Misc.: Part I 1896-1944: History of Lehigh Valley Railroad articles 1896-1963 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/pafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Richard Palmer ************************************************ [NOTE: The passanger service was mainly from upstate NY to NYC with several stops in Pennsylvania towns.] Notes on Lehigh Valley Railroad Passenger Service Compiled by Richard Palmer Waverly Free Press May 2, 1896 The Lehigh, commencing with the adoption of its new timetable, May 17, will discontinue its trains that now run between Waverly and Elmira, over the Erie tracks, and use its own line instead, via VanEtten. The fare will probably be made the same as on the Erie, but it is doubtful if many will choose that route, excepting the Lehigh's through passengers and those people of leisure, who enjoy a long and pleasant ride. Whether the Erie will put on a train to replace the Lehigh's "merry-go-round" remains to be seen. ________ The name for the new Lehigh flyer has been announced as "The Black Diamond Express." About 30,000 names were sent in in the recent contest and fifteen persons suggested the one adopted. The Black Diamond going east will be Number 10 and will arrive at Sayre at 3:33 p.m., leaving at 6:28. It will be a week day train only and is to be put on May 17, when the new timetable is adopted. Whether the $25 in gold will be divided among the fifteen we do not know. Elmira Daily Gazette and Free Press May 7, 1896 The Black Diamond Express Niagara Falls, May 6 - The magnificent new Lehigh Valley Black Diamond Express arrived here over the Grand Trunk at 8:10 o'clock tonight and pulled into the Lehigh Valley yards, where quite a crowd of people went through the elegant cars. The single train was really made of up what will be three trains, a total of 12 cars. Each train has a cafe and baggage car combined, two day coaches and a parlor car. On the baggage portion of the combination car is painted "Black Diamond Express" in gilt letters with a green wreath and the well known Lehigh Valley flag. The equipment is, of course, as fine as the Pullman can produce. Rochester Democrat & Chronicle Sat., May 9, 1896 New Trains Named. _____ The Lehigh's Fast Trains Have Left the Shop and Are Ready for Use City Passenger Agent Cook and Station Agent Howell, of the Lehigh Valley, have received circular letters from General Passenger Agent Charles S. Lee, announcing that the new trains which have just left the Pullman shops in Chicago are to be known as the "Black Diamond Express," east and west bound. The two trains, which are of four cars each, were taken to Philadelphia, Wednesday, over the Grand Trunk, from Chicago to Niagara Falls, and from there over the Lehigh Valley. The last of next week one of them will be taken to Buffalo and the other to New York, preparatory to their first trips over the road on Monday, May 18th. In March an offer of $25 in gold was made to the person suggesting a name for the trains which should be adopted. Out of the 35,000 or more names sent to Mr. Lee he selected the "Black Diamond" as being particularly appropriate and has forwarded the prize money to Charles M. Montgomery, of Toledo, Ohio. Mr. Lee explains his selection, by saying that the road first had its Inception in the need which arose for means of transportation of anthracite coal from the Pennsylvania fields, this coal being commonly called "black diamonds." It is also thought to be appropriate because hard coal only is used on the locomotives of the road and the emblem of the road on the flag which is always seen in connection with the Lehigh Valley's name, is a diamond in black. The west-bound train will be known as No. 9, and will leave New York, except Sundays, at 12 P.M., and will be due into Buffalo at 10 P. M., taking ten hours for the run. Train No. 10 east-bound will leave Buffalo.at 12 P.M. and will arrive in New York at 10:03. This running time is an hour and a half more than that taken by the Empire State Express on the New York Central. One of the cars of each train will be run out of Rochester, avoiding change at Rochester Junction. An 1896 advertisement America's Cleanest Railroad. . . . Magnificent Solid Vestibule Trains. Five Express Trains daily between Buffalo, Niagara Falls, Rochester, Geneva, Ithaca, Wilkes-Barre, Scranton, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, Atlantic City, Easton, Newark and New York. BLACK DIAMOND EXPRESS. The handsomest train in the world. Running daily, except Sunday, between Buffalo, Rochester, and New York and Philadelphia. No Extra Fare. The only line running through Parlor and Sleeping Car and Day Coaches to Philadelphia. Sumptuous Dining Car Service on a la Carte plan. Anthracite Coal used exclusively, insuring cleanliness and comfort. For further particulars as to rates, etc. apply at City Ticket Office, Main and Seneca Streets, or at Depot, cor. Washington and Scott Streets. CHAS. S. LEE, E. B. BYINGTON, Gen. Pass. Agent, Gen'l West. Pass. Agt., PHILADELPHIA, Pa. BUFFALO, N. Yr. LOCALS. By the Lehigh Valley you pay only for what you order in the Dining Car. The courtesy of employees on Lehigh Valley trains is well known. Send for printed matter of Lehigh Valley Railroad. See u Chunk, the " Switzerland of America," Lehigh Valley Railroad. Best Line to New York, Lehigh Valley, America's cleanest railroad. Pintsch gas used on Lehigh Valley trains. Finest scenery east of Rocky Mountains. Lehigh Valley Railroad. Superb equipment, Lehigh Valley Railroad. " Black Diamond Express," all the comforts of home. The Lehigh Valley R. R. uses only Anthracite Coal. This insures absolute cleanliness. The finest train in the world is run by the Lehigh Valley R. R., The Black Diamond Express. The Lehigh Valley Black Diamond Express beats them all. No Extra Fare on the Popular Black Diamond Express Ithaca Daily Journal Thursday, May 14, 1896 THE BLACK DIAMOND ________ Ithacans Will See it Tomorrow Afternoon ______ The Lehigh ValleyÕs new Train is Said to be The Handsomest in the World - Will Commence Running Regularly Monday. _____ The famous "Black Diamond Express" of the Lehigh Valley railroad may be seen and inspected at this station tomorrow afternoon at 4:30 oÕclock. It is said to be by far the handsomest train in the world. It is made up of four coaches, lighted throughout by Pintsch gas, heated by steam, protected by the Westinghouse automatic air brake system, with Pullman extension vestibules projecting the full width of the cars and fitted with non-telescopic devices. The interior of each car is finished in polished Mexican mahogany, with figured mahogany panels and inlaid beveled French plate mirrors; the ceilings are of the now style Empire dome pattern finished in white and gold; the exterior is painted the Lehigh standard, the only variation being on the forward car on which appears also the heraldry of the "L.V." enclosed in a wreath, and the words "Black Diamond Express in aluminum leaf. The first car on the train is a mammoth combination baggage and cafˇ car, sixty-seven feet in length, and surpasses in style and finish anything of the kind ever built; the forward part of the car is constructed without a platform, and for nineteen feet is occupied by the baggage compartment; to the rear of this is the combined cafˇ, library, writing and smoking room for gentlemen, where the necessities and luxuries of life are served by trained servants - as rapidly and as exquisitely prepared as at any hotel or restaurant in the world; the kitchen is presided over by a corps of competent chefs, with every facility at hand for serving substantials and delicacies in a most appetizing fashion; the dining compartment is most complete in its appointments, and meals a la carte may be ordered at any time. The second and third cars are Pullman built coaches after the latest models, with ladiesÕ and gentlemenÕs lavatories and large and comfortable smoking rooms. The fourth and last car on the train is a magnificent Pullman palace car, with seating capacity for twenty-eight persons; it is an observation car with plate glass windows so arranged as to be placed at the pleasure of the passengers, so that a view may be had of the panoramic changes of scenery; there is no smoking room in this car, but in addition to the drawing room there is a retiring room for ladies, which is in charge of a careful and attentive ladiesÕ maid; his room contains lounges, writing tables and easy chairs and a library of current literature, including daily and weekly papers and magazines. The three Pullman observation cars which are needed to make up the equipment of the two trains of the "Black Diamond Express" are named the "Ganoga," the "Cayuga" and the "Seneca" - after three popular lake resorts along the line of the "picturesque route." Only two of these cars are regularly in service, the other being kept in reserve for use if needed. Ithacans are cordially invited to inspect the train, which will remain here about 25 minutes. All entrances to the train will be kept closed while the train is in the stations, except the rear entrance to the Pullman and the entrance in the combined end of the cafˇ car, in order that people may see the complete train to the best advantage with least delay, they should enter through the side door in the combined end of the cafˇ, proceeding through the train to the Pullman car and leaving by the rear platform. Lehigh Valley Schedule Under the Lehigh Valley schedule to be adopted next Sunday, May 17, twenty-two passenger trains will serve Ithaca daily. Ithaca branch: Northward, 6:41 A.M., 8:37 A.M., 1:40 P.M., 5:20 P.M., 7:35 P.M. Southward, 8:32 A.M., 11:40 A.M., 2:20 P.M.; 3:50 P.M. (for Elmira), 8:25 P.M., 10:25 P.M. Arrive Ithaca and go no further - from North, 12:55 P.M.; from Elmira, 12:58 P.M., from South, 5:05 P.M. Auburn Division: Leave 6 A.M., 8:40 A.M., 1 P.M., 5:25 P.M. Arrive, 8:10 P.A.M., 12:38 P.M., 4:05 P.M., 8 P.M. E.C.