Chesapeake & Ohio’s George Washington, 1950-c1968

Fred Klein, 2010

In 1946, the C&O ordered 284 passenger cars from Pullman Standard, making a commitment to launch a fleet of streamlined passenger trains, though many cars in this order were later cancelled. Also ordered were cars from the Budd Company to be part of a train called the Chessie, which never ran because the falling passenger demand and financial pressures could not fund it. The Budd cars were delivered in 1948 and the PS cars appeared in 1950. New diesel locomotives were ordered in 1949, and the re-equipped 1950 George Washington never ran with steam. The George Washington, first started as a heavyweight train in 1932, was C&O’s premier passenger train with the best service and sleepers. It ran from Washington to Cincinnati, with sections splitting off at Charlottesville to Newport News Virginia in the east, and at Ashland NC to Louisville Kentucky in the west. Through service was offered to Chicago west of Cincinnati via New York Central. The George Washington was completely upgraded with new cars in 1950. The Pere Marquette railroad merged into the C&O in 1947, and the C&O took control of the B&O in the 1960s (and eventually merged it in 1976), hence the presence of B&O cars in C&O trains toward the end of the George Washington’s streamlined era.

 

The new 1950 coaches had reclining seats and a mid-car partition to make the car divided into more cozy sections. The partition separated one row of seats and the center aisle, and passengers walked through a semi-circular passageway on the side of the car where the large gap between windows is located. The division also had the “benefit” of separate white and black sections if the car was in Jim Crow country.

 

The George Washington in Louisville in 1965. Many B&O cars are in the train, and the consist apparently changes as needed. Photo from Schafer’s Classic American Railroads page 23.

 

Although his picture shows the Fast Flying Virginian (FFV) in Cincinnati in 1964, it could be any of C&O’s streamlined trains. Apparently the consolidation with B&O has not been implemented because no B&O painted cars are visible, at least on this day. Photo from Schafer’s The American Passenger Train, page 117.

 

The consist of the GW is based on that published by Robert Wayner in Passenger Train Consists 1923-1973 for a GW departing Charlottesville VA on February 29, 1968. Prototypical models of most cars (E8 diesels, baggage cars, coaches, and 10/6 sleepers) are available. Three of the old Rowa passenger cars with corrugations on the lower sides are prototypical to the C&O (divided coach, 10/6 sleeper, and square-end lounge observation). I am not a C&O modeler, but the availability of so many prototype models made the GW a tempting train. As with most trains, the diners and lounges must be improvised or substituted.

 

Amazingly, the 1968 train has only one diner-lounge car for so many coaches and sleepers. It may be that by 1968, the passenger load and level of service was much less than earlier. I therefore added a diner look-alike (a Walthers coach) and substituted another lounge car (a Rowa car prototypical to the C&O but not in the published GW consist) to represent an earlier, better equipped GW with both diner and lounge. I therefore suspect the consist would be different than the published 1968 consist for a 1950 train.

 

 

 

Power and head end section

 

The C&O bought E8A diesels to power its streamlined trains and did not have any B booster units. These nice models were made by Life-like. Foreign baggage/express cars were commonplace, and this New York Central car is probably on its way to Chicago. I believe many of the C&O baggage cars were rebuilt heavyweight cars that were similar to this C&O Walthers model of a c.1950 PS lightweight baggage car.

 

First sleeper and coach section

 

The C&O streamliners carried many B&O cars after taking control of the B&O in the 1960s, and may have picked up B&O sleepers originating from other cities served by the B&O. I do not have a model of a B&O 16 duplex-4 double bedroom car, so a prototypical 10 roomette-5 double bedroom car substitutes. The 10/6 sleepers in the “City of” series were the backbone of the C&O fleet, and the old Rowa car “City of Newport News” is a prototypical model. The divided 1950 PS coaches were most common on the C&O streamliners. The first model is the old Rowa coach and the second is the new Centralia-Intermountian divided coach, both of which are prototypical of those owned by the C&O.

 

Central dining and sleeper cars

 

Amazingly, this 1968 train has only one diner-lounge car for so many coaches and sleepers. I added a diner look-alike car (a Walthers corrugated coach) to this 1968 consist to stand for a full diner that must have been present in earlier trains. I also substituted another lounge car: The observation lounge-5 bedroom car was built by PS in 1950 with a square end so it could function in mid train. The lounge car in the Club series is prototypical to the C&O, but is not in the published 1968 GW consist. This is an old Rowa model of the Allegheny Club lounge car. Next is another 10/6 sleeper, the City of Charleston, a Walthers model of a smoothside car. The model represents the 10/6 car after the corrugations were removed, and the windows are a similar but not an exact match to the prototype. The C&O 10/6 sleepers originally had sides corrugated on their lower half, but later I believe the corrugations on some cars were removed. The B&O 10/6 sleeper is a Con cor model of a Budd sleeper.

 

Dome car (not for C&O or George Washington)

 

The 1948 order to Budd for cars for the Chessie train included 3 dome cars with 5 roomettes, 1 bedroom and 3 drawing rooms, but the train was cancelled and the cars were sold to other railroads. Rowa made a model of a different PS dome car similar to the 1949 dome coaches sold to B&O, Wabash and Missouri Pacific. Rowa decorated it in C&O colors, but with the Chessie name. A car like this factory painted model never existed in these colors and with the Chessie name. If you have this model and don’t mind a nice looking but non-prototypical paint job, this is the C&O train to run it in.

 

Last coach and sleeper section

 

Two more coaches and a 10/6 sleeper ended the George Washington. The Rowa and Centralia-Intermountain coaches make prototypical models. The smoothside 10/6 sleeper is a Walthers car that is similar to the prototype. A mail storage (baggage) car is attached to the end of the train so it can be easily removed at its destination city.

 

 

REFERENCES

Millard, James Kemper. Chesapeake and Ohio Streamliners: Second to none volume 1: The cars, Chesapeake and Ohio historical society, 1994.

Schafer, Mike. Classic American Railroads, MBI Publishing, 2000.

 

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