Welcome to UnlikelyPCRR.com

This is a labor of love, an attempt to archive the paper history of the Penn Central Railroad online.

The unlikely part of this site derives from the fact that your very amateur archivist resides in Northern California, 3000 miles and 34 years from a spot East of the Wellesley, MA station where he and a friend sat with cameras, two beach chairs, and the hope of another train before Mom came to bring us home.

The Penn Central was a gritty, far flung railroad that in some people’s minds is very forgettable. It had neither the romance of the steam era nor the thrill of the streamliner era to allow it to take root in the hearts and minds of railfans. In fact, deferred maintenance resulted from a lack of profits, and “our” PC was one of noisy diesels belching thick black smoke, making a bunch of noise, and rarely did the paint disguise the former lineage of the unfortunate diesels that seemed so tired.

But for those of us whose formative years as railfans were as teens in the early 70’s in Ohio or Pennsylvania or Massachusetts, it was our railroad, and regrettably to us it did not survive into a future of prosperity that graced the industry’s leaders. Some of us even doodled away their time in school trying to replicate the perfect, tight fit, mating worms logo. The songwriter Paul Simon said in a song (around that time in fact) that “One Man’s Ceiling is Another Man’s Floor”. So here, in the countryside of SP Daylights and Big Boys, UP Streamliners and Santa Fe Warbonnets, we have launched this small basement dedicated to the long dead Penn Central.

As I reconnected with the PC from a distance of time and geography, and sought to gather prototype data for my modeling efforts, it became clear that not many resources of real use were available on the web. What was clear was that a ton of PC paper floated around on eBay, and I have been buying up stuff for literally a few bucks here and there. I was also armed with a new Mac and scanner. Upon learning from my first acquisition of PC Employee Timetables that they were conveniently screw bound for easy assembly (at the printing plant) and hence “dissembly” (by an archivist more than 30 years later), well, I guess it's best just to say: there we began, and we seem to not want to stop.

Paul Weiss
November, 2006
Marin County, California

UPDATED April 23 2008... MORE COMING SOON
please let us know that you stopped by!
email: admin@unlikelyPCRR.com


CONTENTS:

NEWEST ADDITIONS as of Apr 23 2008
PC General Notice 207 discusses clearances
PC Hand Brakes Guide is a how to with photos manual
PC Operations Maps: Chief Engineer June 1975 is a complete detailed system map book
PC Definitions the Rail Way is a comprehensive glossary
PC Perlman Yard Brochure is a 70's PR masterpiece that's so retro it's cool again
PC Operation Manual for Silver Liner Mark IV Cars neat how to operate guide
PC Operation SURE Manual tells how to use the radio
PC Eastern Region Info Booklet good info about PA area operations

ALSO:
EMPLOYEE TIMETABLES
PC POST NEWSLETTERS
OPERATING MANUALS
MINOR FORMS
OTHER (incl Diesel Spotters Guide)
BOSTON STUDY GROUP


EMPLOYEE TIMETABLES:

PC Central Region Timetable No5 Dec 15, 1972
PC Eastern Region Timetable No9 Dec 15, 1972
PC Eastern Region Timetable No11 May 19, 1974 (vy large 61mb file)
PC Lake Region Timetable No2 Dec 1, 1968
PC Metropolitan Region Timetable No6 Dec 8, 1974
PC New Haven Region Timetable No26 Feb 2, 1969
PC New Haven Region Timetable No1 Apr 27, 1969
PC Northeastern Region Timetable No6 Oct 29, 1972
PC Northeastern Region Timetable No7 May 19, 1974
PC Northern Region Timetable No7 Jan 1, 1975
PC Southern Region Timetable No7 May 1, 1975
PC Western Region Timetable No4 May 15, 1970
PC Western Region Timetable No6 Sep 15, 1973

PENDING UPLOADS
Central 3, Central 4
Chesapeake 2
Eastern 1, 2, 3, 4. 5. 6. 8
New Haven 2, 3
New York 1
Northeastern 11
Southern 5


PENN CENTRAL POST  EMPLOYEE NEWSLETTERS

We have accumulated and uploaded most of the PC Posts. Published in folded newspaper format with a page size of 11 x 17, we have made the local decision to carefully slice each page horizontally. You will find the content and readability nearly unaffected. Most of the content is fluffy PR stuff, but there are some gems about new equipment, routes, and customers and we are doing our best to provide the highlights of each issue.