& N. Branch: Eastward, 8:56 A.M., 1 P.M., 3:398 P.M., 5:37 P.M., 7:40 P.M. Westward, 7:11 A.M., 9:42 A.M., 1:30 P.M., 2:18 P.M., 8:14 P.M. Ithaca Journal Sat., May 16, 1896 PALACE ON WHEELS ____ Ithacans Inspect The Black Diamond Express ___ A Sumptuous Mode of Travel - The Trip from Towanda to This City Described - Throngs Turn out to See Lehigh _________ The exhibition trip of the already famous Lehigh "Black Diamond" express was made yesterday over the road, and the train was greeted with enthusiasm all along the line. At the invitation of O.O. Esser, extended through District Passenger Agent P.S. Millspaugh, a number of Ithaca people were permitted to enjoy a ride on the handsome train from Towanda to Ithaca. The party left Ithaca at 11;55 A.M. yesterday morning for Towanda. It was made up as follows: G.P. Merrill, Elmira Telegram; G.F. Bailey, Cornell Sun; W.T. Armstrong, Ithaca Journal; A.Welling Wyckoff, W.H. Fiker, H.G. Gannett, J.R. Bowen, W.S. Thompson, E.L. Spencer, PS. Millspaugh. The run from Ithaca to Sayre was made in unusually fast time and upon arriving there, Mr. Millspaugh conducted the party to the dining rooms at the Sayre station, where was served a specially prepared dinner. With the inner man perfectly satisfied, the southbound express was boarded and in a very short time East Towanda was reached where the party alighted to await the arrival of the Black Diamond. At this point the number had been increased by the presence of the following newspapermen: M.J. Dillon, Geneva Times; G.D. Genung, Waverly Free Press; H.H. Romer, Waverly Advocate; E.L. Francesco, Sayre Times; G.W. Pachly, Spencer Needle; T.O. Hance, Farmer Review, J.S. Hammiker, Athens News. A wait of a half hour at East Towanda was pleasantly spent. At 2:30 oÕclock, a long whistle denoted the approach of the palaces on wheels, and the Black Diamond rolled into the station an object of genuine admiration. A massive engine with Engineer William Owen at the lever was the first to attract attention. Then came the mammoth combination baggage and cafˇ car. The forward part of this car is constructed without a platform, and for nineteen feet is arranged for baggage. To the rear of this is an extremely attractive combined cafˇ, library, writing and smoking room for gentlemen. These compartments are so cozy, comfortable and complete that they are bound to prove very popular. Here delicacies and substantials are served in the best possible style. Meals a la carte may be obtained at any time, served in the neat dining compartment. The kitchen is presided over by a corps of competent chefs, the most expert that could be obtained. The party of guests were here introduced to Assistant General Passenger Agent Nonnemacher, Superintendent O.O. Esser, Trainmaster Stevenson, Superintendent of Dining Service Seale, and Conductor O.D. France. Superintendent Esser then piloted the party through the balance of the train. The second and third cars proved to be two very handsome day coaches with what might well be termed luxurious seats where the patrons may ride without extra charge. These cars are equal to any ordinary parlor car, and are provided with lavatories and the coziest of cozy smoking rooms. The last car must certainly be the handsomest ever turned out by the Pullman people. It would be hard to conceive a more perfectly appointed room to take transit in. It is well named a palace car. It has a seating capacity for 28 persons, and a drawing room as well as a retiring room for ladies, in charge of a maid. In this room are lounges, writing tables, easy chairs and a small library. One of the most attractive features of this car is the observation platform in the rear. This is large enough to accommodate a dozen people, and here the traveler may rest in an easy chair, and enjoy the fresh air and beautiful scenery to the fullest extent. A description of the other details of construction was given in ThursdayÕs Journal. The claim of the Lehigh to having the "handsomest train in the world" is well founded. The "Black Diamond Express must now be given that distinction. From East Towanda the train back down to the Towanda station, where some 1,500 people were congregated anxious to see the "Black Diamond." After 1,000 people, by actual count, had passed through the train, all expressing delight with its completeness of appointment and grandeur, the officials regretfully closed the car gate against 500 people who desired to go through, because of lack of time to stay longer at Towanda. The trip from Towanda to Sayre was made in very fast time, all along the line, people being congregated to see the "Black Diamond." It was like the return journey of a victorious army. At Sayre 450 people passed through the train. From here at high speed the train wheeled to Spencer, where 300 people were congregated, and although it had not been the intention of the officials to stop the train here, it was done and all given an opportunity to examine the palace on wheels. Ithaca was the next stop. It was anticipated that there would be some interest in the train manifested at this station, but the large number of people greatly exceeded anticipation. A Journal reported counted the Ithacans as they passed through the train. They numbered 814 persons and all seemed delighted with the train. One of the sightseers, a colored many, his face beaming with pleasure said as he cast a last lingering look at the palace car "Lord dis is de first time I so ever seeÕd a train like dis, and I susspecs its de lasÕt , too." Illustrated Buffalo Express Sunday, May 17, 1896 IT IS A BEAUTY. ______ FULLY 1.000 PEOPLE INSPECTED THE LEHIGH VALLEY'S NEW TRAIN YESTERDAY AFTERNOON - ANOTHER CHANCE TOMORROW. ____ The much-advertised Lehigh Valley Black Diamond Express was on exhibition at the Buffalo station of that road all of yesterday afternoon. It Is almost Invariably the case with much-advertised objects of any kind that the reality to disappointing in contrast with the rosiest promises. That Is not the case with this new train of the Lehigh Valley, destined for fast travel between Buffalo and New-York. "The perfection of the car-builders' art" seems to be the only adequate phrase to use. The Pullmans "laid themselves out," so to speak, to make something that would be of more than usual credit to the company, and it is impossible for the noncar- building mind to imagine anything more elegant more luxurious and more substantial than this train. The exterior of the train is painted according to the quiet Lehigh Valley standard. Inside is to be found not only repose for the body and conveniences of all sorts, but the eye Is pleased and the brain soothed by the most artistic combinations of colors and mural decorations, hanging and upholstery. There is not s trace of gaudiness to be seen; everything is rich and quiet, and therefore enduringly effective. The train has already been described in The Express, and no extensive repetition is required. The first car is largely designed for the enjoyment of the creature man; the women have their own dainty and exclusive apartments in another part of the train, but, while prettier, they do not possess the advantages attaching to the room appropriated to the male sex - at least not from a man's viewpoint. The men's room is a combined cafe, library and smoking-room. The front end of the car is for baggage purposes and the last compartment contains a miniature kitchen. There is also an elegant dining-room in this car. Next come the two day coaches, which are very handsome and comfortable, and, what is very important to the men, each has a smoking-room. The last car is the pride of the train. It is a Pullman parlor car seating 28 persons. In addition to luxurious chairs and rich decorations, it has a plate-glass observation section, so that the beauties of the scenery along the route can be fully enjoyed. In this car Is the women's retiring-room referred to. It contains lounge, easy chairs, writing