The Liberty Limited was a named train on the Pennsylvania Railroad . It ran from Washington D.C. to Chicago , Illinois , through Baltimore , Harrisburg and Pittsburgh . It began running on September 27, 1925, as a replacement for the Washington–Broadway Limited , which had been introduced in 1923. It originally was scheduled to complete its route in 19 hours.
8-759: In June 1938 it became one of the original trains making up the Pennsylvania Railroad's "Fleet of Modernism", using modern streamlined lightweight equipment, along with the General , the Broadway Limited and the Spirit of St. Louis . Beside streamlining, its travel time was reduced to 16 hours 25 mins; 30 mins slower than B&O's premier train the Royal Blue. The train consisted of one lounge Car (Drawing-room, three Double Bedrooms, Buffet),
16-532: A 14 sections heavyweight Pullman sleeper, a 12-5 and a 10-5 lightweight Pullman sleeper, one dining car, one coach with reclining seat which was regularly assigned, an observation car with two master bedrooms, one double bedroom and a buffet lounge. Prime power was PRR K4s , PRR S1 #6100, T1s and diesel engines. Its primary competition were the Baltimore & Ohio 's Royal Blue and Capitol Limited . It last ran on October 27, 1957, after which its equipment
24-555: The Broadway Limited , it had no extra fare. For a time before World War II, the train carried more passengers than the Broadway Limited and had been stealing passengers from the New York Central Railroad 's 20th Century Limited . The General was inaugurated in 1937, and carried coaches and Pullmans . It received some new lightweight equipment in 1938 as part of the fleet of modernism, but it
32-584: The Broadway's pre-war View series observation cars. In 1951 the General lost its all-Pullman status when it was combined with the all-coach Trail Blazer for non-peak travel periods only. In 1952 this consolidation became permanent, and by 1960, the Trail Blazer name was dropped. In the late 1950s, the General also carried coaches and sleepers from Washington, DC, to Chicago via Harrisburg, when
40-552: The Liberty Limited Special . The 2005 Polaneczky story has been the source of a 'the media never tells' fake news campaign, where the 2005 article is repeated but the game date is changed to a recent year. General (train) The General (train numbers 48 and 49) was the Pennsylvania Railroad 's (PRR) number two train between New York City and Chicago . Only marginally slower than
48-457: Was created from Levin's historic private stock and joined with private cars from other supporters. The Army-Navy Liberty Limited run was repeated in later years (2006, 2010). A 2005 Ronnie Polaneczky, Liberty Limited, Philadelphia Daily News story was reprinted in 2015 as a photo blog by Michael Froio. The Army-Navy commemorative train runs were the subject of a 2017 podcast interview with Bennet Levin on YouTube: Honoring Our Veterans: The Story of
56-590: Was mostly heavyweight until 1940. It was the only "Fleet of Modernism" train to be streamlined without an observation car . It lost its coaches but still had a passenger-baggage car attached to its consist when the Advance General was inaugurated in 1940. The General became an All-Pullman train in April 1942. It was re-equipped with lightweight sleeping cars from both the pre-war Broadway , and new cars from post-war orders in 1948. At this time, it also carried
64-716: Was moved to the Chicago–New York General , which also picked up a leg connecting from Harrisburg to Washington, D.C. In late 2005, Bennet and Vivian Levin organized a commemorative private train dubbed Liberty Limited to take 88 veterans from the Washington Walter Reed Army Medical Center and the Bethesda Naval Hospital to the annual Army-Navy football game in Philadelphia on December 3, 2005. The train
#46953