.jpg) The westboundCapitol Limitedcrossing the Potomac River atHarpers Ferry, West Virginia in 1969 | |||||
| Overview | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Service type | Inter-city rail | ||||
| Status | Discontinued | ||||
| Locale | Eastern United States | ||||
| First service | May 12, 1923 | ||||
| Last service | April 30, 1971 | ||||
| Successor | Capitol Limited (Amtrak) | ||||
| Former operator | Baltimore and Ohio Railroad | ||||
| Route | |||||
| Termini | Baltimore, Maryland (1958) Chicago, Illinois | ||||
| Stops |
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| Average journey time |
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| Service frequency | Daily | ||||
| Train numbers |
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| On-board services | |||||
| Seating arrangements | Lounge Seating Rooms | ||||
| Sleeping arrangements |
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| Catering facilities |
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| Baggage facilities | Limited Baggage Service | ||||
| Technical | |||||
| Rolling stock | Strata-Dome | ||||
| Track gauge | 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) | ||||
| Operating speed |
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TheCapitol Limited was an Americanpassenger train run by theBaltimore and Ohio Railroad, originally betweenNew York City andGrand Central Station inChicago, viaWashington Union Station inWashington, D.C.,Camden Station inBaltimore, andPittsburgh. For almost 48 years, it was the B&O'sflagship passenger train, noted for personalized service and innovation. At the time of its discontinuation on May 1, 1971, whenAmtrak took over most rail passenger service in the U.S., theCapitol Limited operated between Washington and Chicago.
TheCapitol Limited was inaugurated on May 12, 1923, as an all-Pullman sleeping car train running fromPennsylvania Station in New York City to Chicago, via Washington, D.C. Once west ofthe Pennsy's Newark station in New Jersey, the train used theLehigh Valley andReading Railroad as far as Philadelphia, where it reached B&O's own rails to Chicago.[1] It was designed to compete against the luxury trains of the rivalPennsylvania Railroad andNew York Central Railroad. Although the B&O's longer route put it at a competitive disadvantage in New York for time-sensitive travelers, the B&O offered such luxuries in the 1920s as onboard secretaries, barbers, manicures, and valets.[2][3] TheCapitol's "Martha Washington"-series dining cars were particularly noted for their Chesapeake Bay cuisine, served in ornate cars withleaded glass windows, glass chandeliers and colonial-style furnishings.[4] TheCapitol Limited derived much of its passenger traffic from businessmen and government officials traveling between Washington and the midwest.[2]
On September 1, 1926, the Pennsylvania Railroad terminated its contract with the B&O, which had permitted the latter to use the "Pennsy's" Hudson River tunnels and Pennsylvania Station in Manhattan.[3][1] Thereafter, theCapitol Limited, along with all other B&O passenger trains to New York, operated over theJersey Central's main line from the connection with the Reading inBound Brook into itsJersey City terminal, where passengers were then transferred to buses that met the train right on the platform. These buses were ferried across the Hudson River into Manhattan, where they proceeded to various "stations" including theVanderbilt Hotel,Wanamaker's,Columbus Circle andRockefeller Center, as well as Brooklyn.[5]
In 1938, the B&O dieselized the train after purchasing two sets of the newEA and EB locomotives from General Motors'Electro-Motive Corporation.[3][1] The B&O was heavily in debt during theDepression and could not afford to buy new equipment, so it rebuilt its old heavyweight passenger cars into streamlined ones when the diesels were introduced in 1938, making theCapitol Limited the first dieselized streamlined train in the eastern U.S.[2] By September 1940, the through sleeping cars operating to New York were all streamlined.[5] For the aesthetic features of the train, the B&O turned to renowned industrial designerOtto Kuhler, who turned theCap, as it was affectionately known, into a regal operation complete with a stunning royal blue, silver, and gold pin-striping livery (a paint scheme that would become one of the classics of the streamliner era).[6]
FollowingWorld War II, the B&O and theSanta Fe railway launched through sleeping car service between Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles on theCapitol Limited and the Santa Fe'sChief.[2] In 1954 these continuous trains were offered only eastbound on the Capitol Limited. For the westbound trip, passengers would take the B&O'sShenandoah for a continuous ride from the eastern cities. Additionally, for the Santa Fe segment from Chicago to Los Angeles and the reverse, the train was shifted from theChief to the SF'sSuper Chief.[7][8][9] In February, 1956, theCapitol Limited departed Jersey City at 12:45 p.m. as train # 5. As an express, all-Pullman sleeping car train, theCapitol Limited made limited stops along its 991-mile (1,595 km) route to Chicago.[10] This all-Pullman configuration allowed passengers to avoid the process of transferring between the B&O's Grand Central Station andDearborn Station, where the Santa Fe's trains departed from.