tables and a library. Connected with this room are the lavatories. The Black Diamond Express, which is one of a pair of twins, left Easton at 8.30 a. m. on Friday. Rochester was reached 8 p. m. The train left that city at 11 o'clock and arrived here at 12.40 p. m. yesterday. Col. Rollin H Wilbur, general superintendent, accompanied the train as far as Wilkes-Barre. Division Superintendents A. Mitchell and O. O. Easer rode on the train over their respective jurisdictions. Supt. Van Allen of the Buffalo division joined the train at Rochester. Those who were on the Black Diamond Express for the whole distance were A. W. Nonnemacher, assistant general passenger agent, located at South Bethlehem: E. B. Byington. general Western passenger agent, located at Buffalo, and J. H. Seal, superintendent of dining cars for the Lehigh. Fully 1,000 people passed through the train yesterday afternoon, admiring its beauties. Another opportunity for inspection will be afforded from 8 to 11 tomorrow forenoon, prior to the departure of the train on Its first regular trip. Geneva Advertiser Tuesday, May 19, 1896 The Lehigh Valley Railroad's new flyer, the "Black Diamond Express," came west Friday afternoon, running in behind No. One. Several hundred people assembled at the station to see the train, nearly all of whom passed through, in the front entrance of the cafe car and out the rear door of the parlor car. It is an elegant train of four cars all of the Pullman make, and all elegantly upholstered. The color outside is a glossy coal, in keeping with its name. The time between Buffalo and New York is ten hours, just 45 minutes slower than the time of the Empire State Express. We have heard it said that one car will be run to and from Rochester, being switched off and on at the Junction. Boston Herald, May 19, 1896 The Lehigh's Black Diamond Express Trains. ____ Yesterday at 12 o'clock the Lehigh's new train, the "Black Diamond Express' drew out from the Jersey City station of the company for its initial trip over the road. At the same time, a similar train started from Buffalo station eastward on its maiden trip. Both trains were heavily laden with passengers. It was the intention of the officials to create a record over the Lehigh with the new train. General passenger Agent Charles S. Lee was in charge of the westbound train and several officials of the Transportation and Motive Power departments were also on board. Preparations were made for a fast run and the whole train was minutely inspected to see that everything was in proper condition. The run from Jersey City to Easton, a distance of 76 miles over a gently rising grade, was made in 1 hour and 33 minutes, arriving at 1:47 o'clock schedule time. A stop of one minute was made at Newark and another of 2 minutes at South Plainfield, where water was taken in. Deducting these stops, the actual running time of the train was 1 hour and 30 minutes. The fastest time was made between Newark and Ashbrook, where a mile was run in 47 seconds, or an average of 75 miles per hour. At Easton engines were changed. After leaving Easton, the train ran on schedule time clear through to Buffalo. Stops were made at Bethlehem, Allentown, Mauch Chunk, Wilkes Barre, Sayre and Rochester Junction, from which place one of the day coaches was sent to this city over the branch road. The fastest continuous run of the trip was made between Laceyville and Sayre, over a stretch of 56 miles of road. The distance as accomplished in fifty minutes. No really phenomenal time was made, as it was not the object of the railroad officials to make a record breaking trip, but simply to furnish a rapid comfortable means of travel between New York and Buffalo. some time in the future an attempt will be made to lesson the time of the run, but in the meantime the present schedule will be followed. The train left New York City at 12 o'clock noon and reached Buffalo at 10 o'clock in the evening. Deducting 14 minutes for crossing the ferry between New York and Jersey City and 38 minutes for stoppage, the total actual running time was nine hours and eight minutes, the time of the entire trip being 10 hours as per schedule. The eastbound train made a remarkably fast run between Buffalo and Rochester, coming into the Junction four minutes ahead of schedule time. The engineer said he had to kill time between stations. A speed of a mile in 58 seconds was maintained in many places, and everything pertaining to the running gear of the train and engine was as cool as when the start was made. Geneva Gazette Friday, May 22, 1896 "Black Diamond Express." About 500 of our fellow-citizens, of all ages and both sexes, wended their way to the Valley depot last Friday evening to see the new and beautiful express train which was on an experimental trip to Buffalo. As it came to a stop a rush was made to pass through it. The conductor in charge first admitted the ladies, gents following later. All present had ample opportunity to pass through the four coaches - the combination car of baggage and smoker, then the magnificent dining car with its perfect equipment, then the two day coaches with reading and smoking compartments at either end, and lastly the magnificent Pullman Palace coach with its swivel chairs, and in the rear an "observation" apartment with open end by which passengers obtain a charming panoramic view of the country as they are whirled along at a speed of a mile a minute. The engine was No. 189 having 69 inch driving wheels. A.W. Nonnemacher, Gen. Pass. Agent, was on board. The conductor and train hands, the colored porters and waiters, were assiduous in courteous attention to the inspecting crowd. The "Black Diamond Express" started Monday last on regular trips between New York and Buffalo, leaving each terminus at noon. Going east it will pass Geneva at 2:09 P.M. and west at 7:45 P.M. Through trips are made in about ten hours. These trains will become very popular, because they traverse the finest scenery in America by daylight. Cayuga County Independent Auburn, N.Y., Tuesday, May 26, 1896 Makes New York to Buffalo in Nine Hours, Eight Minutes The Lehigh Valley's new limited train, the "Black Diamond Express," which left Jersey City at 12:14 Monday afternoon rolled into the Buffalo depot at 10 o'clock Monday night, having made the distance, 448 miles, in nine hours and eight minutes, actual time, thirty-eight minutes being deducted for stops. The train will run on a regular ten-hour schedule. The steep Alleghany mountains were climbed at a sixty-mile an hour clip, while on the level as high as seventy miles an hour was made. Laceyville to Sayre, a distance of fifty-six miles, was covered in forty-nine minutes. The Lehigh officials were elated over the successful trip and declare they will run the "Black Diamond" against the best time for the distance. The train from Buffalo to Jersey City made it one minute ahead of time. The Empire State Express makes the run from Buffalo to New York, 440 miles, with a level road bed, in 504 minutes, making only four stops. The "Black Diamond Express" on the Lehigh, with the Wilkes-Barre mountain to climb and with eleven stops, makes the run, 448 miles, in 548 minutes. Geneva Advertiser June 26th 1896 The Two Fast Trains ____ Geneva, June 26th, 1896. Mr. Edgar Parker: Dear Sir. - A few days ago I had the occasion to go to New York, and as my time was limited I went to Syracuse and took the Empire State Express. It is a fine run from Syracuse and we reached the Grand Central precisely on time. Two days later I returned to Geneva by the famous Black Diamond Express on the Lehigh Valley leaving New York at twelve (noon) and arriving in Geneva at 7:54 p.m. I had heard this was the most beautiful train in the world, and I verily believe it is. The magnificently appointed cars are connected with vestibules surrounded by plate glass. The excellent meals, the absence of dust and cinders, the beautiful scenery, and the courteous attention of all employees (and I underscore the word all) with the quick time combine to make it a most attractive trip rather than a tedious journey. The observation platform at the rear of the last car was occupied almost constantly by a group of delighted travelers who were captivated by the charming views. I met an Englishman on the Empire State Express was proud to have him know he was riding on the fastest train in the world; but I should have been prouder still could I have had him with me on the beautiful Pullman palace car "Seneca" (which by the way is in charge of our courteous friend S.M. Bently) and to have pointed out to him from the mountains old Wilkes Barre in the valley below, and near Burdette our own beautiful Seneca, nestled far below us, and which with the glorious sunset was even more beautiful to me than the Hudson. The run from Sayre to Geneva on this train, drawn by the mighty engine 659 with W.M. Owens at the throttle, made me almost sorry we had reached Geneva. The smoothness