The Times-Picayune regularly offered ads for various railroad destinations in the 1920s.
Railroad Destinations
Yesterday’s post of NYC 3, an “executive car” from 1928, inspired this collection of ads for various railroad destinations. New Orleans served as an active hub for railroad connections. Travelers used trains more than automobiles in the early 20th century, particularly for long trips.
Southern Railway
The Times-Picayune featured two ads for Southern Railway on 3-November-1925. “Two Trains Every Day” to Cincinnati. The early train departed at 8:30am. Southern offered coach and sleeping car service, with meals served in a dining car.
The railroad also offered sleeping car service to Meridian, Mississippi. The car, attached to a northbound train, departed at 8:10pm daily. It arrived at 2:10am the next day. “Sleeping car may be occupied at Meridian until 7:30 A. M.” – thank goodness! Nobody wants to be booted out of bed at two in the morning. Once at Meridian, the traveler could catch trains to other Southern destinations, getting a jump on the trip.
Along the Apache Trail
While Southern Railway traveled to destinations North and East, Southern Pacific transported passengers westward. Heading to California meant scenic views:
All-motor mountain trip through the heart of Arizona’s most rugged mountain scenery. The gigantic Roosevelt Dam, with its thundering cascades and picturesque mountain setting is only one of the marvels of the Apache Trail, a motor side-trip available to passengers using the Sunset Route to California.
The ad doesn’t explain how travelers taking the side trip get back on track to Los Angeles. Since the “New Sunset Limited” ran three times a week, did the train wait in Globe, Arizona? Did it drop off the side-trip travelers, who then took the next train? No doubt interested travelers learned the specifics at the City Ticket Office, located on the ground floor of the St. Charles Hotel.
Amtrak’s Sunset
The description of SP’s “New Sunset Limited” is similar to the current Amtrak version of the route. The train, with its consist of Superliner coaches, sleepers, along with diner and lounge cars, departs Union Passenger Terminal three times weekly.
Follow-up to yesterday’s post featuring an Amtrak Anniversary Locomotive.
Amtrak Anniversary Locomotive
Yesterday’s post featured the Amtrak Crescent #20, northbound to New York City. On Monday, I went over to where the Back Belt crosses Marconi Boulevard, rather than staying close to the coffee shop on Canal Boulevard. The two locomotives pulling the train were AMTK 75 and AMTK 161. While 75 sports the standard livery for GE P42DC “Genesis” locomotives, 161 wears an “anniversary” paint scheme. AMTK 161’s livery matches the Phase 1 scheme used from 1972 to 1974. The railroad added a gold “50” on the side.
AMTK 161 left on Monday, then turned around on Wednesday. On Thursday, the locomotive led #20 out of New Orleans.
Amtrak’s first livery phase is an iconic design of the 1970s that was first revived on P42 #156 a decade ago for our 40th Anniversary. It was an instant fan favorite and gained a big following. The 156 is no longer in service, so we had to bring this retro classic back for the big 5-0 …but we’re keeping our leisure suits in the attic.
Locos painted in Phase 1 are incredibly popular among model railroaders of all scales. The original locos sporting this livery were EMD “E” and “F” units. Amtrak inherited these from the legacy carriers. While they operated in their original colors in 1971, Amtrak painted them with Phase 1 the second year of operation.
AMTK 161 bears the modern Amtrak logo, just above the gold “50.”
More Anniversary
Additionally, Amtrak painted several other locomotives to celebrate 50. AMTK 46 bears the current livery, with the words “Connecting America for 50 Years,” with the “50” in gold. This loco has passed through New Orleans, pulling the Crescent. P42 #100, with its “Midnight Blue” paint, hasn’t made it down here yet. Neither have #108, in Phase VI (which never made it to P42s otherwise), and #160, in the “Phase III Dash-8” scheme. Hopefully we’ll catch these on one of the three Amtrak trains out of NOL.
The Amtrak Crescent #20 celebrates the railroad’s 50th!