March 1 1968 Inaugural Issue Cover: A New Emblem for A New Railroad; PENN CENTRAL BORN 12:01pm Feb 1 1968; Color is GREEN; Management Team; Labor Issues
March 15 1968 Cover: Stanley Yard; Buffalo, Westinghouse Generator Load, Inside the Bright New Penn Station, Flag Raising PC Colors at NYC Headquarters.
July 1968 Cover: Biggest Project; Good Eating in Parlor Car,Hollidaysburg PA car plant, Trash service, Washington Station, Selkirk yard is PC's Biggest Project, Selkirk NY scale model of new shop.
August 1968 Cover: A Famous Loco Gets Its Stack Back; Reuben Wells steam loco, Strates Shows Carnival Train, Moviemaking "Call Us Penn Central", Equal Opportunity.
September 1968 Cover: What's He Doing In the Air?; Special PC Hotel Rates, PRR/NYC Silverplate Sale, Cat's Whiskers Clearance Car
October 1968 Cover: Scholarship Girl; TOFC "Trailvan"
November 1968 Cover: Barbra Streisand; NY Postal Fire, Passenger Service Update, Safety
December 1968 Cover: Holiday Greetings (Log Car); Steer Palaces; Refurbishing Cabin Cars; 100 MPH Commuters; 1969 Auto Trade; Careers; Ladies; New Train NFE2 Buffalo-Enola; Nixon Presidential Special
January 1969 Cover: They're Watching For The V.M.; Rwy Historical Society of Northern NY; In Memoriam RFK; High Speed Trains Coming
February 1969 Cover: Back to School; Mod Stripes (ACI); Perlman Yard; Hotshot to the South (S. Kearny NJ); NH Joins PC
Mar 1969 Cover: Metroliner; Ford Prep Center at Port Newark; NH Joins The Family; 4 page SYSTEM MAP; America Greets the Metroliner
April 1969 Cover: Action! Camera!; Cars for Commuters; Blizzard of 69; F-40 Depressed Center Flatcar; Beech Grove Shops; Rail Detector Car
May 1969 Cover: Metroliner Enthusiasm; Grain Trad; New Cabin Car; Metroliner's Newest Run is Nonstop; 4 page FREIGHT SERVICE GUIDE Panorama of PC
July 1969 Cover: Smart Girl; Merger 15 Months After; Turbotrain
August 1969 Cover: Is It Safe Up There?; Hudson Division (map); Diesel Testing
September 1969 Cover: What's Breaking Him Up?; Upgrading Passenger Equipment; Flood Damage; Better Yards
October 1969 Cover: Lady in the Yard; Coal Boom; Moving CTC Machine to Buffalo; Detroit Division (map)
November 1969 Cover: What a Way to Run a Railroad; RoRo to Sweden; Trailvan; Hustle Muscle Loco Repowering
January 1970 Cover: Man Behind the Wheel; Fast Tickets for Metroliners; Steam British Style; Record 1.1 mm Pound Shipment (nuclear steam generator); Passenger Service Q+A
February 1970 Cover: What's He Making?; The Big Snow; RADAR Tells the Story; Building Cars; 69-70 Review and Preview; Columbus Division (Map)
July-August 1970 Cover: He Has Five Good Reasons; PC FILES BANKRUPTCY JUNE 21; Trespassers; Bond Savings Plan; Toledo Division (map); X-67 Boxcar; Go Power New EMD Locos.
September 1970 Cover: Trustees Meet The Press; 6 Month Loss is $141 million, Mini-Train small train initiative, MoW, Nelson Rockefeller comments on new cars
November 1970 Cover: They've Got To Move; Metroliner Update; Management Changes; Faster Freight to the West; Keep Hoppers Rolling
December 1970 Cover: Christmas at Logansport; Stretched Boxcars; New Future for Passenger Service (National Rail Passenger Corp formed); PC LOSS IS $6 MM PER WEEK
January 1972 Cover: PC On The Move; Hammermill Pulp Train; Flexi Flo Growth; Amtrak
February 1972 Cover: What Happened in 1971, Outlook 1972; Q+A with W.H. Moore; Amtrak's New Look
May 1972 Cover: Piggyback Train; Reorganization Plan; Train Crew Issue; PRR Treasures Auctioned
August-September 1972 Cover: SPECIAL FLOOD ISSUE (Red Masthead); Flood Coerage with Map; Shocks Mill Bridge
October-November 1972 Cover: They've Got To Learn; Fixing Bridges After Agnes (Corning NY); Trustees' Report
March 1973 Cover: New Industries on the PC; New Plants; DAYS OF DECISION as PC Struggle Enters Critical Stage
May-June 1973 Cover: The Excitement of Rail-Bridge; Remapping Trade Routes with new PC Rail-Bridge, Ralston Purina in Dunkirk NY, PC Away Down South in Dixie
September 1973 Cover: Starting College with Financial Help; Shocks Bridge Restored; Protect Those Steaks; New Cars and Locos Coming; Auto Trade; NJ Commuters
October-November 1973 Cover: Building on the PC; Building on the PC, Commuter Service, FRA waives track standards, New Customers
January-February 1974 Cover: Applying Bumper Sticker; Energy Squeeze, The New Rail Act
April 1974 Cover: Letters excerpted; Where PC Stands Now, Passenger Service
May 1974 Cover: Grade Crossing, Grade Crossings, Twister, Mosel Yard,
June 1974 Cover: Savings Bonds; MoW, Prefab Motel moves by flatcar,
September 1974 Cover: Scholarship Winners; New Miller Brewery at Volney NY, Sale of 144 acre NYC yard to Trump for $100 mil
October 1974 Cover: Where The Money Goes;, Where We Stand Now, New Northeast Corridor Region (map), Salt mining Himrod NY
November-December 1974 Cover: 1975 Calendar; Keeping Freight From Getting Hurt; FACTerminal modernized freight agency operations; Maintenance Problems
January 1975 Cover: Women On The Job; More Shippers Use Flexi Flo (photo); Another Flexi Flo Idea
February 1975 Cover: Company's Coming; Sunnyside Coach Operations, New Car Shop at New Haven,
April 1975 Cover: Savings Bonds
September 1975 Cover Shippers Send Bouquets; PC Trustees See Major Problems, Intermodal Service
November-December 1975 Cover: They Polled The Shippers
March 1976 Final Issue Cover: Complex World of Freight Rates; Pennies Shipped for U.S. Mint; New Terminal Newark, DE; Final Issue Message - Conrail Control Starts April 1


