- Clocker (train)
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Clocker
A PRR GG1 pulls a Clocker out of 30th Street Station in 1976, bound for New York.Overview Service type Inter-city rail Status Discontinued Locale Northeast Corridor First service May 1, 1971 Last service October 28, 2005 Successor New Jersey Transit Former operator(s) Amtrak Route Start Philadelphia End New York Distance travelled 91 miles (146 km) Average journey time 1 hour 35 minutes Service frequency Multiple weekday round-trips On-board services Class(es) Unreserved coach Technical Rolling stock Amfleet coaches Gauge 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) Electrification Overhead caternary Track owner(s) Amtrak Clocker was an Amtrak rail service operating between Philadelphia and New York City on the Northeast Corridor. It was the first service to be officially operated by Amtrak, when train number 235 left New York's Penn Station at 12:05 AM on May 1, 1971 bound for Philadelphia.[1] The last Clocker train ran on October 28, 2005. To replace the discontinued Clocker service, New Jersey Transit added four express trains on October 31, 2005 between Trenton and New York City operating on about the same schedule as the former Clocker trains.
Contents
Route
Amtrak's Clockers were rush-hour trains, mainly serving the commuter and day-trip market to New York City. New Jersey Transit (NJT) passholders could ride Clockers, which were listed in the NJT timetable in addition to Amtrak's. They were popular with those who commuted to New York from Trenton and Princeton Junction, as they were faster and more comfortable than NJT local trains.[citation needed]
Clockers made all, or almost all, Amtrak stops between 30th Street Station in Philadelphia and Penn Station in New York, unlike Amtrak's Regional trains, which skip some stations.[citation needed] The trains were unreserved, coach class only, and used Amfleet rolling stock after the 1970s.[citation needed]
Naming
The term Clocker originated with the Pennsylvania Railroad which had hourly train service between Penn Station in New York and Broad Street Station in Philadelphia.[2] Although referred to as "clockers" throughout the 1970s, Amtrak did not officially label them as "Clockers" (or "Clocker Service") until the October 25, 1981 timetable.[3] Between 1979 and 1981 the public timetable showed individual names for each Clocker. The Clockers were briefly rebranded as Acela Commuter in 2001 when Amtrak decided to use that moniker for most trains along the Northeast Corridor. Following mass rider confusion[citation needed] between this service and the high-speed Acela Express service, the name was returned to Clocker in 2003.
Former names
Name Number Notes New York-Philadelphia Philadelphian 237 Betsy Ross 211 Sunday-only service ran Springfield-Washington Keystone 219 Also the name of a Keystone Service train 1980-1981; see Valley Forge Garden State 221 William Penn 223 Quaker City 225 Rittenhouse 227,241 Schuylkill 229 Discontinued April 26, 1980 Philadelphia-New York Manhattan Limited 252 Gotham 254 Edison 200 New Yorker 202 Big Apple 204 Also the name of a Keystone Service train 1980-1994; see Valley Forge Central Park 210 Discontinued April 26, 1980 Murray Hill 220 Herald Square 222 Notes
- ^ Boye Sagert (2007), 218.
- ^ Rung, Jr., A. M. (January 1948). "Philly's personality trains". Trains.; 15
- ^ "National Train Timetables". Amtrak. October 25, 1981. http://www.timetables.org/full.php?group=19811025&item=0010. Retrieved 2010-04-18.
References
- Boye Sagert, Kelly (2007). The 1970s. Greenwood. ISBN 0313339198. http://books.google.com/books?id=SzGfma0m6bwC.
Categories:- Former Amtrak routes
- 1971 introductions
- Railway lines opened in 1971
- Railway lines closed in 2005
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