Amtrak Crescent #20 celebrates
Amtrak Crescent #20, about 20 minutes after departing Union Passenger Terminal, New Orleans (NOL). P42DCs AMTK 75 and 161 pull a consist of 3 coaches, 1 cafe’ car, 2 sleepers, and 2 bag-dorms (one is a deadhead).
AMTK 75 is in the standard Genesis livery. The railroad re-painted AMTK 161 in “Phase 1” livery, with a “50” badge marking 2021 as Amtrak’s 50th anniversary year. Amtrak ran the “Phase 1” livery from 1972 to 1974. At this time, the railroad continued use of passenger rail equipment from other operators.
Since 1925
The Amtrak Crescent continues over a century of service from New Orleans to New York City. Southern Railway (now Norfolk Southern, due to mergers) operated the route as the New York & New Orleans Limited in 1906. By 1925, they changed the name of the route to the Crescent Limited. Amtrak named the train simply, the Crescent. It’s not a “limited” route, as it stops in a number of small towns along the way.
The northbound train is #20, the southbound, #19. The train travels from NOL to New York Penn Station (NYP). The full trip takes about a day and a half, but riding the Crescent to Atlanta makes for a fun one-day ride.
Crescent in New Orleans
My usual haunt for taking train pictures is the PJ’s Coffee Shop at 5555 Canal Boulevard, in New Orleans’ Lakeview neighborhood. The coffee shop is right next to the Norfolk Southern “Back Belt” tracks. These two tracks run through all of New Orleans, from the parish line in the West to Lake Pontchartrain and the “five mile bridge” without grade crossings. Streets use underpasses or overpasses to cross the tracks. The original route of the Crescent Limited left New Orleans via Louisville and Nashville tracks. Since 1954, the train arrives/departs from Union Passenger Terminal on Loyola Avenue. Additionally, the City of New Orleans and the Sunset Limited arrive/depart from NOL.
So, usually I’m lazy and just shoot the trains crossing the overpass. This particular morning, I drove over to Marconi Blvd. As you can see there’s a grassy area as the Back Belt approaches the outfall canal and pumping station.
Riding along Tchoupitoulas offers a view of the “sliver along the river, including St. Mary’s Market.
St. Mary’s Market
St. Mary’s Market, seen here in this photograph from McPherson and Oliver, in 1864ish. This is the location of the original market. It stood where Tchoupitoulas, Poyfarre, Delord, and St. Joseph Streets converged. So, the market, part of the city’s network of public markets, serviced Faubourg Ste. Marie, also known as the “American Sector.” While the French Market was the city’s first public market, St. Mary’s enabled residents living on the Uptown side of Canal Street to shop without having to go into the French Quarter. This satisfied both Anglo-Irish and Creole families.
Riding along Tchoupitoulas
I took the Canal Streetcar into town from the Cemeteries yesterday. After a wonderful lunch of red beans and rice at Mother’s Restaurant, So, I rode the #10 bus, the Tchoupitoulas line, from Magazine and Poydras up to Audubon Park. It’s fun to let someone else do the driving while observing how neighborhoods change. Additionally, going Uptown made the trip a big loop. While the public markets vanished in favor of modern supermarkets after WWII, they left imprints on their respective neighborhoods.
The market for the American Sector stood close to the river. It offered groceries, fresh meat, and seafood to families of men who worked the riverfront. Germans and Irish immigrants regularly took jobs as longshoremen. Enough Irish settled in Ste. Marie that the Archdiocese created St. Patrick’s Parish in 1833. By 1836, the market opened. Now, the rough triangle marking the site of the market houses a gas station, several warehouses, and a restaurant. They city authorized the relocation of St. Mary’s Market in 1858. The Southern Rebellion delayed the actual move.
Transition
St. Mary’s Market stood in what is now known as the Warehouse District. So, like Magazine Street, Tchoupitoulas Street winds its way from Canal Street through many neighborhoods we collective refer to as “Uptown.” The #11 bus line ends, along with Tchoupitoulas Street, at Audubon Park. So, the bus serves both the port and important institutions Uptown like Children’s Hospital.
