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Pere Marquette Passenger Car Pictorial by Arthur B Million w/ dust jacket
Passenger Car Pictorial by Arthur B Million
Hard Cover w/ dust jacket
299 pages
Copyright 2002 Reflections from the lights on some photos.
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION 5
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 7
DEDICATION 9
FOREWORD 11
CHAPTER ONE - HISTORY
The History of the Pere Marquette 13
Vignette - Northern Michigan Handbook for Travelers, 1898 22
CHAPTER TWO - VARNISH
Varnish Era Narrow Gauge Cars 27
Varnish Predecessor Cars as of 1897 29
Varnish Era Standard Cars 33
Varnish Era Roster 109
Vignette - Holidayland Calls Vacationists 119
Vignette - The Resort Special 121
CHAPTER THREE - HEAVYWEIGHT
Heavyweight Era 127
Heavyweight Era Roster 206
Vignette - Riding the Chicago Division Passenger Trains 1946 - 1971 211
CHAPTER FOUR - STREAMLINED
Streamlined Era 215
Streamlined Era Roster 288
Vignette - C&O Train "X" 293
Lettering Diagrams 296
REFERENCES 299
INTRODUCTION
This book presents the pictorial history the passenger equipment of the Pere Marquette Railway, from its formation in 1900 through its merger with the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway in 1947, to the C&O equipment used thereafter. Over fifty years of that history in all.
Very little has been written about the Pere Marquette and almost nothing about its passenger equipment. This is an attempt to alleviate that situation. We encountered great difficulty in locating material for this book. The main sources have been annual reports, the 1924 PM Passenger Car Diagram Book and the Pere Marquette Diagrams of Passenger Cars - Book #27 dated July 1, 1942, which has been backdated to 1931 and updated to 1950. We consulted car builders' records, as well as employee and public timetables, plus official PM and C&O documents supplied by Mr. Philip A. Shuster. Very little of the original PM information has survived. Most of it was destroyed when the PM merged into the C&O, or when the C&O material was moved from Richmond, Virginia to Huntington, West Virginia. What is presented here has been researched and gathered by the author, some PM rail enthusiasts, and former PM/C&O officials.
This book photographically illustrates almost all the major car types purchased and operated by the Pere Marquette. We found only poor quality photographs in some cases, and in other cases, none at is However we believe a poor quality photograph better than no photograph at all.
The Pere Marquette was the prominent railroad in Michigan. It was not a large road, but it was well-known outside the State of Michigan. People from Cincinnati, Louisville and St. Louis wanting to take in the pleasures of northern Michigan resort areas were welcomed aboard the summer-only The Resort Special. In the 1930s, the PM's identity spread further when the C&O gained control of the PM and introduced The Sportsman. The PM crews and engines handled these trains from Detroit and Toledo, making it the only inter-line trains handled by the PM. These trains also served New York City via Washington, DC, and Newport News, Virginia, via Richmond, Virginia; both trains connecting at Charlottesville, Virginia.
Throughout the PM's existence, it operated some very mundane passenger equipment, but the opposite is also true in that it had some very luxurious equipment. Its main passenger routes were from Chicago to Petoskey and Grand Rapids to Toledo via Detroit. Until the 1930s, many branch lines still operated with either local passenger trains or mixed-train service. After that most unprofitable branches were abandoned and mixed-train service discontinued.
In 1946, the PM introduced this country's first post-war streamlined train, The Pere Marquettes, between Grand Rapids and Detroit. Less than a year later the PM was merged into the C&O, becoming the Pere Marquette District of the C&O (the C&O becoming the Chesapeake District). After this merger, the policies of passenger equipment were set by the C&O. Late in 1948, the C&O introduced streamlined equipment to the Chicago-Grand Rapids trains, calling them The Pere Marquettes also. This equipment came from the C&O's ill-fated The Chessie train. With a change of color on the letter board from orange to Venetian yellow and the words "The Chessie" replaced with "Chesapeake & Ohio" in script lettering, the cars were put into service.
Most of this equipment was replaced in 1950 with cars the C&O ordered from Pullman-Standard. Most, of the former Chessie cars and some of the original PM streamlined coaches were sold off with the coming of this new equipment. Some of the Pullman-Standard cars were ordered specifically for the Pere Marquette District. As ridership declined, some of these cars were sold or transferred to the B&O. What remained through the 1960s was basically the coaches from the 1950 Pullman-Standard order, the streamlined head-end cars and diners, and some C&O heavyweight cars. The last train to Chicago from Grand Rapids had more Chicago & North Western cars on it than C&O!
Then there was nothing.
Now, Amtrak has a daily roundtrip from Grand Rapids to Chicago, and honors this train with the name Pere Marquette. This train has proven to be very popular.
It is our sincere wish that this book will prove interesting and useful to the PM enthusiasts, as well as the passenger car affection. Dimensional diagrams will aid those who are interested in modeling some of the equipment used on the PM.
All pictures are of the actual item. There may be reflection from the lights in some photos. We try to take photos of any damage. If this is a railroad item, this material is obsolete and no longer in use by the railroad. Please email with questions. Publishers of Train Shed Cyclopedias and Stephans Railroad Directories. Large inventory of railroad books and magazines. Thank you for buying from us.
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