Eastbound, the train departed Chicago at 4:30 p.m. as train # 6. This scheduled departure was timed so that travelers riding western railroads such as theSanta Fe,Chicago and North Western Railway or theBurlington could readily connect for an eastward journey on B&O's deluxe train. During the height of train travel in the 1920s, theCapitol Limited occasionally ran in multiple sections, although never as frequently or extensively as the competingPennsylvania Railroad'sBroadway Limited andNew York Central Railroad's20th Century Limited.[11]
The B&O was the first railroad to introduceair conditioning on its trains, beginning with theColumbian in 1931, followed by theCapitol Limited on May 22, 1932, well ahead of its competitors.[5] This innovation received favorable comment nationwide by the news media.[1]
TheCapitol Limited receivedstreamlined heavyweightsleeping anddining cars in 1938. A typical consist included the following: baggage-dormitory, 8-section 1-drawing room 1-compartment sleeping car, dining car, three to four 8-section 5-double bedroom sleeping cars, 14-section sleeping car, two 12-section 1-drawing room sleeping cars, and a sleeper-buffet-lounge with a drawing room and three compartments. In 1941 these cars were augmented by several lightweight 10-roomette 5-bedroom sleeping cars.[12]
By the early 1950s, the B&O had combined through cars for theCapitol Limited, theColumbian (# 25), and theAmbassador (# 19) into one train between New York and Washington. Beyond Washington, the three trains then operated separately, with several additional Washington-to-Chicago Pullman sleeping cars added to theCapitol Limited, along with atwin-unitdining car, twoStrata-Domedome cars, club car, and a flat-endobservation car.
The B&O re-equipped theCapitol Limited with new,streamlined sleeping cars in 1950 and 1954, including the new duplex-roomette type. The Pullmans were named after rivers and lakes along the train's route, such as"Cacapon" and"Wawasee". Dome cars "Moonlight Dome" and "Starlight Dome", having sleeping compartments on their lower levels, were added on January 8, 1951.[2] A twin-unit dining car seating 64 passengers at a time was obtained from the New York Central in 1957.[5]
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TheCapitol Limited, in common with most name trains in the U.S. by the mid-1950s, suffered steadily-declining patronage as the traveling public abandoned trains in favor of airplanes and the automobile. The B&O gave up on competing with the Pennsylvania Railroad into New York, discontinuing all passenger service north of Baltimore on April 26, 1958. Also, on January 16 of that year, the B&O and the Santa Fe discontinued the Los Angeles-Washington sleeper.[13][9] With the April 26 schedule, theCapitol Limited operated between Washington and Chicago as a through train, with a few cars originating in Baltimore until 1966. Other B&O passenger trains were combined with theCapitol Limited: theAmbassador to Detroit and the formerly all-coachColumbian to Chicago. The combined train in the early 1960s had as many as 22 cars pulled by five locomotives.[2]
To stem the loss of passengers and resulting deficits, the B&O in the early 1960s offered reduced mid-week fares, auto shipment for passengers (similar in concept to theAuto Train), and onboard movies, to attract more passengers. The train was marginally-profitable, when mail and express revenue was included.[2]
While the train began 1964 as theCapitol Limited,[14] by the year's end it was changed to theCapitol. The renamed train began stopping in both directions at intermediate stations such asAkron Union Station andYoungstown Station.[15] (The B&O restored theLimited part of the name by 1967, but kept the stops at intermediate stations.)[16]
The loss in 1967 of mail and express contracts, which by then accounted for almost 70 percent of passenger train revenue for the B&O, severely affected the B&O's passenger service. The Post Office Department's cancellation of its mail contract for theCapitol Limited and other trains, on October 28, 1967, was the death knell.[5] Many passenger trains were dropped and the consist of theCapitol Limited was considerably-reduced. B&O discontinued all long-distance train service to Baltimore's Camden Station. Between October 1966 and April 1971, a connectingRDC operated between Baltimore and Washington, D.C., as train # 105.[17] By June, 1969, two E diesel electric engines pulled a train consisting of one baggage car, sleeper (10/6), one diner / lounge, one dome coach, and four coaches.[18] Additionally, by that year, with the cancellation of theWashington-Chicago Express, theCapitol Limited became the B&O's only Washington - Chicago train.[19]
With the advent ofAmtrak on May 1, 1971, theCapitol Limited was discontinued by the B&O, along with all of its other passenger trains save local commuter services. For the final run of the oldCapitol Limited on April 29, 1971, the B&O ran the entire trainset from Baltimore's Camden Station, including the dome car.[17] The B&O printed special commemorative tickets and returned its bottledDeer Park spring water and B&O's signature, "all-you-can-eat" giant salad bowls to the final run's dining car, some of theCapitol Limited's amenities from more prosperous times. A 31-year veteran dining car waiter on the last run of theCapitol Limited recalled to a reporter forThe Baltimore Sun that, "all the vegetables we served were freshly cooked on board—no frozen or canned food at all."[20]
At its inception, Amtrak did not continue any of the B&O's former passenger train routes, and theCapitol Limited ended its 48-year run on the B&O. After a lapse of ten years, Amtrak revived Washington–Chicago service, using the same B&O tracks (nowCSX Transportation) between Washington andPittsburgh, Pennsylvania, for the AmtrakCapitol Limited.
Media related toCapitol Limited (B&O train) at Wikimedia Commons
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