From the archives of the Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society, this is "Capitol Limited, Tape 20B" and was originally produced by Waker M. Berko in 1984 for Railroad Video. This tape shows a rare look along the route of Amtrak's Capitol Limited over the former Pennslyvania Railroad mainline between Fort Wayne and Valparaiso, Indiana before Amtrak was rerouted in the early 1990s and Fort Wayne lost passenger rail service. Tape 20B offers us a unique historical record of the railroad line as it existed during Conrail and before many lineside structures, intersections, and other characteristics were torn down, scrapped, or otherwise removed. What was once a major, multi-track thoroughfare for the Pennsylvania Railroad is now largely a one-track line. The original multi-tape collection covered the entire route from Chicago to Washington, DC. The collection has been repackaged and is available on DVD from Anchor Videos: store.train-video.com/raviprdvd.html
My dad worked for the NYC, PC, Conrail and finished the last 21 years of his 51 year career working for Amtrak. Worked 29/30, 48/49, and 40/41. The conductor on this video, Dick Meehan, was an old PRR guy that my dad worked with starting in 1986 when they split the Broadway and Capitol as two separate trains again. I went to work with my dad a lot and those old time Conductors and Engine crews are long gone.
He remembers when there was no speed restrictions. I remember being on the Broadway limited in 76 when I was a young boy. Eastbound through Valparaiso we were just flying. I asked a porter how fast we were going, he said really fast.he must have seen disappointment on my face because he said he would radio the engineer, he came back a few minutes later and says the engineer says we are between 115 and 120 miles per hour. He smiles and asks me if this is fast enough? Oh yes sir I said gleefully. He says I never knew we moved that fast. It was Thanksgiving day and we then went and had the best Turkey dinner ever, at 120 mph across Indiana. Those days are gone forever.
You are lucky Dave, the only trains I have ridden in the USA, were excursion steam powered trains, that barely got above 35 or 40 mph. Of course they were enjoyable, and I wouldn't hesitate to do it again, but the only real experience I had on real passenger rail service, was on German trains, while stationed there with the army. I would have loved to ride like that through my own home state of Indiana , but like you said, those days are gone forever.
For anyone wondering the # of the ENG in charge of 41 in these clips. It was AMTK #313. And era of K5LA mounted on this locomotive during the time was a 1978 Bigtag Bigbore K5LA.
@@nssteampunk4865 In some ways the disused and abandoned rail corridors of the USA could be used for the economical construction of a US TGV for 250 mph running. But the distance in the USA is still twice what you would have in most European costs and there would be tremendous costs in bringing such a HST TGV system into New York, LA or San Francisco because of the geography and the fact they are the most built up urban areas in the world both above and below the ground
So, remember kids, on your next cab ride, don’t talk trains the whole time… the crew lives it on a daily basis.. seriously, this is as real as it gets for the era… pay close attention to the railroad chatter. It’s a close look at how this section of railroad operated
@@stevenburns8817there are some real small, usually independent short lines and regionals that will give cab rides, but they are few and far between. You'll be hard pressed to find a class 1 that will even allow you in the cab of a train that's waiting in a siding these days
Thank you L A W Y E R S for being so sue happy and many people in our society ready to sue now if they nick their toe of finger and a wee bit of blood comes out. 🙄 Heck, I may get sued by lawyers and sue happy people for dissing them! 😝
@@stevenburns8817 I had gotten a cabride 3 years ago from Penn to Newark, Got in by talking about my Dad. Crazy thing was the gentlemen knew my Dad, Happiest day of my life and ever since well Ive had my fair share of rides 😎
Mike, Junction, Warsaw and Wanatah all still open offices at this time. August 10, 1985. Plymouth had been closed only a few weeks at this time. Wanatah was being run out of a trailer but the old tower was still there. Great historical footage here. 😎
@@b3j8I’m sorry I took so long to reply. I think Hamlet Tower was closed in 1982 when CR pulled up the NYC Kankakee Belt line through there. I don’t know when the tower was demolished though. I’ll have to check my timetables to be sure. I know that in its last years it was only open when stated in a bulletin or train order.
@@b3j8 oh yeah. I know you lol. I’ve tried to compile a list of when each tower closed. I know that Mike was still open in September 1988 and was the last one that closed.
They say those huge duplex steam engines could reach 125mph on the Pennsylvania main on the main line to Chicago and St Louis and did on their brief spell on Pennsylvania's great trains in 1945-1950-1. By 1951 Passenger demand had fallen from car and Constellation and Stratocruiser completion for the railway to need the Duplex. But certainly E/F units and the good looking PAs would have run at 115/120 on the crack varnish on the Penn, NYC and Santa Fe in 1960s and 70s. NYC was somewhat conned into the Jan 68 merger with Pennsylvania which still had too much varnish, long distance passenger, staff, crew and tradition at the time. By 1970 the Penn Central was bankrupt and ran under supervision for the following decade gradually falling apart.The passenger market on the long distance routes other than to Miami, LA or Seattle was gone by then.
