Royal Blue (train)

Royal Blue

The Royal Blue on the Thomas Viaduct in Relay, Maryland in 1937
Overview
Status	Discontinued
Locale	Eastern United States
First service	June 24, 1935
Last service	April 26, 1958
Former operator(s)	Baltimore and Ohio Railroad
Route
Termini	Jersey City Washington, D.C.
Stops	7
Distance travelled	224.6 miles (361.5 km)
Average journey time	4 Hours, 15 Minutes
Service frequency	Daily
Train number(s)	27: westbound 28: eastbound
On-board services
Seating arrangements	Reclining seating coaches
Catering facilities	Dining car
Observation facilities	Observation car
Other facilities	Onboard Telephone Service
Technical
Track gauge	4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)
Route map v t e Jersey City Elizabeth Plainfield New Jersey Pennsylvania Wayne Junction Philadelphia Pennsylvania Delaware Wilmington Delaware Maryland Baltimore (Mt. Royal Station) Baltimore (Camden Station) Maryland Washington D.C. Washington DC

The Royal Blue was the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O)'s flagship passenger train between New York City and Washington, D.C., in the United States, beginning in 1890. The Baltimore-based B&O also used the name between 1890 and 1917 for its improved passenger service between New York and Washington, collectively dubbed the Royal Blue Line. Using variants such as the Royal Limited and Royal Special for individual Royal Blue trains, the B&O operated the service in partnership with the Reading Railroad and the Central Railroad of New Jersey. Principal intermediate cities served were Philadelphia, Wilmington, and Baltimore. Later, as Europe reeled from the carnage of World War I and connotations of European royalty fell into disfavor, the B&O discreetly omitted the sobriquet Royal Blue Line from its New York passenger service and the Royal Blue disappeared from B&O timetables. Beginning in 1917, former Royal Blue Line trains were renamed: the Royal Limited (inaugurated on May 15, 1898), for example, became the National Limited, continuing west from Washington to St. Louis via Cincinnati. During the Depression, the B&O hearkened back to the halcyon pre-World War I era when it launched a re-christened Royal Blue train between New York and Washington in 1935. The B&O finally discontinued all passenger service north of Baltimore on April 26, 1958, including the Royal Blue.

Railroad historian Herbert Harwood said, in his seminal history of the service, "First conceived in late Victorian times to promote a new railroad line ... it was indeed one of the most memorable images in the transportation business, an inspired blend of majesty and mystique ... Royal Blue Line ... Royal Blue Trains ... the Royal Blue all meant different things at different times. But essentially they all symbolized one thing: the B&O's regal route."^[1][2] Between the 1890s and World War I, the B&O's six daily Royal Blue trains providing service between New York and Washington were noted for their luxury, elegant appearance, and speed. The car interiors were paneled in mahogany, had fully enclosed vestibules (instead of open platforms, still widely in use at the time on U.S. railroads), then-modern heating and lighting, and leaded glass windows. The car exteriors were painted a deep "Royal Saxony blue" color with gold leaf trim,^[3] a color personally chosen by the B&O's tenth president, Charles F. Mayer.^[4][5]

The B&O's use of electrification instead of steam power in a Baltimore tunnel on the Royal Blue Line, beginning in 1895, marked the first use of electric locomotives by an American railroad and presaged the dawn of practical alternatives to steam power in the 20th century.^[6] Spurred by intense competition from the formidable Pennsylvania Railroad, the dominant railroad in the lucrative New York–Washington market since the 1880s, the Royal Blue in its mid-1930s reincarnation was noted for a number of technological innovations, including streamlining and the first non-articulated diesel locomotive on a passenger train in the U.S., a harbinger of the steam locomotive's eventual demise.^[7]