We’ll continue with more on Tchoupitoulas Street this week!
Railroad Departures October 1913 to Mobile, New York, and Dallas.
Departures October 1913
Three ads in The Daily Picayune on October 21, 1913 entice New Orleanians to points East, North and West. The Louisville and Nashville (L&N) offers an excursion train to a conference in Mobile. Southern Railway promotes their daily service to New York City. Texas and Pacific wants New Orleans to go to the Dallas Fair. None of the trains were air-conditioned at this time. So, when the weather cooled in the Fall, New Orleans went on adventures.
$4.45 to Mobile
L&N Terminal, Canal Street, 1910
Those traveling to the “Account Southern Commercial Congress” in late October, 1913, could take an excursion train. L&N’s route out of New Orleans curves around Lake Pontchartrain, like US Highway 90. The trains crossed the river at the Rigolets Pass, then headed to the Mississippi Gulf Coast. The railroad turned north at Mobile. L&N built their station at the end of Canal Street in 1902. So, it was still relatively new in 1913. Prior to the Canal Street station, L&N trains used the old Pontchartrain Railroad station at Elysian Fields and Chartres.
Short Route — Perfect Service
Traveling North? Southern Railway’s New York & New Orleans Limited offered service to Birmingham, Washington and New York. In 1925, Southern re-branded their NYC train the Crescent Limited. Other Southern trains traveled to Cincinnati. That route became the Queen and Crescent Limited in 1926. Southern’s trains operated from Press Street Station prior to 1908, and Terminal Station from 1908 until 1954.
“Greatest Annual Fair in All America”
For $18.35 round trip, New Orleans experienced a “liberal education” at the Dallas Fair. While boasting that the Fair was a “financial failure for years” might not sound like an appealing way to get folks up to Dallas, it served as a teaser. The Texas and Pacific Railroad served New Orleans and Central Louisiana, connecting the state with Dallas and points west.
Tickets
All three railroads maintained ticket offices in the first-floor row of storefronts at the St. Charles Hotel, which stood in the 200 block of St. Charles Avenue.
Palace Streetcar on a test run on Esplanade Avenue, 1921.
Comfortable Streetcars!
New Orleans Railway and Light (NORwy&Lt) 605, running outbound on Esplanade Avenue, 8-October-1921. This photo is part of a set shot by Franck Studios for the Rail Department. The note references a civil court case number. NORwy&Lt purchased the “Palace” streetcars from the American Car Company in 1905. These streetcars ran at the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis. They impressed the NORwy&Lt’s Rail Department. They ran these cars on the Canal Street and Esplanade Avenue lines. The Palace cars also ran out to West End.
Palace Streetcar on Esplanade
While the Palace streetcars offered the most comfortable ride of any in New Orleans, operation on Esplanade Avenue was tricky. That street’s neutral ground was small. The branches of the old oak trees converged over the center. NORwy&Lt avoided cutting down the trees, but encountered close calls with branches. This run of car 605 documented the clearances along Esplanade Avenue.
The Canal and Esplanade lines operated in “belt service” at this time. One line ran continuously in one direction, the other line in the opposite direction.So, a round trip involved taking both lines. Since the streetcars didn’t have to terminate and change directions, their running time improved.
The car’s roll board shows West End, rather than the two lines running the belt. The Palace cars also ran out to West End. They traveled up Canal Street outbound, turned onto City Park, then turned up on West End Boulevard, heading out to the lake. For this run, 605’s last “revenue run” was on West End. The motorman didn’t bother changing the sign.
The man sitting at the back of the streetcar on this run is likely a Rail Department employee from Canal Station. He’s wearing civilian clothes. The other man in the photo is the conductor. He wears the standard uniform.
NOPSI
Two years after this run, NORwy&Lt re-organized into New Orleans Public Service, Incorporated (NOPSI). NOPSI was then acquired by EBASCO, a division of General Electric. NOPSI later became part of Middle South Utilities, which is now Entergy.
Recent Comments