The airlines and the interstate highway systems killed passenger rail service in the USA. I still remember our family going to Union Terminal in Cincinnati, to pick up my mom's grandmother and uncles, who arrived from Los Angeles. That was way back in 1967, and it was already starting to fade then. On their return to Los Angeles a few weeks later, they flew back, as one of my mom's uncles was a pilot for TWA, and the flight didn't cost his mother or brother anything. As far as I know, that was their last trip back to where they originally came from by rail.
@@frederickmiles327 THE NYC was very well conned in to the Merger it was dumb robert young idea, Al Pearlmen Tryed to get the NYC Out of the Merger, the Fed gov had been hiding the turth that the PRR was losing money since the end of WW2 and the Only thing that kept the Prr going was N&W rr stock divends
@@truthseeker2321 wrong. it was miss management big time over 80% o0f the Prr gone west of pittsburg Pa the Prr was a high cost rail road to run. a inter locking tower every 20 miles 4 tracks to do the same job as the Nyc was doing with 2 tracks they were so sorry only N&W RR stock divends kept then going they were losing money since the end of WW2 other rail roads in the same area did much better
You may notice the person filming calling out signals with the crew. At the time, the Amtrak regulations required all employees irrespective of craft to call out signals!
I was almost exactly 1 year old when this recording was made. I do really appreciate the speaking that's done during this video. I'm also not incredibly hip a lot of things, but I have heard the hot wheel/dragging equipment detectors on other radios and it's really cool to hear it here. Different "voice" though I think.
Hey @58:36 there's Warsaw Tower Operator "Pete" Peterson on the radio w/a Form D. Pete also worked in Fort Wayne at Mike tower. Sometimes at Junction too.
@@ChadQuick270W Ah man, I'm really sorry to hear you got it double like that! Glad you're on the mend tho! Had a rough bout w/Covid early in the Spring myself. Even w/all the boosters the stuff's no picnic!
I used to get cab rides on the Grand Trunk Western, my uncle was a train master so that helped. I eventually got hired by Canadian National in the Early 1990's and became an engineer, my locomotive engineer career lasted 3 years, it is not conducive to a happy home life, at least I can say i did it.
I think I "rode' with you once before only it was an NJT Commuter to Matawan, NY. Ride the F40 back. I enjoyed that VHS tape very much. Unusual to ride an F40 without it in HEP mode. The F40 is still one of my favorite locomotives
I really have enjoyed this video. I have ridden all the AMTRAK routes west of St. Louis as my way to see The West. They were five weekend to weekend trips between 2001 and 2013. To get approval from my wife for the 5 trips and making them as cheap as possible, I pretty close just rode the rails only using a hotel when making connection the next day for the next train. Those were fun adventures for me. Mt wife tried it once but it was too much time on a train for her.
@@char524 I got the idea watching a PBS series of the Great Rail Journeys of the World and it looked like fun. I thought I was doing something really unique but really I was doing something people had done years ago. Now I watch so many others doing the same thing showing their videos of their trips on TH-cam so I get to re-live the trip. I took plenty of pictures of the West and showed friends and co-workers, as I was the only one it seemed at the time doing such a thing. If you ever think of trying it, my best trip was the first making connection in Chicago and taking the Zephyr through Colorado and the California Sieras with the large evergreen trees to the Bay area and stay the night. Then connect the next day with the the Coast Starlight to L.A. seeing California and going 120 miles along the Pacific Ocean and stay the night. Then the next day take the Southwest Chief back to Chicago (I connected in Kansas Ciy back to St. Louis) through the red rock mountains of Arizona and New Mexico. Very good variety of scenery on this trip. It was my first in 2001. AMTRAK has a very good observation lounge car for viewing. It is a lot of train time and not for everyone. Taking a break at a hotel is good and at times was able to take a trolley tour to see a city.