OPERATING MANUALS AND OFFICIAL PUBLICATIONS

NEW PC Special Instructions for Operating Signals and Interlockings CT405
NEW PC Position Light Signals An intro level coursebook series
NEW PC Position Light Signal (Book Two) More signals descriptions and coursework
NEW PC Color Light Signals (Book Three) Even more signals descriptions and coursework
NEW PC Trailvan Sales Manual Tons of Trailvan info, two photos, equipment diagram
NEW PC Rules for Station Employees July 1 1968
NEW PC Employees Guide to Perlman Yard Selkirk NY Wonderful map
NEW PC Manual for Construction and Maintenance of Track Feb 1 1974
PC Electrical Operating Manual CT290 Jan 1 1973
PC Rules For Conducting Transportation Manual CT400 Apr 28 1968
PC Brake and Train Air Instructions March 1969
PC Hazardous Materials Regs May 1969


MINOR FORMS:

PC Envelope for Pass Train Forms to Dir Passenger Train Op NY
PC Pass Train Form Tickets Honored but not Lifted
PC Pass Train Form Fare Not Paid
PC Pass Train Form Clergy and Furlough Fares


OTHER:

PC Diesel Spotters Guide The Spotters Guide captured the whole PC fleet and is a wonderful resource for modelers researching the period.


BOSTON FREIGHT TERMINAL STUDY GROUP

We are attempting to gather links and resources for those of us particularly interested in railroad activities in and around downtown Boston including the Boston Freight Terminal Corp.

Boston Public Library Fort Point Channel Images Thx to Michael Litant
Photo Fort Point Channel Bridges 1931 Thx to Michael Litant
Beacon Park Photos
Allston Photos