Chicago to New York in Style

The locomotive in the picture on the front of this post card is Nickel Plate Number 172. It is pulling train Number 8 from Chicago to New York. It is

departing Chicago here on October 14, 1955. The following information was taken from these two websites: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nickel_Plate_Road and https://www.american-rails.com/nickel.html Its 2,200-mile network linked Buffalo with Chicago and St. Louis within the hotly contested Midwestern market while the late-era addition of the Wheeling & Lake Erie provided significant coal and steel traffic. It was built to impeccably high standards with a physical plant capable of high-speed service that shined in the post-World War II era. As a result, all three trunk lines (Pennsylvania, New York Central, and Baltimore & Ohio) occasionally shifted their own trains (including flagship services) onto the Nickel Plate. It did so well, in fact, that according to John Rehor's excellent book, "The Nickel Plate Story," the company grossed $2.8 billion between 1945 and the 1964 merger with Norfolk & Western while enjoying profits of $250 million. Today, many of the Nickel Plate's primary corridors remain in use under successor Norfolk Southern. The Nickel Plate Limited was a passenger night train operated by the New York, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad (Nickel Plate) between Chicago and Buffalo, New York via Cleveland, Ohio, with through service to Hoboken, New Jersey (for New York City) via Binghamton and Scranton and the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad for the Buffalo-Hoboken segment. In 1954 the Nickel Plate renamed the train: the westbound train became the City of Chicago while the eastbound train became the City of Cleveland. Service to Hoboken ended in 1959. Both trains survived the Nickel Plate itself: service ended on September 10, 1965, a year after the Nickel Plate's 1964 merger with the Norfolk and Western Railway. They were the final remnants of the Nickel Plate's passenger service.

This post card was published by Audio-Visual Designs our of Earlton, New York. It was published between 1955 and 1963. I know this because the picture was taken in 1955 and the address of Audio-Vidual Designs does not include a zip code. Zip codes were introduced in the United States in 1963.

Still Going Strong After All These Years

The Nevada Northern Railway was built over a century ago to service what would become one of the largest copper mines in North America. Today, several of the original coal-fired standard-gauge steam locomotives that were ordered and delivered new to the railroad over 110 years ago are still in operation! The Nevada Northern Railway is the best-preserved example of a standard-gauge short-line left in North America.

The locomotive pictured on the front of this post card is a “Ten-wheeler” owned and operated by above mentioned The Nevada Northern Railway Museum. You can check out the Nevada Northern Railway by going to their website. This is their address: https://nnry.com ........They have a fan club and the following information was taken from their website: https://locomotive.fandom.com/wiki/Nevada_Northern_No._40 The Nevada Northern No. 40 is a 4-6-0 ten-wheeler type, steam locomotive which was built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in July 1910 for the Nevada Northern Railroad Company. It originally served as the main passenger locomotive during the years when the Nevada Northern was a US Class 2 railroad. It served as the lead locomotive for the railroad's crack passenger train, the "Steptoe Valley Flyer". Before the Nevada Northern retired the locomotive in 1941, the locomotive was given a complete overhaul in secret by the shop crews in the Ely roundhouse. The locomotive was then put onto standby service. Afterwards, it was used in 1956 for the railroad's 50th Anniversary excursion and for pulling a charter train for the Central Coast Railway Club in 1958 before being tucked back into retirement in the very back of the Ely roundhouse, preserved along with several passenger cars . This was the last time the locomotive operated in revenue service. When the Nevada Northern shut down in the 1980's, the City of Ely was given the historic locomotive and train, along with the entire East Ely Yard, which was unaltered since being built in 1906, and any of the equipment and all of it which was inside the donated property. It is now currently used as a mixed traffic unit with the other Nevada Northern steam and diesel locomotives. But, its most famous role is the main locomotive for the "Ghost Train of Old Ely" excursion train.