@@truthseeker2321 My trips all averaged around $750 a trip not including food with the usual 2 nights for a hotel because I would sometimes need to make a connection with a train the next day. I only rode coach as a sleeper car is much more expensive as it is priced based upon two people in a cabin but does include meals in the dining car. I ate mostly the lesser expensive food offered in the observation lounge car. Lots of turkey sandwiches but did use the dining car some. On one trip I got very lucky even though a train only going from St. Louis to Kansas City instead of taking close to 5 hours and a half hours took an additional 5 hours of sitting on the rails due to a freight train derailment earlier in the week that had things going very slow with a backlog of freight trains on the rails so there was lots of time sitting on sidings. I was lucky I still made a connection going west from Kansas City with a train that orignated in Chicago there because it was also many hours late due to congestion as well. The funny thing is AMTRAK was running a promotion that any train over 2 hours late would get a refund of their money. A very nice AMTRAK customer service agent after that trip got approval frpm his boss to instead give me an upgrade to all sleeper on the house for a future trip I had already booked. It was my favorite riding in a sleeper car on the trip but I did not have to pay for the upgrade. My favorite ride was STL to Chicago, then Chicago to the Bay area (Emeryville) through Colorado and the Sierras) on the Zephyr, then the Coast Starlight to L.A (120 miles of Pacific ocean) ., and then the Southwest Chief to Kansas City (the southwest) , and then the return to St. Louis. on the Missouri train I think you will enjoy the trip on the rails but caution my wife went once and it was too much rail time for her.
My dad was telling me about the train depot in Pierceton had a runaway car I think hit the building and that’s why there was a hole in it that size. It’s pretty cool to see how much that scenery has changed since I was a kid. This is a pretty neat video.
As a kid of maybe 8 or 9 in the late 1960's before Amtrak, our family took the train from Ft Wayne to Chicago. I don't remember why we did, because we drove there. It might have been just because they knew I loved trains. Anyways, I remember it was early afternoon, but the train hit a cow somewhere in Ohio, and the train was HOURS late. It must have been a Sunday, because we just waited on the platform. I want to remember so badly more of the trip, but I can't. I don't remember what train it was, or much of the trip at all. I can remember the countless trips we did take driving between Chicago and Ft Wayne in the 60's-70's, and following the tracks along Rt 30 betwwen Valpo and Ft Wayne. But I can't remember ever SEEING a train, except maybe once or twice. There were a lot of farms though. LoL
Sad to see an Amtrak train plodding along at 30mph on such degraded straight track (end of video). The 80's were not good for Amtrak or freight rail :(
More the state of the old Pennsylvania main and Conrail in 1985. Other rail routes from Philadelphia and Pittsburgh to Chicago were more economic and maintainable
Amtrak itself was good but… Conrail was The issue for this train, Always was. Lake shore was always the top train to get To/From Chicago and has been for 50 years. Cardinal is well.. Nice for a scenic trip Ill say that.
With as straight as the track is from Valpo to Ft Wayne I can see why they talk about that being restored for passenger service. I know there probably isn't the passenger base for it, but it's cool to think about at least.
Yeah the old Broadway Limited and other PRR pass trains used blister these tracks running above the century mark when late! Hard to believe that today.
It was the mainline of the world, 40 years earlier. And in the 1950s the Duplex, E and F unit would have run at 125mph on the Penn main faster than a DC3. In the mid 1960s the Pennsylvania and the Santa Fe were the last great passenger railways still running the trains for real. But the Santa Fe ran the trains on time then and always have taken their Amtrak contracted trains thru pretty much time. In 2017 of the Amtrak Providers Burlington Santa Fe got an A for on time and Canadian National B+. The other Amtrak Providers Southern, Seaboard, Norfolk Southern, UP- SP got D-, E grade. Other than on the Santa Fe after 1968, you were likely to arrive a week late on any other railway. And it shows the 1985 Capitol Limited, it is actually the Broadway Ltd/ Capitol limited right at the end, history and tragedy combined in 1984 peak Reagan's American, LA Olympics, but it's old old America were there's still hope even in Cleveland, Toledo and possibly Pittsburg.But this is an enthusiast special, it's for real, but from another time. Look at the SW Chief running for Chicago on a 42hr timetable and holding 90mph - 145k in Missouri, determined to make Chicago on time that hit a truck , 5 days ago.Thete are 60 trains a day and pre COVID probably 6-10 passenger trains a day taking the crossing at 90 and the local county council and state hadn't even financed flashing light warning and a barrier. A railway running a world class service, and the only great trains in the US that runs to time. The unprotected crossings on the old Pennsylvania main I. 1985 are of course just as scandalous in 1985 anywhere else in the world But I doubt if Reagan would have done Amtrak as Nixon reluctantly did in1971. Reagan and Eisenhower, actually we're regulars on SF Chief, till 1964. Ronnie feared flying. Amtrak really happened because of the disastorous NYC/ Penn merger in 1968.Penn Central was bankrupt by 1970 and unrecoverable in financial position , after floods in 1972 That meant this mainline and railway was in the hands of the receivers( debt accountants) in 1970-80.
Fun Fact: there is only a few telephone poles left on the line, one of which is located at Grovertown, Indiana, next to the main road crossing in town, and the rest are right next to "The Old Train Depot" Resteraunt in Pierceton, Indiana.
