Portal:Trains/Selected article/Week 49, 2007

The Capitol Limited was an American passenger train run by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, originally between New York City and Grand Central Station in Chicago, Illinois, via Union Station, Washington, D. C., and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It was inaugurated on May 12, 1923, as an all-Pullman sleeping car train running from Pennsylvania Station in New York City to Chicago, via Washington, D. C. It was designed to compete against the luxury trains of the rival Pennsylvania Railroad and New York Central Railroad. Although the B&O's longer route put it at a competitive disadvantage in New York for time-sensitive travelers, the B&O offered such luxuries in the 1920s as on-board secretaries, barbers, manicurists and valets. In 1938, the B&O dieselized the train after purchasing two sets of the new EA and EB locomotives from General Motor's Electro Motive Division, making the Capitol Limited the first dieselized streamlined train in the eastern U.S.. For almost 48 years, it was the B&O's flagship passenger train, noted for personalized service and innovation. At the time of its discontinuation on May 1, 1971, when Amtrak took over most rail passenger service in the U.S., the Capitol Limited operated between Washington and Chicago. At its inception, Amtrak did not continue any of the B&O's former passenger train routes, and the Capitol Limited ended its 48-year run on the B&O. In 1981, Amtrak revived Washington&mdash;Chicago service using the same B&O tracks (now CSX Transportation) between Washington and Pittsburgh, for the Amtrak Capitol Limited. Amtrak has since extended the service to again reach Chicago.