of the roadbed, the easy curves, and steady rush of the train were fascinating and as I sat in the observation vestibule and watch the mile posts flit by I noticed we made several miles in 52 seconds, and many were made in 55 and 58 seconds. It is a great thing for Geneva people to be able to say they can take the handsomest train in the world from their village at 2:09 p.m. and arrive in New York at 10 the same evening, but they need not be afraid to say it is for it is true, and I hope the Company has gone to the expense to make make this train what it is will find it is appreciated. Very truly yours Charles R. Mellen Syracuse Herald, Thurs., Aug. 13, 1896 The Lehigh Valley's new engines from the Baldwin Locomotive company's works have arrived at Easton. There are 29 altogether, five with six-foot driving wheels, for passenger service, and 24 with five-foot wheels for freight trains. Fifteen will be taken to Sayre, one will be stationed at East Mauch Chunk to draw fast freights and the others will be used on the lower divisions. Engine No. 655 has two driving wheels and a large pony truck behind them, also a large tank to hold water enough to run from Sayre to Wilkes-Barre without stopping, and it is used on the "Black Diamond Express." From: P.15, Lehigh Valley Annual Report for period ending Nov. 30, 1896 the annual report for 1896 states: "Attention is called to the continuing large increase in the passenger business. While this is partly due to the added volume obtained during the year through the acquirement of the Elmira, Cortland & Northern Railroad, yet a considerable part has been secured and developed by an active solicitation for business, and by the improvement of our train service. "The operation of the dining and cafe cars and restaurants has proved satisfactory. This department is now operating two dining cars, two cafe cars, and the station restaurants at Easton, Wilkes Barre, Sayre and Geneva. "The running of the Black Diamond Express between New York and Buffalo, which was put on in May last, has proved to be more satisfactory in its results than we had any reason to anticipated. The train has become a very popular one with the traveling public. The receipts from the date of its inauguration have been more than sufficient to pay all expenses, while the reports show that our other through trains have also increased their earnings.* "During the year we have established a line of Postal cars for the carrying of the U.S. Mail between New York and Buffalo. These cars were built by our company for this service upon the application of the Post Office Department." *In 1896, the Lehigh Valley carried 5,020,864 passengers compared to 4,798,837 in 1895. The railroad had 243 passenger cars, three dining cars, 69 combination cars, 33 baggage and mail cars and 38 express cars. Cayuga County Independent Thursday, Oct. 1, 1896 The Black Diamond Express of the Lehigh Valley Railroad, drawn by Engine No. 667, made a fast run from Wilkes Barre to Sayre on Thursday last. The distance between the two points, 103 miles, was covered in 85 minutes and 50 seconds, including one stop. New York Times Oct. 10, 1896 Lehigh Valley Passenger Service Philadelphia, Oct. 9. - Charles Lee, General Passenger Agent of the Lehigh Valley Railroad Company, today denied the truth of the report circulated a few days ago that new trains to chicago were to be put on Oct. 15, and that the Black Diamond Express would run through from New York to Chicago. As a matter of fact, he said, the Black Diamond Express will not go beyond Buffalo. The change of time will be made on Nov. 15, not Oc t. 15, and there will be no additional trains to Chicago. The Grand Trunk system will made connection with the Black Diamond Express to Chicago. "No change in the arrangements with the Grand Trunk are contemplated, our agreement with the road, made three years ago, being perfectly satisfactory," he said. New York Times January 13, 1897 Philadelphia, Jan. 12. - The "Black Diamond Express" of the Lehigh Valley Railroad made, on Jan. 7, another remarkable run between Jersey City and Easton. The actual running time for a distance of sixty-six miles was 67 minutes, including a three-minute stop. From South Plainfield to Easton, a distance of fifty-one miles, the run was made in 50 minutes; included in this distance is the Musconectcong Mountain, which the train was obliged to climb on an ascending grade of 47 feet to the mile. Elmira Gazette and Free Press January 29, 1897 Black Diamond's Record The Black Diamond Express, conceded to be the handsomest train in the world, is becoming also the most famous train as regards running time. Scarcely a week passes but that good reports are heard of this remarkable train. No matter what delay occur on the road, the Black Diamond is always given the right of way, because the train has, since the day it was placed on the Lehigh schedule, arrived at its destination on time, and this record is jealously guarded by all those connected with the train from the general passenger agent down to the mechanic who taps the wheels. Monday the Black Diamond was delayed some fifty minutes on the Van Etten branch, owing to the temporary disarrangement of part of the mechanism connected with the engine. When the trouble had been removed, the engineer knew there was a task before him to make up that fifty minutes, but did not shrink from it. The run from Cayuta to Sayre, a distance of twenty-four miles, was made in twenty minutes, and from Sayre to Wilkes Barre, eight-four miles, the run was made in seventy-eight minutes. The record of the train on the balance of the run to New York was such that the Black Diamond arrived in New York on time. As a genuine "flyer" the Black Diamond is without a peer. Union Springs Advertiser Feb. 26, 1897 One day recently the "Black Diamond Express" covered the 46 miles between Sayre and North Hector in 39 minutes. Union Springs Advertiser Thursday March 25, 1897 The Black Diamond Express is a quarterly published by the General Passenger Department of the Lehigh Valley Railroad, Philadelphia, Pa. Its illuminated title is an artistic success. The twelve elegantly printed pages inside the cover contains interesting railroad items, and description of scenery along the picturesque Lehigh Valley Route. Elmira Telegram May 15, 1897 A number of officials of the Lehigh Valley went to Spencer recently and after looking over the ground decided to make considerable changes at that place and Van Etten. Heretofore the Geneva, Ithaca & Sayre, and Elmira, Cortland and Northern roads, which have now become branchlines of the Lehigh, have crossed at Van Etten, running parallel to the corporation limits of Spencer, three miles further north where two depots have been maintained. At the meeting of the officials it was decided to use but one track between Van Etten and Spencer hereafter, and to consolidate the two depots at the latter place, moving them to the western limit of the village, where the two roads diverge. Brooklyn Daily Eagle, June 20, 1897 The Black Diamond Express, on the Lehigh Valley Railroad, has accomplished the trip from Jersey City to Buffalo, 448 miles, in 9 hours and 8 minutes actual time. On stretches of level road as high as 70 miles an hour has been made, and the Alleghany mountains have been climbed at 60 miles an hour and the 56 miles between Laceyville and Sayre covered with ease in 49 minutes. Elmira Telegram Sunday, July 4, 1897 One of the results of the fast run made on the Lehigh Valley by its Black Diamond Express, on Friday, has been to show the splendid capacity of the engines being used on that train. From Alpine to Geneva Junction, 44 miles, the run was made in 31 minutes, a speed of 85 miles an hour. This rate, it is claimed, has never been equaled by a regular train before. The train with which the run was made consisted of four coaches, and was drawn by engine 667, an American passenger engine with cylinders 19 by 26 inches and drivers six feet in diameter. It is one of those designed by S. Higgins, superintendent of motive power of the road, and has the new valve motion designed by him, which is a radical departure from the style in vogue. This type of engine, which was designed for the fast service of the Black Diamond, has the record after 12 months' service, of working without a single failure or detention. In the engine which made the run, there has not been a hot bearing since the machine came from the shops. Thomas Farley was the engineer in charge of the engine when the fast run was made. Union Springs Advertiser, Thursday, July 13, 1897 The Black Diamond Express has added another "world record" to her long list. Last Friday she made the run between Odessa and Geneva, a distance of thirty-nine and nine-tenths miles in twenty-nine minutes. Elmira Telegram Aug. 15, 1897 Lehigh Eliminates Manchester Crew Change ______ About a month ago the officials of the Lehigh Valley railroad conceived the idea of