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Operation Cut the First 30 Years by Jack Grasso Soft Cover
Operation Cut the First 30 Years by Jack Grasso
The story of the rail operations out of Cleveland UNion Terminal in Railroading's goldena ge
Soft Cover
72 pages
Copyright 2003
TABLE OF CONTENTS
FORWARD 4
INTRODUCTION 5
TWO BROTHERS AND AN IDEA 6
OPERATIONS START 8
THE ELECTRIFICATION 12
DIESEL DAYS 22
LOCAL ELECTRIC OPERATION SURVIVED 39
CUT ELECTRICS FIND A NEW LIFE IN NEW YORK 50
CUT RAT PACK 54
APPENDIX 68
BIBLIOGRAPHY 72
INTRODUCTION
When we enter the city of Cleveland, we see a metropolis on the move with an attempt to bring back its glory days. Unfortunately the master plan does not include a renaissance of long distance rail passenger travel. Yes Amtrak runs a token operation out of its terminal by the river, but it is nothing like the days of the great Limiteds which ran out of this city during the Golden Age of Railroading.
When you see the Terminal Tower skyscraper in today's Tower City Complex, you may not realize that it was at one time a center for passenger train operations in railroading's golden age. The terminal and the complex of buildings surrounding it were the envy of other major cities.
Yes the rapid transit and light rail still leaves out of the great complex, but the Terminal Tower's days of being the place to carry the best of rail varnish is over. Instead of a major railroad terminal to catch your trains, you now have an indoor shopping mall with major businesses occupying space in the buildings. This may be progress to many of the residents and business leaders, but it is a backward trend to those who remember the days of the great passenger trains.
When railroading was the main business of this complex, business still manned the offices, a hotel operated, a restaurant flourished, but a major railroad terminal was in place instead of the shopping mall.
When people today talk about clean air, it must be said that those who planned Cleveland Union Terminal were years ahead of their time. Remember that steam was still king in the 20's, 30, and 40's. It lasted big time until the middle 50's. The Burlington's Pioneer Zephyr and the Union Pacific's gas and diesel streamlined sets were to come in 1934. These were mid western and western railroads and had no effect on Cleveland. The only early operation of diesel powered passenger trains that ran in the east were that of the B&O. Its operations would be in other areas and would not involve Cleveland. The New York Central System began running streamlined steam locomotives in the latter thirties. The Nickel Plate was not into streamlined power. So operation into Cleveland was strictly steam. The terminal was planned to be clean. Only electrification could solve the problem.
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