The post card was published by Audio-Visual Designs in Earlton, New York after 1983. I know this year because the American zip code has the combination of 5 digits, a dash, then 4 more digits. This system was introduced in 1983 in the United States. I can get even closer to the publishing date, because the words on the back of the post card describing the scene on the front tell us that this was a run that was made on October 31, 1992. So, while the picture looks old because of the 110 plus year-old locomotive and the collection of cars behind it, it is really probably less that 30 years old.

The Empire Express

The following information was gleaned from this article: https://www.american-rails.com/york.html#History

The modern New York Central Railroad map was a collection of predecessor properties which merged or were acquired over many years. The earliest component was one of the industry's pioneers, the Mohawk and Hudson Railroad (M&H). The M&H was incorporated on April 17, 1826. The M&H holds historical significance as one of the earliest railroads ever chartered and built, opening 16 miles between Albany and Schenectady on August 9, 1831. At first, it primarily handled only passenger traffic since New York had recently opened the Erie Canal. Six other small roads comprised what later became the NYC's main line between Albany and Buffalo. These systems included the Utica & Schenectady, Syracuse & Utica, Auburn & Syracuse, Auburn & Rochester, Tonawanda Railroad, and Attica & Buffalo. At the time in which the company was still known as the New York Central & Hudson River Railroad as it would not become known as the New York Central System until around 1914. The Empire State Express's creation was thanks to George H. Daniels who was then the railroad's General Passenger Agent but had only been with the company since 1889. On May 10, 1893 the train broke a land speed record of 112.5 mph using 4-4-0 #999. Interestingly, the rather small American, at just 37 feet in length, maintained the record for an entire decade. Over the years the train lost a bit of its allure, especially after the 20th Century Limited was unveiled as the line's flagship ran to Chicago. However, during the streamliner era the NYC upgraded the Empire State with such status, including a sleek and matching steam locomotive that truly made the train stand out. That is the train you see on the front of this post card.

The picture is actually a painting that is kept as part of the Merrill Collection at the Huntington Library in San Marino, California (all rights are reserved). The post card was published by Pomegranate Publications out of Petaluma, California.

The Rock Island Line was a Mighty Fine Line

The Mikado (the wheel arrangement name "Mikado" originated from a group of Japanese type 9700 2-8-2 locomotives that were built by Baldwin Locomotive Works for the 3 ft 6 in gauge Nippon Railway of Japan in 1897)

in the picture on the front of this post card turned in some fine performance records while in operation on the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad. Unfortunately, their accomplishments (and that of the diesels that replced them) was not enough to overcome the financial situation of the railroad. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Chicago-Rock-Island-and-Pacific-Railroad-Company tells us that... The Chicago, Rock Island, and Pacific Railroad Company, its official name, was also known as the Rock Island Railroad, or The Rock. It was a U.S. railroad company founded on February 27, 1847 as the Rock Island and La Salle Railroad Company to build a line from Rock Island to La Salle, Illinois. Construction began in earnest on October 1, 1851 after the first $300,000 was raised. The first train ran on the tracks on October 10, 1852 between Chicago and Joliet, Illinois. Construction continued on through La Salle, and Rock Island was reached on February 22, 1854. This made it the first railroad to connect Chicago with the Mississippi River. By 1866 its lines extended from Chicago, Illinois to Council Bluffs, Iowa. Management in the late 19th century was extremely conservative, but new interests took over in 1901. By 1907 the line attained its peak length of 14,270 miles (22,975 kilometres) in 13 states, but this rapid expansion impaired its credit and it was reorganized in 1917 and again in 1947. In the 1960s the Rock Island again began to decline. Merger discussions with other railroads failed, and it began bankruptcy proceedings in March 1975. Federal loan guarantees kept it running, but in January 1980 a federal judge ordered the railroad liquidated on the grounds that there was no way of reorganizing it for profitable operation. Its properties were sold off piecemeal in the early 1980s. This post card was published by Bob Fremming from Dallas Wisconsin. Unfortunately, I cannot find any information about him or the company that printed this post card. But, here is the back for you to admire.