Crusader (train)

Crusader
The 1937-built Crusader trainset
Overview
Service typeInter-city rail
StatusDiscontinued (partially replaced by the West Trenton Line)
LocaleNortheastern United States
First serviceDecember 13, 1937 (1937-12-13)
Last serviceJuly 30, 1981 (1981-07-30)
Former operator(s)Reading Railroad
Conrail (1976–1981)[1]
Route
TerminiReading Terminal
Communipaw Terminal
Distance travelled90.2 miles (145.2 km)
Average journey time1 hr 38 min
Service frequency2 daily round trips
(6 days per week)
On-board services
Seating arrangementscoach
Catering facilitiesdining car with cocktail lounge
Observation facilitiesobservation car
Route map
1937–1981
Newark
Jersey City
until
1967
Elizabeth
Plainfield
Bound Brook
Belle Mead
Hopewell
West Trenton
Langhorne
Jenkintown (Wyncote)
Wayne Junction
North Broad Street
Philadelphia
1970s route[2]
Newark
Cranford
Westfield
Bound Brook
Belle Mead
Hopewell
West Trenton
Langhorne
Jenkintown
Wayne Junction
North Broad Street
Philadelphia

The Crusader was a 5 car stainless steel streamlined express train that ran on a 90.3-mile (145.3 km) route from Philadelphia's Reading Terminal to Jersey City's Communipaw Terminal, with a ferry connection to Lower Manhattan at Liberty Street. The Reading Railroad provided this service in partnership with the Central Railroad of New Jersey (CNJ), in which it was the majority owner of capital stock. Trains including the Crusader ran on Reading Railroad tracks from Reading Terminal in Philadelphia to Bound Brook, NJ, where they continued on CNJ tracks to Communipaw Terminal in Jersey City.[3] Passengers then left the train and walked aboard the ferry or boarded busses that loaded onto the ferry.[4] Introduced in 1937, the Crusader service declined during the 1960s, and the name was ultimately dropped in 1981.

  1. ^ The Official Railway Guide North American passenger travel edition: United States, Canada and Mexico September 1976. National Railway Publication Company. September 1976. p. 81.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  2. ^ "File:BELLE MEAD 19740930.jpg". September 30, 1974.
  3. ^ Smith, Douglas N.W. "Train of two countries". Passenger Train Journal. 19 (2): 22–27.
  4. ^ Discussion of the history of Commnipaw: Central Railroad of New Jersey Terminal