Liberty Limited rolls again for soldiers, sailors

At 1,850 feet—19 private passenger cars and two classic EMD E-8 diesel-electric locomotives in the Pennsylvania Railroad’s famous Tuscan Red/gold pinstripe keystone livery—the Liberty Limited was a sight to behold, roaring up the Northeast Corridor at 90 mph on December 10, on its way from Washington D.C. to the 2010 Army-Navy football game in Philadelphia. 

Inside the gleaming private-varnish consist, with Liberty Limited operator Bennett Levin’s Pennsylvania 120 open-platform business/observation car bringing up the markers, were 70 “Wounded Warriors”—U.S. Army, Navy, and Marine Corps personnel from Walter Reed Army Hospital and Bethesda Naval Medical Center. With them were 25 family members and guests, 24 military support staff, 16 car owners (who donated use of their equipment), 42 food preparation and wait staff, 30 crew members and police officers—“and no politicians or media,” according to Levin, who with wife Vivian and son Eric (Conrail’s Superintendent of Motive Power and rebuilder and caretaker of his father’s 1951-vintage E-8s), has operated this special trip three times at the behest of U.S. military.

During the course of the all-day event, there were 225 breakfasts, 160 lunches, and 250 dinners served on board private cars that came from Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Ohio, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Maryland, Connecticut, Arizona, and New Jersey. This included ground crews from CSX Transportation and Conrail in Philadelphia, on site security and police escorts, and SEPTA drivers.

Those who made the 2010 edition of the Liberty Limited possible, or who donated to its operation, included:

• Financial support: Association of American Railroads, American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association, Bachmann Trains, TD Bank, U.S. Army Association, Army War College Foundation, United States Military Academy Graduates Association, JAmerican Association of Private Railroad Car Owners, Juniata Terminal Co., Inc.

• Breakfast: Corner Bakery, Washington, D.C.

• Lunch: Jack’s Deli & Catering, Philadelphia

• Transportation: Amtrak, CSX Transportation

• Train servicing: Amtrak, CSX Transportation, Conrail

• In-patient gifts: Jim Daly

• SEPTA buses: Pat Deon

• Books: Simmons-Boardman Books/Railway Age, Kalmbach Publishing

• Hotel rooms: Grand Hyatt, Washington D.C.

• Giclee prints: Silicon Gallery, Philadelphia

• Beverages: Philadelphia Coca Cola, Ellis Coffee, Mueller Distributing

Previous Liberty Limited trains operated in 2005 and 2006. The original Liberty Limited was the Pennsylvania Railroad’s premier passenger train between Washington D.C. and Chicago.

Click HERE to see a video of the 2010 Liberty Limited on the Northeast Corridor at Newark, Del.

Click HERE to see a video of the 2010 Liberty Limited on the Northeast Corridor at Bowie, Md.