This is interesting and I would probably enjoy it more if I could hear the commentary in the cab. Was there an additional line on the right side at one time? Now seeing the other line coming in at 42 mins or so.
True that track over is close out so it is a single rail line that's true history of the railway plus they upgrade on AMTRAK now WOW consider is fascinating....100%
This line would have been perfect for electrified high speed rail due to its straight track if the Pennsylvania railroad had electrified this line from Pittsburgh to Chicago
Why do railroads rip up tracks, downgrade double tracks, and tear down unused buildings like signal towers? To cut costs? Does this line no longer exist? It looks like Conrail ripped up one track then in 1984.
The line still exists as a single main track. From the Google Street View images that I checked out, it's still jointed rail, so probably still a very limited use route. Sad to see.
There are other lines, in this case to the north of this line, that served the basic same markets. This is a route to Chicago thru northern Indiana. The old Nickle Plate and New York Central lines to the north served much the same purpose. So, in essence, this line was a duplicate line or even a third option. Too expensive to maintain and so you let it go maintenance wise. Reduce speeds, pull up the second track and hope that somebody wants to buy it and make it their problem. The lines to the north, especially the old Nickle Plate are extremely busy in 2021, often up to 50 trains a day across northern Indiana. This line was sold to a regional line operator and further downgraded. Still in use, but not very busy.
Possibly where the train was operating over the jointed rail segments that still existed over that section of the old PRR, jointed rail doesn't ride as smooth as welded rail nor riding in the cab so lots of stuff rattling around or bouncing.
@@bobbybrisk643 They identify themselves several times on the radio as Number 41; that's the Broadway's number. The two or three cars they tacked on at Pittsburgh came from the Capitol but otherwise this is the Broadway.
Wanatah was prob the best looking tower, character-wise, on this part of the line retaining it's PRR era window awnings till the end. Bart Tower in Hobart Indiana was nice also.
From the archives of the Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society, this is "Capitol Limited, Tape 20B" and was originally produced by Waker M. Berko in 1984 for Railroad Video. This tape shows a rare look along the route of Amtrak's Capitol Limited over the former Pennslyvania Railroad mainline between Fort Wayne and Valparaiso, Indiana before Amtrak was rerouted in the early 1990s and Fort Wayne lost passenger rail service.
Tape 20B offers us a unique historical record of the railroad line as it existed during Conrail and before many lineside structures, intersections, and other characteristics were torn down, scrapped, or otherwise removed. What was once a major, multi-track thoroughfare for the Pennsylvania Railroad is now largely a one-track line.
The original multi-tape collection covered the entire route from Chicago to Washington, DC. The collection has been repackaged and is available on DVD from Anchor Videos: store.train-video.com/raviprdvd.html
Please upload the Valpo to Chi portion
My dad worked for the NYC, PC, Conrail and finished the last 21 years of his 51 year career working for Amtrak. Worked 29/30, 48/49, and 40/41. The conductor on this video, Dick Meehan, was an old PRR guy that my dad worked with starting in 1986 when they split the Broadway and Capitol as two separate trains again. I went to work with my dad a lot and those old time Conductors and Engine crews are long gone.
He remembers when there was no speed restrictions. I remember being on the Broadway limited in 76 when I was a young boy. Eastbound through Valparaiso we were just flying. I asked a porter how fast we were going, he said really fast.he must have seen disappointment on my face because he said he would radio the engineer, he came back a few minutes later and says the engineer says we are between 115 and 120 miles per hour. He smiles and asks me if this is fast enough? Oh yes sir I said gleefully. He says I never knew we moved that fast. It was Thanksgiving day and we then went and had the best Turkey dinner ever, at 120 mph across Indiana. Those days are gone forever.
Ya i hear ya. 120mph is class 7 tracks. But its probably expensive and the freight trains dont need to go flying.
You are lucky Dave, the only trains I have ridden in the USA, were excursion steam powered trains, that barely got above 35 or 40 mph.
Of course they were enjoyable, and I wouldn't hesitate to do it again, but the only real experience I had on real passenger rail service, was on German trains, while stationed there with the army.
I would have loved to ride like that through my own home state of Indiana ,
but like you said, those days are gone forever.
For anyone wondering the # of the ENG in charge of 41 in these clips. It was AMTK #313. And era of K5LA mounted on this locomotive during the time was a 1978 Bigtag Bigbore K5LA.
Seeing the then-freshly removed 2nd main makes me sad.
Basically destroying history when rails are removed.
@@nssteampunk4865 In some ways the disused and abandoned rail corridors of the USA could be used for the economical construction of a US TGV for 250 mph running. But the distance in the USA is still twice what you would have in most European costs and there would be tremendous costs in bringing such a HST TGV system into New York, LA or San Francisco because of the geography and the fact they are the most built up urban areas in the world both above and below the ground
So, remember kids, on your next cab ride, don’t talk trains the whole time… the crew lives it on a daily basis.. seriously, this is as real as it gets for the era… pay close attention to the railroad chatter. It’s a close look at how this section of railroad operated
what cab ride? Who gives cab rides anymore?
