfort, convenience and homelike atmosphere of our accommodations as soon as they step on our trains." Dining car specialties included oysters and Chesapeake Bay fish served with cornmeal muffins. B&O president Daniel Willard personally sampled his dining cars' cuisine while traveling about the line, and recognized particularly pleasing meals with letters of appreciation and autographed pictures given to the dining car chefs. [Stover, p. 228.]

The B&O was not entirely satisfied with the ride quality of the lightweight "Royal Blue" train, however, and replaced it on April 25, 1937, with streamlined, refurbished heavyweight equipment, painted light gray and royal blue with gold striping, designed by Otto Kuhler. The train was pulled by the first streamlined diesel locomotive, B&O # 51, the 3,600 h.p. EMD EA/EB model built by Electro Motive Company. Praised for its beauty and handsome profile, this first streamlined production model diesel "dazzled the press and public", said one magazine writer of the groundbreaking locomotive's introduction. Kuhler also streamlined one of B&O's 4-6-2 "Pacific" steam locomotives for use on the "Royal Blue". [Kratville, p. 92.] Its bullet-shaped shroud became an iconic image for the "Royal Blue" and was modeled for years by American Flyer. "Time" magazine, in reporting on the precarious financial condition of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad and other Depression-ravaged rail lines in 1937, referred to the B&O's "swashbuckling" Royal Blue streamliner launched that year as having "symbolize [d] the new era in railroading ..." [cite journal |title=Royal Blue's Blues |journal="Time" magazine |date=January 10, 1938 |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,758832,00.html |accessdate=2008-05-02 ]

President of the United States Franklin D. Roosevelt was a frequent passenger on the B&O's "Royal Blue Line" during his time in office (1933–1945), when he traveled between Washington and his family home in Hyde Park, New York. A special presidential train from Washington used the regular B&O–Reading–Jersey Central route to Jersey City, continuing on the New York Central Railroad's West Shore Line along the Hudson River to Highland, New York (opposite Poughkeepsie), where the President was met by automobile.

Along with most other rail passenger services in the U.S. during World War II, the "Royal Blue" enjoyed a surge in passenger traffic between 1942 and 1945 as volume doubled to nowrap|1.2 million passengers annually on B&O's eight daily New York–Washington trains. [Harwood, "Royal Blue Line", p. 160.] Following the end of the war, however, passenger volumes soon dropped below prewar levels and the B&O discontinued one of its daily New York–Washington trains. In addition to its flagship "Royal Blue", six other B&O passenger trains continued to serve New York until April 1958: the "Metropolitan Special", "Capitol Limited", "National Limited", "Diplomat", "Marylander", and "Shenandoah"."Official Guide of the Railways". New York: National Railway Publication Co., February 1956, pp. 414–418.]

1950s and the end

Although all of B&O's Washington–Jersey City passenger trains had been fully dieselized by September 28, 1947, no new passenger cars were built for the "Royal Blue" in the postwar period. The refurbished nowrap|8-car 1937 "Royal Blue" trainset continued in operation to the end. The overwhelming market dominance of the Pennsylvania Railroad was evident when it introduced the nowrap|18-car stainless steel "Morning Congressional" and "Afternoon Congressional" streamliners in 1952. [Harwood, "Royal Blue Line", p. 163.] By the late 1950s, most U.S. passenger trains suffered a steep decline in patronage as the traveling public abandoned trains in favor of airplanes and automobiles, utilizing improved Interstate Highways. The "Royal Blue" was no exception, as operating deficits approached nowrap|$5 million annually and passenger volume declined by almost half between 1946 and 1957.cite web |author=Frederick N. Rasmussen |title=Lonesome whistle blew for last time |publisher="The Baltimore Sun" |date=2008-04-27 |url=http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/ideas/bal-id.backstory27apr27,0,3493326.column |accessdate=2008-04-30 |pages=p. 21A ] Amidst the downward trend, the Royal Blue Line briefly recaptured the regal splendor of its early years on October 21, 1957, when Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip travelled on the B&O from Washington to New York. [cite journal|title=Railroad News Photos|month=February|year=1958|publisher=Trains magazine|volume=vol. 18|issue=no. 4|page=8]

As financial losses mounted, the B&O finally ceded the New York–Washington market to the Pennsylvania Railroad altogether, discontinuing all passenger service north of Baltimore on Saturday, April 26, 1958, and bringing the venerable "Royal Blue" to an end. [Salamon, Oroszi & Ori, p. 9.] As the engineer was about to ease the locomotive's throttle open for the "Royal Blue's" final departure from " |date=April 27, 1958 |page=1 ]

Mount Royal Station continued as the eastern terminus of B&O's passenger service until June 30, 1961, when it closed permanently as a rail passenger facility. It was one of thirteen Baltimore buildings selected in 1959 for the Historic American Buildings Survey. The building and trainshed were subsequently acquired by the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) in 1964 and are preserved as examples of late 19th century industrial architecture. [Harwood, "Royal Blue Line", p. 171.]

chedule and equipment

In the 1890s–1910s period, the "Royal Limited" operated in both directions simultaneously, with 3 p.m. departures in New York and Washington, arriving at its destination five hours later, at 8 p.m. By the 1930s, travel time between Jersey City and Washington was reduced to four hours. [Harwood, "Royal Blue Line", p. 161.] From 1935 to the end of service in 1958, the "Royal Blue" made a daily round trip, departing New York in the morning and returning from Washington in the evening. According to the "Official Guide" of February, 1956, the "Royal Blue" operated on the following schedule as train nowrap|#27 (unconditional stops highlighted in blue, bus connections in yellow):

Eastbound, the train departed Washington at 3:45 p.m. as train # 28, arriving at Jersey City 7:40 p.m.

Between 1937 and 1958, the "Royal Blue" was equipped with air-conditioned coaches, parlor cars with private drawing rooms, a lounge car for coach passengers, a full dining car serving complete meals, and a flat-end observation car with a "cafe-lounge" bringing up the rear of the train. [Harwood, "Royal Blue Line", p. 145.] Beginning in mid-August 1947, onboard telephone service was provided, making the B&O (along with the Pennsylvania Railroad and the New York Central Railroad) one of the first three railroads in the U.S. to offer telephone service on its trains, using a forerunner of cell phone technology. [Bert Pennypacker, "Dial direct at 110 mph", "Trains", April, 1968.] -

ee also

*B&O Railroad Museum (Baltimore), where selected equipment, diner china and silverware, and other artifacts from various "Royal Blue" trains are exhibited.

References

External links

* [http://www.njcu.edu/programs/jchistory/Pages/C_Pages/Central_Railroad_of_New_Jersey.html Central Railroad of New Jersey Terminal] , via New Jersey City University