running their engines and crews through to Sayre without change. They formerly ran to Manchester. The change has proved so successful that it has been determined to also run the passenger engines through to Sayre. On Sunday the first passenger crew went through, and the men are well satisfied with the plan. Usually the great trouble with making long runs with an engine seemed to be the choking up of the smoke box, but the engines are stopped at Manchester long enough to clean out the boxes, and the run is made with little trouble. The distance from Buffalo to Sayre is 170 miles, and is run in about four hours. This makes it very easy for the crew, although in that time the fireman handles from four to five tons of coal on an ordinary passenger engine. It may be interesting to know that the Black Diamond Express does not burn any more coal than the ordinary passenger engine, although it runs at breakneck speed. Formerly on this run the Lehigh had but four crews to two engines, but now they have three crews to each engine. This seems as though it would Increase the running expenses of the road, but the officials claim that by the new system they will save six engines and crews, which means considerable money saved at the end of the year. The men also have a lay over of sixty hours at this end of the run instead of twenty-four as formerly. They will work only every third day, but will receive the same wages as heretofore. A considerable part of the difference is made up by the men being on the road instead of having to stop over at Manchester for four or five hours, waiting for a return run. Elmira Telegram Sunday, Aug. 22, 1897 Good time was made Tuesday by the Black Diamond Express, between Buffalo and Rochester Junction. The train was held in Buffalo five minutes on account of the lateness of the Grand Trunk connection. The first four miles out of Buffalo have to be run slowly, but after passing William street the throttle was pulled wide open. Mile after mile was reeled off better than fifty-seven seconds, and by the time Rochester Junction, sixty-eight and one-tenth miles, was reached, but sixty-seven minutes had been consumed. The average time per mile was fifty-nine seconds. What makes this run remarkable, is the fact that between Buffalo and Stafford, a distance of forty-two miles, a twenty-one foot grade exists. Elmira Telegram Oct. 17, 1897 Of the many rumors that have been afloat during the past few days in regard to the changes to be made on the Valley, it is officially given that on November 1, the following changes will be made in the divisions of the road between Buffalo and Mauch Chunk. The tracks composing the Buffalo, Pennsylvania & New York and Wyoming divisions are changed as follows: The Buffalo division to include the mainline between the state line at Sayre and Buffalo, the Depew & Tonawanda, Rochester Southern railroad, Middlesex Valley railroad, Seneca County railroad and Ithaca branch. The Pennsylvania & New York division will include the main line from Falling Springs to state line at Sayre, the Waverly and State Line railroad, State Line & Sullivan railroad and the Bowman's Creek branch. The Wyoming division will include the main line from Mauch Chunk to Falling Springs, Bear Creek branch, the Mountain Cut-off, West Piston branch and all colliery branches in the Wyoming Valley. Superintendent Esser continues in charge of the road to Falling Springs and will also assume control of the Bowman's Creek branch. Radical steps in the direction of economy have been decided by the executive management of the Lehigh Valley Railroad company, and in consequence many clerks and other employees will be dismissed from the service. The changes, it is said, will take place November 1. This movement is in line with the policy of retrenchment inaugurated by President Walters shortly after his election to the presidency last July. The initial move in this direction, it will be recalled, was taken two weeks ago, when the offices of the general freight agent and assistant general passenger agent were removed from Bethlehem to a building adjoining the company's main office, at No. 222 South Third street, Philadelphia. The latest plans of retrenchment, it is understood, provides for a consolidation of departments under one head, such as the roadway and and telegraph departments. The chiefs are to remain, but by centralizing the work it is said a considerable saving can be made. Other changes are reported to be in contemplation. Easton, and that section will feel the effect of the Lehigh Valley's retrenchment in a few days. About 25 carpenters in the bridge department will be laid off for an indefinite period and most of the gravel trainmen will be suspended probably until next spring. The company has extensive repair shops in Easton, but the men do not rear a suspension, as there is more work on hand than can be turned out for some time to come. Elmira Telegram Sunday, Oct. 17, 1897 The Lehigh Valley Railroad company on Thursday commenced running the Black Diamond Express, going south, from Sayre to Mauch Chunk without changing locomotives at the station in Wilkes Barre. No. 666, with Miles Ellis at the throttle, and Joseph Kellar as pilot, made the run Friday. It is calculated that this change will be permanent as it is expected that the powerful locomotives used on these famous trains can easily make the run, while the changing of locomotives in Wilkes Barre will be obviated and be quite an advantage in conforming to the schedule. Proceedings of the Traveling Engineers' Association, Buffalo, Sept. 13-16, 1898. Published by Review Printing Co., Elkhart, Ind., 1898, pp. 152-155. The President: Mr. C.B. Conger (of Grand Rapids, Mich., member of the Executive Committee) has just come into the room, and he is now ready to make his report concerning the trip on the Black Diamond Express and the Empire State Express. He will do so verbally and the stenographer will take it down. Please pay close attention to what Mr. Conger will say. "Mr. President and members - As you know, the Lehigh Valley Railroad Company, through its traveling engineer, Mr. Alvin C. Smith, who made the arrangements for us, offered two members of the association a chance to ride on their engine which draws the Black Diamond Express, on the train leaving here yesterday. "At the same time Mr. Hogan, of the New York Central, made arrangements by which the two traveling engineers could come back on the engine of the Empire State Express, and Mr. Davis and myself were the pleased recipients of the courtesy. We left here a couple of minutes late, which I understand was occasioned by the baggage from other railroads not getting around in time, on engine No. 669. "This is an engine having the Wooten boiler. I do not know that there is any need of describing the particular engine, except that she is of the Columbia type, having two driving wheels nearly under the center of the engine, the forward end being carried by an independent four-wheel truck, and the back end by trailing wheels. Her driving wheels are seven foot six inches in diameter, and she weighs about seventy tons, and the tender about forty-three tons. I understand that the train weighs 183 tons. The fire box is 138 inches long, almost twelve feet, and 96 inches wide, and you who have seen the Wooten fire box know that it has a wide grate surface and a crown sheet which slopes down each side towards the grate. The top of the fire box and crown sheet is the same shape as the outside of the boiler and fire box. "All the way down, while the pop valves were set 177, this engine only popped off a very few times, and when it did it only blew for a few seconds; but I did not in all the time on the way down see the gauge get below 175, which is not only a compliment to the man doing the firing, but to the engine which can be fired as close as that. Mr. Davis remarked particularly on the fact that this engine seemed to have a great store of reserved power, inasmuch as he could not notice at any time that the engine was being forced I understand that the trip from here to Rochester Junction has a more favorable grade than the one on the New York Central coming back, as it has more down-hill grade towards Rochester than coming back to Buffalo. "Mr. Davis sat behind me in the cab, and took the time when we were running fast and slow. When we were going slow I noticed that our speed was somewhere between thirty-five and forty miles an hour through the yards; and there is one thing you will notice on these fast trains, that everybody is out of the way and the semaphore signals are set far enough off so that a man has a chance to stop if the signal is against him, and a good chance to regulate his speed, so that if the signal should be set against him he can figure on its being clear by the time he gets there, and not losing time in setting the brakes. "I did not notice any signal set against us anywhere. The engineer shut off