New York Central / Penn Central / EMD E Units call at Empire City Station

Greetings Blog Followers,

Rail fans were treated to an all EMD E unit day on the passenger trains calling at Empire City Station. Seems the New York Central Train Layout train master had several E units available today and assigned them so they would be at the station in succession.

 New York Central E8A #4040 leads a stream lined passenger train out of Empire City Station.

Another shot of #4040 headed out of the station

Next out is New York Central E8A #4088

 

 NYC E8A #4088 leading an EMD E8A in the Demonstrator paint scheme on point of Train#26

 EMD E8A in the catchy Demonstrator paint scheme. The New York Central Train Layout purchased this engine from EMD and have decided to leave in the original paint scheme 

 Penn Central E8A #4317 in a somber black depicts how the times they were a changing. The above E8A in the demonstrator scheme and New York Central Lightning Stripes reflect the optimism the railroads had for post war passenger rail traffic. The PC unit reflects the sobering reality of late 60's, early 70's passenger train traffic.  

Penn Central E7A #4210

New York Central E8A #4020 leads train #7 into Empire City Station. The #7 was a Mail Express Train carrying bulk mail and an R.P.O. from Chicago to Grand Central Terminal. The Mail and Express trains were profitable for the railroads and helped to offset the huge passenger train deficits they were experiencing due to lack of ridership. Sadly the U.S. Post Office would cancel the mail contracts in 1967. The last active R.P.O. Route was from New York City to Washington D.C. on the Penn Central and the last actual R.P.O. run would take place 10 years later in 1977

 An interesting fact on Mail by Rail is that in the 1980s air congestion and the increased weight of advertising catalogs caused the Post Office to renew shipping bulk mail by rail. Amtrak began carrying mail on many trains and freight trains pulled TOFC cars loaded with mail. In 1993 Amtrak and the USPO introduced RoadRailer Service, special intermodal equipment that could travel on both highway and rail without having to be hoisted onto a flat car. Amtrak stopped carrying mail in 2004 but mail continues to be carried by rail in intermodal service.