@@stevenburns8817there are some real small, usually independent short lines and regionals that will give cab rides, but they are few and far between. You'll be hard pressed to find a class 1 that will even allow you in the cab of a train that's waiting in a siding these days
Thank you L A W Y E R S for being so sue happy and many people in our society ready to sue now if they nick their toe of finger and a wee bit of blood comes out. 🙄 Heck, I may get sued by lawyers and sue happy people for dissing them! 😝
@@stevenburns8817 I had gotten a cabride 3 years ago from Penn to Newark, Got in by talking about my Dad. Crazy thing was the gentlemen knew my Dad, Happiest day of my life and ever since well Ive had my fair share of rides 😎
I’d like one of these “cab rides” you’re talking about.
Mike, Junction, Warsaw and Wanatah all still open offices at this time. August 10, 1985. Plymouth had been closed only a few weeks at this time. Wanatah was being run out of a trailer but the old tower was still there. Great historical footage here. 😎
Chad when did Hamlet close? Seems like I saw a photo of it taken about 1984.
@@b3j8I’m sorry I took so long to reply. I think Hamlet Tower was closed in 1982 when CR pulled up the NYC Kankakee Belt line through there. I don’t know when the tower was demolished though. I’ll have to check my timetables to be sure. I know that in its last years it was only open when stated in a bulletin or train order.
@@ChadQuick270W Ok thanks. BTW this is Terry up in Ft. Wayne.
@@b3j8 oh yeah. I know you lol. I’ve tried to compile a list of when each tower closed. I know that Mike was still open in September 1988 and was the last one that closed.
@@ChadQuick270W Yep, well remember that. Those were sad times.
30:39 "That curve was rated for 130 miles an hour", my god how we have regressed. Holy cow!
They say those huge duplex steam engines could reach 125mph on the Pennsylvania main on the main line to Chicago and St Louis and did on their brief spell on Pennsylvania's great trains in 1945-1950-1. By 1951 Passenger demand had fallen from car and Constellation and Stratocruiser completion for the railway to need the Duplex.
But certainly E/F units and the good looking PAs would have run at 115/120 on the crack varnish on the Penn, NYC and Santa Fe in 1960s and 70s.
NYC was somewhat conned into the Jan 68 merger with Pennsylvania which still had too much varnish, long distance passenger, staff, crew and tradition at the time. By 1970 the Penn Central was bankrupt and ran under supervision for the following decade gradually falling apart.The passenger market on the long distance routes other than to Miami, LA or Seattle was gone by then.
The airlines and the interstate highway systems killed passenger rail service in the USA.
I still remember our family going to Union Terminal in Cincinnati, to pick up my mom's grandmother and uncles, who arrived from Los Angeles. That was way back in 1967, and it was already starting to fade then.
On their return to Los Angeles a few weeks later, they flew back, as one of my mom's uncles was a pilot for TWA, and the flight didn't cost his mother or brother anything.
As far as I know, that was their last trip back to where they originally came from by rail.
@@frederickmiles327 THE NYC was very well conned in to the Merger it was dumb robert young idea, Al Pearlmen Tryed to get the NYC Out of the Merger, the Fed gov had been hiding the turth that the PRR was losing money since the end of WW2 and the Only thing that kept the Prr going was N&W rr stock divends
Caught this job firing a few times with Paul Fuller and also Ned Wilburn, 1978-1980. Sad to see the decline in the RR.
the Prr had ben in decline since the end of WW2
@@dknowles60 Air travel made it decline, as did the interstate highway systems.
@@truthseeker2321 wrong. it was miss management big time over 80% o0f the Prr gone west of pittsburg Pa the Prr was a high cost rail road to run. a inter locking tower every 20 miles 4 tracks to do the same job as the Nyc was doing with 2 tracks they were so sorry only N&W RR stock divends kept then going they were losing money since the end of WW2 other rail roads in the same area did much better
@@dknowles60 I meant overall , not just one company .
@@truthseeker2321 it was Declining long befor the Interstate Systems
You may notice the person filming calling out signals with the crew. At the time, the Amtrak regulations required all employees irrespective of craft to call out signals!
NORAC rules required it also. Most books still do.
We don't on Pan Am 😭
I was almost exactly 1 year old when this recording was made. I do really appreciate the speaking that's done during this video.
I'm also not incredibly hip a lot of things, but I have heard the hot wheel/dragging equipment detectors on other radios and it's really cool to hear it here. Different "voice" though I think.
I was 4.