about four miles before reaching a junction at a railroad crossing, but we could not see any perceptible slacking up of the train until we ran three miles after the engine was shut off. As he got where he could work steam again and see a clear signal, the train slackened up a little when he pulled out. "The speed, a good deal of the time, was seventy-two miles an hour, which is a mile in fifty seconds; and a good many miles were made in forty-eight seconds, and one mile in forty-three seconds. We took some very sharp curves, at least I considered them sharp curve, for a train moving at that speed, the engine running at seventy miles an hour. There did not seem to be any swinging or lurching or jerking of the engine, as is found on many engines when they strike a curve, and I was surprised at the ease with which the big high engine went around the curves. "All these Columbia type of engines having the two driving wheels close together, and a long wheel base, have a good deal of lateral motion in the trailing wheel, and that allows the engine to swing a little. That swinging motion was not disagreeable at any time. I only mention it because it is a characteristic of that type of engine. I believe if we had left quite late, and they had been in a hurry, we would have run faster than one mile in forty-three seconds, which is about eighty-five miles an hour. I have no doubt whatever that under favorable circumstances that engine would run ninety miles an hour, mile after mile, with a train of four cars. "We had the high speed brake equipment on the cars, and I remarked to Mr. Davis, when I saw it, that I hoped we would have an occasion to use it on the way down. He did not exactly like the idea of that, and I asked him about it, and he said "Maybe they wont get stopped quick enough." (Laughter). "I told him that was poor business for a traveling engineer, and also an airbrake expert, to lose faith in the brakes. We did not use the high speed brakes for any purpose, and made the stops with the ordinary service application. We left three minutes late and we were four minutes ahead of time when we got to Rochester Junction. "When we started, although we were late, they were in no more hurry than if they were going to dinner. When the second hand came around to sixty, when they were to go, the whistle blew and away she went. We had gone but a very short distance when the engine had her train at full speed. The engine cylinders are 19 x 26 inches, with 175 or 178 pounds pressure back of them, which you can see will move the train right off. I did not notice her slip anywhere, nor at any time during the trip did we have the rolling motion that we have on some high speed standard eight-wheel engines. " The motion was merely a swinging of the rear end of the engine, as we see tenders swing around when running fast with the light engine. We did not feel any trembling when she ran, as on our standard engines when hooked too close and working heavy throttle running at high speed. She rode as steadily as a coach. On our arrival at Rochester, which we reached from Rochester Junction by going over on one of the Lehigh passenger trains which run from the junction." New York Times Feb. 28, 1898 (Excerpt) Locomotive Ride on the 'Black Diamond Express' I returned from Buffalo to New York by another famous train, the "Black Diamond Express" of the Lehigh Valley Company, one of the so-called "coaler" roads, which serves the anthracite regions of Pennsylvania. It was rather shock to my English ideas to be presented by the conductor to the driver as "a man who has got leave to come on your engine." But the genial reception of the engineer, who, pulling off his gloves, shook me warmly by the hand and gave me his visiting card, and at once consoled me. In this case the tim allowed was nine h ours and thirty-five minutes, but the distance is seven and a half miles further than by the New York Central. There are 11 intermediate stops, as against four, and the line, instead of following the level valleys of the Hudson and Mohawk, has to climb over three summits of 924, 1,141, and 1,759 feet respectively. The weight of the train was 165 tons, except for about 100 miles, during which the addition of an extra Pullman car brought it well over 200 tons. We were five minutes late in starting, and before we had gone very far we were stopped by an axle-box on the Pullman car heating. The natural result was that we reached Geneva, about 100 miles from Buffalo, 12 minutes late. Thence to Sayre, 73 1/2 miles, we wee timed to take 86 minutes, but we covered the distance in 74. and so came in exactly on time. I had timed 20 minutes in different places done at 72 to 80 miles an hour. But our misfortunes were not yet at an end. Soon after leaving Sayre we were bought up short by a broken-down freight train, two of whose cars had got off the track and blocked both lines. Evidently American railway men are experts in dealing with "wrecks." It was most interesting to see how quickly a rope was brought, one end of it fastened to the wrecked cars, then the other end run through a snatch-block, made fast to a conveniently adjacent tree, and thence carried to the locomotive. A gentle pull by the engine, and the cars fell over on their sides into the ditch, and our road was clear again; but we were 33 minutes late at our next stopping place. Then we set to work again to recover our lost ground, till finally we reached Jersey City only 15 minutes late. We had come in the last 77 miles from Easton in 79 minutes, as against 90 minutes allowed in the time book, and we had stopped at two important intermediate stations. Elmira Telegram April 9, 1898 The Lehigh Valley company has ordered from the Baldwins four passenger engines capable of very high speed four passenger engines capable of heavy high speed for the famous Black Diamond Express. They are to be duplicates of those now in use. The same company has also ordered ten locomotives of the ten-wheel pattern for use in the fast freight service. Railroad Gazette July 1, 1898 The Black Diamond Express ___ To the Editor of the Railroad Gazette People who ride on the fast trains of the Lehigh Valley and the friends of the road generally will be interested in the record of the Black Diamond, published in your issue of June 17. But as the Lehigh Valley is not given to boasting, the spokesman of the company always taking care to restrain their enthusiasm, even when decanting upon the beauties of the scenery along the line, you will, I am sure, be glad to have me correct a misprint in your article, concerning the length of the cafe car. It is 68 feet long, not 86 feet. Your readers will also be interested to know that the Black Diamond Express has proved a satisfactory venture. The earnings have increased steadily week by week eve since the train was put on. LEHIGH VALLEY. Elmira Telegram, July 9, 1898 There is a steadily increasing rivalry between the New York Central and the Lehigh Valley in regard to the operation of popular fast trains - the Empire State Express of the former, and the Black Diamond Express of the latter. Recently the Central people made public some interesting figures, showing the punctuality with which their train was run last year. Thereupon the Lehigh Valley people were moved to look up the record of their train for the corresponding period - the 12 months ended December 31, 1897. It was found that west-bound the Black Diamond arrived at Buffalo within five minutes of the schedule time on 287 days of 313, or 92 percent, and that the east-bound train made a similar good record of 290 days, equal to 93 percent, of all the trips. The Black Diamond has a slower schedule than that of the Empire State Express, but, on the other hand, there are much steeper grades to contend with, the trains are usually heavier and there are more stops. The schedule of the Black Diamond westward is nine hours, 55 minutes, including the ferry between New York and Jersey City, and east-bound nine hours, 57 minutes. The distance is 447.53 miles, making the rate, including stops, but not the ferry, (one mile) , 46 and one-third miles per hour. There are 10 stops, consuming about 30 minutes, and 19 minutes are allowed for the ferry. The east-bound train is scheduled at 63 miles an hour for 44 miles. On many occasions, when late, a speed of 80 miles an hour has been kept up for a distance of 20 miles or more, and on April 21, 1897, this rate was maintained for 44 miles, Alpine to Geneva Junction. These trains consist of five cars each, and as the cafe car, 86 feet long, weighs 108,500 pounds, and the day cars 75,000 pounds each, the whole train, exclusive of the engine and tender, must weight something over 419,000 pounds. The locomotives which haul these cars weigh 140,900 pounds each. They have cylinders 19 by 26 inches and driving wheels 78 inches in diameter. They have Wooten fire boxes, burning hard coal, and the average consumption of coal per train