Illinois Central’s Panama Limited, 1942-1967

 

Fred Klein, 2012

The Panama Limited was Illinois Central’s premier first-class train along its mainline from Chicago to New Orleans. The train, named after the anticipated Panama Canal, started in 1911 with heavyweight equipment. Like other major railroads, Illinois Central wanted to revamp its trains with colorful streamliners after the nation came out of the depression in the late 1930s and early 1940s. The war production board allowed Pullman Standard to complete the train order (made before the war) in 1942 because it was nearly completed when the war started. After the war, the train ran on an overnight 16 hour 30 minute schedule and IC charged extra fare because it was a luxury train. The Panama Limited probably ranks with the Super Chief and 20^th Century Limited as one of the nations most deluxe trains. The IC orange and brown colors make this one of the most beautiful trains of the streamline era.

 

New sleepers were added in 1950 and 1953. Also a parlor car and a two-unit diner were added. A winter-time dome car leased from the Northern Pacific was added in 1959. At the orders of Wayne Johnson, IC president from 1945-1966, the dome car was repainted every year in IC colors to preserve the brown and orange streamliner paint scheme. In 1967, coach cars were added to the Panama Limited due to falling ridership and it lost is all-sleeper status.

 

The consist is from Wayner’s Passenger train consists 1923-1973, page 34, of the train as it departed New Orleans on December 27, 1946. I’m sure it was loaded with holiday travellers and people returning from a warm vacation in the south.

 

 

Most of the cars of the Panama Limited are now easy to model in N scale because Centralia car shops/Intermountain has made essentially all the prototypically accurate Pullman sleepers available in IC orange and brown colors. The Intermountain diner and observation cars are similar designs from the same era but the windows do not match exactly. Specialty cars like dormitories and lounge cars have not been made and require substitutes. The two-unit diner and parlor added in the 1950s are not available in N-scale, but a substitute can be made for the parlor. Con-cor makes the wintertime dome car in IC colors that is prototypically accurate for the Budd dome coach leased from the NP. Life-like has made the E6, E7 and E8 diesels in IC colors. One can then make a prototypical mix of E units for any time during the 40s, 50s and 60s.

 

A painting of Panama Limited E6 locomotives used in EMD advertisements. Painting reproduced on page 102 of Illinois Central Streamliners 1936-1946 by Paul Somers.

 

 

The Panama Limited near Chicago. An E7 leads the consist including a heavyweight baggage car. The wide yellow stripes were removed in later years. Otto Perry photo from the Denver Public Library

 

The Panama Limited south of Chicago on June 6, 1966. None of the locomotives (these are E9s) had the large yellow stripes at this time, but it was still an all-sleeper train. J.J. Buckley photo.

 

Power and baggage cars

 

The EMD diesels had two wide yellow stripes in the first decade in addition to the stunning IC paint scheme. The A units also had “Panama Limited” on the side of the front. I added these decals to the factory painted Life-like models. I also added a B unit in addition to the published consist. IC owned E7Bs delivered starting in 1946. I do not know if any E7Bs were painted with the extra yellow stripes or how often they were used in the Panama Limited, but E7B’s with yellow stripes appear in IC advertising drawings. I lead the train with an E6 locomotive, but unfortunately the Lifelike model has only a single headlight unlike the dual-headlight prototype. The two E7’s are also Lifelike models.

 

A Pullman Standard baggage car and older Harriman heavyweight baggage cars are prototypical to the IC and were used in the Panama Limited, City of New Orleans and other trains. I don’t have a baggage-dormitory car as used in the prototype train, but I substituted a heavyweight 60’ Harriman baggage car and an 18-roomette sleeper (the crew normally does not get private bathrooms).

 

First sleeper section

 

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The next car should be a baggage-dormitory for the use of the crew, but this car is not offered in N scale, nor are IC passenger decals. The first 18-roomette car is a substitute for the baggage-dorm car. The next sleeper in the 1946 consist was supposed to be a 12 section-1 drawing room heavyweight, but a 12-1 painted in IC colors is not yet made. I substitute a 1950 10 roomette-5 drawing room car. I’m sure the old 12-1 sectioned sleepers were eliminated during 1950 when new 10-5 sleepers were added to the train. Curtained section sleepers were unpopular after the war, so a 1950s consist would not need this car. The next two cars are the common 6 section-6 roomette-4 double bedroom “state” cars. The sections had small upper windows in the car side for the upper berth because the occupant, who may not have known the person in the lower berth, did not have access to a window like the roomette passengers. The window spacing and size of the sections is closer than the roomettes in the center of the car. A bathroom window is between the sections and roomettes. All cars in this group are made and painted by Centralia car shops/Intermountain.

 

More Pullmans and a diner

 

The next two cars are a 6 section-6 roomette-4 double bedroom followed by an 18-roomette car as in the published consist. The third car in this group should be a 3 double bedroom-1 compartment-1drawing room-buffet car, but I substitute a 4-4-2 because the buffet car is not made in N scale. The diner used on the Panama Limited was made by Pullman Standard in 1941 for the train. I use the Intermountain “eastern diner”, which they felt was the closest of their two offerings to the IC prototype.

 

More Pullmans and the observation car

 

The final group of the Panama Limited had a 4-4-2 and two 6-6-4 sleepers. I only have one more 6-6-4 and so substitute a 10 roomette-5 double room car. IC bought five 10-5 cars from Pullman in 1950 to replace older heavyweight cars and cars with old-fashioned sections, so their presence in post-1950 trains is very prototypical. The 2 bedroom-2 compartment-1 drawing room observation car was made by Pullman in 1942. The Intermountain model is a Pullman observation similar to the IC prototype. The actual IC car initially had a unique lighted “Panama Limited” sign in the center of its side, and “Pullman” in the letter board. In the 50s the lighted sign was removed (as shown in photographs) and “Panama Limited” was placed in the letter board, as in the pictured model. The sleeper cars retained “Pullman” in the letter board even after car ownership was transferred from Pullman to the IC in 1948.

 

 

 

References

Heimburger, Donald, Illinois Central: Mainline of Mid-America, Heimburger House Publishing, 1995.

Randall, David, From Zephyr to Amtrak, Prototype Publications, 1972.

Schafer, Mike, and Joe Welsh, Classic American Streamliners, Motorbooks International, 1997.

Somers, Paul, Illinois Central streamliners, TLC Publishing, 1995.

Stagner, Lloyd, Illinois Central in Color, Morning Sun Books, 1996.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panama_Limited

 

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