I was 22. You guys make me feel old!
Hey @58:36 there's Warsaw Tower Operator "Pete" Peterson on the radio w/a Form D. Pete also worked in Fort Wayne at Mike tower. Sometimes at Junction too.
Oops, I mispoke there, Pete was at Junction Tower not Warsaw. My mistake.
@@b3j8 yeah those radios would pick up for a good 40 miles or so 👍
@@ChadQuick270W Hey Chad this is Terry. Good to see you healthy and posting!
@@b3j8 hi Terry. Yeah I’ve just gotten over CoVid and the flu. I had a double gift there. I hope all is well up north 👍
@@ChadQuick270W Ah man, I'm really sorry to hear you got it double like that! Glad you're on the mend tho! Had a rough bout w/Covid early in the Spring myself. Even w/all the boosters the stuff's no picnic!
I used to get cab rides on the Grand Trunk Western, my uncle was a train master so that helped. I eventually got hired by Canadian National in the Early 1990's and became an engineer, my locomotive engineer career lasted 3 years, it is not conducive to a happy home life, at least I can say i did it.
1:51:45 "Well last night my wife recorded Miami Vice for me!" lmao
I think I "rode' with you once before only it was an NJT Commuter to Matawan, NY. Ride the F40 back. I enjoyed that VHS tape very much. Unusual to ride an F40 without it in HEP mode. The F40 is still one of my favorite locomotives
43:52 left side was the flagpole ice cream stand Warsaw IN. Long gone now
Flagpole has been gone for a while , B&K hotdogs is long gone also, although the building is still there.
Crazy to see what is now all neighborhoods was once vast farmland. Really cool video!
I really have enjoyed this video. I have ridden all the AMTRAK routes west of St. Louis as my way to see The West. They were five weekend to weekend trips between 2001 and 2013. To get approval from my wife for the 5 trips and making them as cheap as possible, I pretty close just rode the rails only using a hotel when making connection the next day for the next train. Those were fun adventures for me. Mt wife tried it once but it was too much time on a train for her.
@@char524 I got the idea watching a PBS series of the Great Rail Journeys of the World and it looked like fun. I thought I was doing something really unique but really I was doing something people had done years ago. Now I watch so many others doing the same thing showing their videos of their trips on TH-cam so I get to re-live the trip. I took plenty of pictures of the West and showed friends and co-workers, as I was the only one it seemed at the time doing such a thing. If you ever think of trying it, my best trip was the first making connection in Chicago and taking the Zephyr through Colorado and the California Sieras with the large evergreen trees to the Bay area and stay the night. Then connect the next day with the the Coast Starlight to L.A. seeing California and going 120 miles along the Pacific Ocean and stay the night. Then the next day take the Southwest Chief back to Chicago (I connected in Kansas Ciy back to St. Louis) through the red rock mountains of Arizona and New Mexico. Very good variety of scenery on this trip. It was my first in 2001. AMTRAK has a very good observation lounge car for viewing. It is a lot of train time and not for everyone. Taking a break at a hotel is good and at times was able to take a trolley tour to see a city.
@@larryloveless2967 How expensive is it?
I've been getting a hankering for doing just that.
@@truthseeker2321 My trips all averaged around $750 a trip not including food with the usual 2 nights for a hotel because I would sometimes need to make a connection with a train the next day. I only rode coach as a sleeper car is much more expensive as it is priced based upon two people in a cabin but does include meals in the dining car. I ate mostly the lesser expensive food offered in the observation lounge car. Lots of turkey sandwiches but did use the dining car some. On one trip I got very lucky even though a train only going from St. Louis to Kansas City instead of taking close to 5 hours and a half hours took an additional 5 hours of sitting on the rails due to a freight train derailment earlier in the week that had things going very slow with a backlog of freight trains on the rails so there was lots of time sitting on sidings. I was lucky I still made a connection going west from Kansas City with a train that orignated in Chicago there because it was also many hours late due to congestion as well. The funny thing is AMTRAK was running a promotion that any train over 2 hours late would get a refund of their money. A very nice AMTRAK customer service agent after that trip got approval frpm his boss to instead give me an upgrade to all sleeper on the house for a future trip I had already booked. It was my favorite riding in a sleeper car on the trip but I did not have to pay for the upgrade. My favorite ride was STL to Chicago, then Chicago to the Bay area (Emeryville) through Colorado and the Sierras) on the Zephyr, then the Coast Starlight to L.A (120 miles of Pacific ocean) ., and then the Southwest Chief to Kansas City (the southwest) , and then the return to St. Louis. on the Missouri train I think you will enjoy the trip on the rails but caution my wife went once and it was too much rail time for her.
@@larryloveless2967 Thanks for the information!