mile is 88 pounds. The steepest grade encountered by the Black Diamond (east-bound) is 96 feet per mile for 10 miles. The train surmounts an altitude of 1,739 feet above the level of the sea. Elmira Telegram Sept. 11, 1898 Fast trains, like the Lehigh Valley's Black Diamond and the New York Central's Empire State Express are expensive luxuries. Railroad men agree that they do not pay, except to give standing to the road. They are enormously expensive to maintain, and aside from the few passengers they attract by their speed, they merely compete with other first class trains on the same road. It is now probable that these flyers will soon be done away with. The passenger agents of the Pennsylvania and Vanderbilt lines held a meeting in New York a few days ago, the object of which was to compel the weaker likes, such as the Baltimore & Ohio, Erie, Delaware, Lackawanna & Western, etc., to advance the fare between New York and Chicago to $20, same as the "big" lines charge. The smaller corporations are ready to agree to a uniform rate of fare, if the other roads will lay off their flyers, and equalize advantages. The big lines seem inclined to do this, as they think that their prestige will capture most of the travel, and that the abolishment of limited trains will be economy. So whether the magnificent Black Diamond Express will be continued much longer remains to be seen. Proceedings of the Traveling Engineers' Association, Buffalo, Sept. 13-16, 1898. Published by Review Printing Co., Elkhart, Ind., 1898, pp. 152-155. The President: Mr. C.B. Conger (of Grand Rapids, Mich., member of the Executive Committee) has just come into the room, and he is now ready to make his report concerning the trip on the Black Diamond Express and the Empire State Express. He will do so verbally and the stenographer will take it down. Please pay close attention to what Mr. Conger will say. "Mr. President and members - As you know, the Lehigh Valley Railroad Company, through its traveling engineer, Mr. Alvin C. Smith, who made the arrangements for us, offered two members of the association a chance to ride on their engine which draws the Black Diamond Express, on the train leaving here yesterday. "At the same time Mr. Hogan, of the New York Central, made arrangements by which the two traveling engineers could come back on the engine of the Empire State Express, and Mr. Davis and myself were the pleased recipients of the courtesy. We left here a couple of minutes late, which I understand was occasioned by the baggage from other railroads not getting around in time, on engine No. 669. "This is an engine having the Wooten boiler. I do not know that there is any need of describing the particular engine, except that she is of the Columbia type, having two driving wheels nearly under the center of the engine, the forward end being carried by an independent four-wheel truck, and the back end by trailing wheels. Her driving wheels are seven foot six inches in diameter, and she weighs about seventy tons, and the tender about forty-three tons. I understand that the train weighs 183 tons. The fire box is 138 inches long, almost twelve feet, and 96 inches wide, and you who have seen the Wooten fire box know that it has a wide grate surface and a crown sheet which slopes down each side towards the grate. The top of the fire box and crown sheet is the same shape as the outside of the boiler and fire box. "All the way down, while the pop valves were set 177, this engine only popped off a very few times, and when it did it only blew for a few seconds; but I did not in all the time on the way down see the gauge get below 175, which is not only a compliment to the man doing the firing, but to the engine which can be fired as close as that. Mr. Davis remarked particularly on the fact that this engine seemed to have a great store of reserved power, inasmuch as he could not notice at any time that the engine was being forced I understand that the trip from here to Rochester Junction has a more favorable grade than the one on the New York Central coming back, as it has more down-hill grade towards Rochester than coming back to Buffalo. "Mr. Davis sat behind me in the cab, and took the time when we were running fast and slow. When we were going slow I noticed that our speed was somewhere between thirty-five and forty miles an hour through the yards; and there is one thing you will notice on these fast trains, that everybody is out of the way and the semaphore signals are set far enough off so that a man has a chance to stop if the signal is against him, and a good chance to regulate his speed, so that if the signal should be set against him he can figure on its being clear by the time he gets there, and not losing time in setting the brakes. "I did not notice any signal set against us anywhere. The engineer shut off about four miles before reaching a junction at a railroad crossing, but we could not see any perceptible slacking up of the train until we ran three miles after the engine was shut off. As he got where he could work steam again and see a clear signal, the train slackened up a little when he pulled out. "The speed, a good deal of the time, was seventy-two miles an hour, which is a mile in fifty seconds; and a good many miles were made in forty-eight seconds, and one mile in forty-three seconds. We took some very sharp curves, at least I considered them sharp curve, for a train moving at that speed, the engine running at seventy miles an hour. There did not seem to be any swinging or lurching or jerking of the engine, as is found on many engines when they strike a curve, and I was surprised at the ease with which the big high engine went around the curves. "All these Columbia type of engines having the two driving wheels close together, and a long wheel base, have a good deal of lateral motion in the trailing wheel, and that allows the engine to swing a little. That swinging motion was not disagreeable at any time. I only mention it because it is a characteristic of that type of engine. I believe if we had left quite late, and they had been in a hurry, we would have run faster than one mile in forty-three seconds, which is about eighty-five miles an hour. I have no doubt whatever that under favorable circumstances that engine would run ninety miles an hour, mile after mile, with a train of four cars. "We had the high speed brake equipment on the cars, and I remarked to Mr. Davis, when I saw it, that I hoped we would have an occasion to use it on the way down. He did not exactly like the idea of that, and I asked him about it, and he said "Maybe they wont get stopped quick enough." (Laughter). " I told him that was poor business for a traveling engineer, and also an airbrake expert, to lose faith in the brakes. We did not use the high speed brakes for any purpose, and made the stops with the ordinary service application. We left three minutes late and we were four minutes ahead of time when we got to Rochester Junction. "When we started, although we were late, they were in no more hurry than if they were going to dinner. When the second hand came around to sixty, when they were to go, the whistle blew and away she went. We had gone but a very short distance when the engine had her train at full speed. The engine cylinders are 19 x26 inches, with 175 or 178 pounds pressure back of them, which you can see will move the train right off. I did not notice her slip anywhere, nor at any time during the trip did we have the rolling motion that we have on some high speed standard eight-wheel engines. " The motion was merely a swinging of the rear end of the engine, as we see tenders swing around when running fast with the light engine. We did not feel any trembling when she ran, as on our standard engines when hooked too close and working heavy throttle running at high speed. She rode as steadily as a coach. On our arrival at Rochester, which we reached from Rochester Junction by going over on one of the Lehigh passenger trains which run from the junction." New York Times Oct. 10, 1898 Lehigh Valley Train Makes 105 Miles in 102 Minutes Buffalo, Oct. 9 - Extraordinary fast time by a special train on the Lehigh Valley Railroad between Buffalo and Ithaca. The train was made up of a Black Diamond outfit, and carried members of the Buffalo Railroad Association and their friends to the College City on their annual excursion. The run from Buffalo to Rochester, 69 miles, was made in 67 minutes, and the first 105 miles were covered in 102 minutes, including a five-minute stop at Rochester Junction. The run to Ithaca, 148 miles, was made in 2 hours and 46 minutes, including one stop of five minutes and another of seven minutes. Elmira Telegram Sunday, Nov. 20, 1898 It is announced that at the next change of the timetable the Lehigh Valley railroad, the Black Diamond Express will run over the Geneva and Ithaca division, instead of the through line between Geneva and Van Etten. Rochester Democrat