My dad was telling me about the train depot in Pierceton had a runaway car I think hit the building and that’s why there was a hole in it that size. It’s pretty cool to see how much that scenery has changed since I was a kid. This is a pretty neat video.
I had a VHS tape of this trip. Very interesting.
I remember taking the capitol limited through Valparaiso and following HYW 30
As a kid of maybe 8 or 9 in the late 1960's before Amtrak, our family took the train from Ft Wayne to Chicago. I don't remember why we did, because we drove there. It might have been just because they knew I loved trains. Anyways, I remember it was early afternoon, but the train hit a cow somewhere in Ohio, and the train was HOURS late. It must have been a Sunday, because we just waited on the platform.
I want to remember so badly more of the trip, but I can't. I don't remember what train it was, or much of the trip at all. I can remember the countless trips we did take driving between Chicago and Ft Wayne in the 60's-70's, and following the tracks along Rt 30 betwwen Valpo and Ft Wayne. But I can't remember ever SEEING a train, except maybe once or twice. There were a lot of farms though. LoL
Fantastic!!!
However, by far this is my favorite flavor of train horn. Love it!
Early Nathan K5LA horn.
Blow Man Blow, it sounds so beautiful !!!
@@nssteampunk4865
How many different K5las did Amtrak use on the f40s? The k5la on 323 sounded very different.
Something about tornadoes being mentioned at 51:08.
That is so pretty good footage!
Very cool experience
1:22:52 GROVERTOWN!!
Thank you so much, Ive been looking for this video for ages.
Good ole' videotape!
Sad to see an Amtrak train plodding along at 30mph on such degraded straight track (end of video). The 80's were not good for Amtrak or freight rail :(
And no freight west of Warsaw. That was a sad time. At least CFE runs over it...
More the state of the old Pennsylvania main and Conrail in 1985. Other rail routes from Philadelphia and Pittsburgh to Chicago were more economic and maintainable
Amtrak itself was good but… Conrail was The issue for this train, Always was. Lake shore was always the top train to get To/From Chicago and has been for 50 years. Cardinal is well.. Nice for a scenic trip Ill say that.
With as straight as the track is from Valpo to Ft Wayne I can see why they talk about that being restored for passenger service. I know there probably isn't the passenger base for it, but it's cool to think about at least.
Yeah the old Broadway Limited and other PRR pass trains used blister these tracks running above the century mark when late! Hard to believe that today.
Have we heard anything new in 2023 about this?
WOW...the comments on here are just as amazing as this video!
It was the mainline of the world, 40 years earlier. And in the 1950s the Duplex, E and F unit would have run at 125mph on the Penn main faster than a DC3.
In the mid 1960s the Pennsylvania and the Santa Fe were the last great passenger railways still running the trains for real. But the Santa Fe ran the trains on time then and always have taken their Amtrak contracted trains thru pretty much time. In 2017 of the Amtrak Providers Burlington Santa Fe got an A for on time and Canadian National B+. The other Amtrak Providers Southern, Seaboard, Norfolk Southern, UP- SP got D-, E grade. Other than on the Santa Fe after 1968, you were likely to arrive a week late on any other railway.
And it shows the 1985 Capitol Limited, it is actually the Broadway Ltd/ Capitol limited right at the end, history and tragedy combined in 1984 peak Reagan's American, LA Olympics, but it's old old America were there's still hope even in Cleveland, Toledo and possibly Pittsburg.But this is an enthusiast special, it's for real, but from another time.
Look at the SW Chief running for Chicago on a 42hr timetable and holding 90mph - 145k in Missouri, determined to make Chicago on time that hit a truck , 5 days ago.Thete are 60 trains a day and pre COVID probably 6-10 passenger trains a day taking the crossing at 90 and the local county council and state hadn't even financed flashing light warning and a barrier. A railway running a world class service, and the only great trains in the US that runs to time.
The unprotected crossings on the old Pennsylvania main I. 1985 are of course just as scandalous in 1985 anywhere else in the world But I doubt if Reagan would have done Amtrak as Nixon reluctantly did in1971. Reagan and Eisenhower, actually we're regulars on SF Chief, till 1964. Ronnie feared flying. Amtrak really happened because of the disastorous NYC/ Penn merger in 1968.Penn Central was bankrupt by 1970 and unrecoverable in financial position , after floods in 1972 That meant this mainline and railway was in the hands of the receivers( debt accountants) in 1970-80.
the Dc 3 flew at close to 200 MPH
Wow, great cab ride!
Departure starts at:
2:10
Fun Fact: there is only a few telephone poles left on the line, one of which is located at Grovertown, Indiana, next to the main road crossing in town, and the rest are right next to "The Old Train Depot" Resteraunt in Pierceton, Indiana.
Used to be several in CC.
There are several in Plymouth too.
@@HOTRAILProductions thank you
This is interesting and I would probably enjoy it more if I could hear the commentary in the cab. Was there an additional line on the right side at one time? Now seeing the other line coming in at 42 mins or so.
12:57 "deer!"
Are there any. Flagstaff AZ to LA. CA Cab-Rodes from Amtrak Available to watch.
Very nice video but change the title to the Broadway limited cab ride that's train 41 not train 29 which is the Capitol limited!
I started my Amtrak career on this train just a few years later as sleeping car/ coach car attendant in 1988.
True that track over is close out so it is a single rail line that's true history of the railway plus they upgrade on AMTRAK now WOW consider is fascinating....100%
YOOOOO PRR MAIINE CABRIDE
Amtrak F40PH 313.
Its to bad somebody didnt film a cab ride on the southwind between logansport and chicago back in the day on the prr panhandle
Freaking awesome I!
1:40:00 hanna
25:00 Columbia City
Are any of the train depots still left on this route? Also always like the old signal towers.
Warsaw, Plymouth, and Pierceton all still exist.
What happened to part one?
51:54 50 mph
We're they still using the telephone wires?
Yes. The signal system used some of them. And the Railroad phone lines were still used here.
Hey I have this video are you sure you are allowed to upload to TH-cam anchor videos still have the rights to the video
25:05 Columbia City
This line would have been perfect for electrified high speed rail due to its straight track if the Pennsylvania railroad had electrified this line from Pittsburgh to Chicago
1:48:07 Resume Double Track
The awesomeness comes in 44:35
Oh yeah! I’ll bet that woke up the town of Warsaw 😎
1:35:33
Clear!
Im sad 😥
Could, not be 1984, they did not pull up the second set of tracks till 1988
1:27:00 hammlet
They have to spend millions on replacing these horns every year😀
Why didn’t the train stop at Warsaw?
Amtrak didn't stop there until some time later.... 1986 or possibly late 1985.
What was the engineer's name?
Dave Harter
70 MPH Track Speed 33:30 Welded rail to Warsaw
1:51:45 MIAMI VICE!
Why do railroads rip up tracks, downgrade double tracks, and tear down unused buildings like signal towers? To cut costs? Does this line no longer exist? It looks like Conrail ripped up one track then in 1984.
The line still exists as a single main track. From the Google Street View images that I checked out, it's still jointed rail, so probably still a very limited use route. Sad to see.
Its now owned by the cfe railroad owned by g&w and there is 1-3 trains a day.
There are other lines, in this case to the north of this line, that served the basic same markets. This is a route to Chicago thru northern Indiana. The old Nickle Plate and New York Central lines to the north served much the same purpose. So, in essence, this line was a duplicate line or even a third option. Too expensive to maintain and so you let it go maintenance wise. Reduce speeds, pull up the second track and hope that somebody wants to buy it and make it their problem. The lines to the north, especially the old Nickle Plate are extremely busy in 2021, often up to 50 trains a day across northern Indiana. This line was sold to a regional line operator and further downgraded. Still in use, but not very busy.
@@KyleW818 doesn't NS have trackage rights to use CF&E?
@@milepost4846 I’m not sure
59:27 BOURBON! 100 PROOF!
What the heck is that annoying bongo noise on the sound?
Likely the camera vibrating. Loose stuff vibrated all the time in old cabs.
Excellent video! Wish there was one foe the trip east of Fort Wayne.
Possibly where the train was operating over the jointed rail segments that still existed over that section of the old PRR, jointed rail doesn't ride as smooth as welded rail nor riding in the cab so lots of stuff rattling around or bouncing.
That is the microphone vibrating.
I wrote that Capital let me hear from Newark New Jersey to Chicago Illinois 2 years ago
that curve and no part of the PRR outside the NEC was ever rated for 130MPH. BTW, this was the Broadway, not the Capital.
@@bobbybrisk643 They identify themselves several times on the radio as Number 41; that's the Broadway's number. The two or three cars they tacked on at Pittsburgh came from the Capitol but otherwise this is the Broadway.
Wanatah 1:46:32
1:47:00 wanatah
Wanatah was prob the best looking tower, character-wise, on this part of the line retaining it's PRR era window awnings till the end. Bart Tower in Hobart Indiana was nice also.
More cowbell
Sounds like it.
2 hour's
They clearly say the train is the Broadway Limited. just saying.
At the time the tape was produced, this was a combined train and operated over the Pennsy west of Pittsburgh.
@@fortwaynerailroad Oh right i remember reading that somewhere.
Hands up if you thought this had something to do with the U.S. Capitol.
Try editing...
It's a documentary focusing on the ENTIRE line! Try reading...
Why? That's why I watched it. To see the WHOLE STRETCH of track, not portions of here and there.