Tuesday, January 17, 1899 Mme. Melba Arrives _____ She Will Rest at the Powers To-Day and Receive No Callers. ____ Mme. Melba and her two maids arrived in Rochester at 12:18 o'clock this morning on the Black Diamond Express from Philadelphia. W. F. Cook, district passenger agent of the Lehigh Valley railroad, met her at Geneva and accompanied her to this city. Especial attention had been paid to the great songstress by the Lehigh officials throughout the trip. The Black Diamond's usual route is by the Seneca division of the Lehigh, but owing to a freight mishap at North Hector blockading the track the Black Diamond was compelled to retreat to Van Etten junction, a distance of thirty-five miles, and to come through over the Ithaca division. The train, upon its regular schedule, should have reached Rochester at 9 P. M. Mme. Melba will be inaccessible to any callers to-day. She said last night that on the days when she is to appear in opera she rests all day and does not even talk. The penalty of her greatness as a singer was apparent after she arrived in this city in the extreme care she took to avoid draughts. Her carnage windows were kept closed and the door was shut as quickly upon her entrance as possible. When she arrived at the Powers hotel, even, her extreme fear of catching a chill was apparent. M. Bonnard and Mr. Van Hoose were in the city last night. The Ellis company is expected from Buffalo this afternoon. Mr. Cook has arranged with Manager Nichols, of the street railway company, for a line of cars at the station which will take the members of the company wherever it is desired. Upon the close of the performance at the Lyceum theater tonight, a line of cars will be in, waiting which will take the company, which numbers, it is said, 150 people, direct to the Lehigh, where the company will start for Buffalo at 12:01 o'clock. Mme. Melba will remain here until Wednesday morning. Rochester Democrat Tuesday, January 17, 1899 WRECK ON THE LEHIGH _____ Black Diamond Express Delayed Three Hours as a Result of It ______ A serious freight wreck occurred on the Lehigh road last night. A heavily loaded freight train bound eastward was running at a rapid rate near North Hector when a truck in the middle of the train broke down and derailed a car. Instantly the cars behind began to pile up And, such was the Impetus of those behind, that between fifteen and twenty cars a were heaped up In a tangled mass In no time. The passenger track was heaped with wreckage and it lacked but a few moments of the time when the Black Diamond was due. Flagmen were sent down the track and the express train was stopped in time. The Black Diamond backed down to Van Etten Junction and came around by the Ithaca branch to Rochester, arriving at Rochester Junction- three hours late. So far as could be learned last night, no one on the wrecked freight train was injured. Post-Standard, Syracuse, N.Y. Oct. 13, 1899 Black Diamond Express There has been much discussion over fast time made by crack trains of various railroads throughout the country on regular schedule, that is, not considering the extraordinary speed attained by these trains at different times when they have been delayed on some part of the road on which they operated, and are attempting to make up lost time. The writer has become somewhat interested in the subject, and has taken pains to look up the various records of schedule time made by the different fast express trains of roads who lay claim to distinction on account of having one train, among a number of others, that is particularly fast and particularly palatial. The result of this research has been to confirm the claim of the officials of the Lehigh Valley Railroad that the Black Diamond Express, operated between New York and Buffalo on that time, is by no means a minor factor. The train covers the distance of 447.53 miles between New York and Buffalo in nine hours and fifty minutes west bound and nine hours and 58 minutes eastbound. These figures include stops, which taken out would make the running time of the train 50 miles per hour. The maximum speed and distance of this train under regular schedule is as follows: Westbound, 68 miles per hour for 44 miles. Eastbound, 63 miles per hour for 29 miles. In addition to the figures given above a speed of 80 mies per hour is often made and maintained in emergencies by these Black Diamond Express trains for distances from 10 to 20 miles. The above figures are, as stated, taken from the regular schedule, and time is made every day except Sunday, the train running weekdays only, during the year. No special effort is made by the Lehigh Valley Railroad Company to herald the facts abroad, as it is a matter of fact with them and no fuss is made over it. To a passenger riding on the train it does not appear that the train is running at an exceptionally fast rate of speed, and probably his only knowledge is in the fact that he leaves Buffalo at 12 o'clock noon and arrives in New York City in a little over nine hours. Locomotive Engineering Nov., 1899 P. 526 Black Diamond Express. Mr. Charles S. Lee, G. P. A., Lehigh Valley Railroad, has been investigating the subject of fast through trains, and the facts learned have convinced him that the Lehigh Valley Black Diamond Express, running between New York and Buffalo, is one of the most important trains run between those two points. This train covers the distance of 447.53 miles between New York and Buffalo in 9 hours 55 minutes westbound, and 9 hours 58 minutes eastbound. These figures include stops, which, taken out, would make the running time of the train 50 miles per hour. The maximum speed and distance of this train under regular schedule is as follows: Westbound, 68 miles per hour for 44 miles. Eastbound, 63 miles per hour for 29 miles. In addition to the figures given above, a speed of 80 miles an hour is often made and maintained in emergencies by these Black Diamond Express trains for distances from 10 to 20 miles. Post-Standard, Syracuse, N.Y. Feb. 12, 1900 "Handsomest Train in the World" The Pullman Palace Car Company is now building for the Lehigh Valley Railroad six new passenger coaches which in interior and exterior finish and arrangement will eclipse anything heretofore built in this or any other country in the way of passenger cars used on regular trains for the accommodation of the public. These new cars will be run in the Black Diamond Express trains between New York and Buffalo and will replace the coaches now used in these trains, themselves models of comfort and luxury, but considered by the company to be not good enough for the Black Diamond Express, and which it has been considered necessary to replace, with the end in view of keeping ahead of all competitors in affording the public accommodations which cannot fail to be appreciated to an extent that will occasion increased patronage and consequent increased revenue. The inauguration of the Black Diamond Express train service on the Lehigh Valley line between New York and Buffalo, in 1896, marked an epoch of progress in railway car building which has met with universal favor at the hands of the traveling public, as shown by the popularity of this train, and the new business which has come to this road by reason of this service; and now with the operation of new coaches of still later date, more comfortable and luxurious, it is confidently expected that the popularity of the train will accordingly increase. Each car is provided with a large and elegantly appointed smoking room; also with two saloons - one for men and one for women. A luxurious retiring room is connected with the room for women. The men's saloon is provided with white metal wash basin, and both saloons with flush closets, the water supply being furnished by air pressure. The seating capacity of each car is 69 people; and the weight about 50 tons. The six new coaches will be exactly alike in every respect, and a description of one of them will suffice to inform the reader as to the detail of the make-up of all. The length of the car is 70 feet. Width, a fraction over 16 feet. The roof of the Empire style of construction, and the inside finished in solid mahogany. A particular feature about the interior finish, is the ceiling, in three ply white wood empire deck, with oval deck sash. The decoration of the ceiling is in gold. The windows of the car are double sash with plate glass, supplied with Pantasole Shades, silk facing, fixed with Acme Window Shade fixtures. The seats in the body of the car are covered with plush of the best quality, and have mahogany ends. In the smoke room the seats are covered with enameled green leather. The heating of the car is accomplished by the use of hot water circulation, which is a decided departure from the system of steam heating now in common use. The floor in the smoking room and hall-way at the ladies' end, both saloon and platforms, is covered with rubber tiling, the ladies' retiring room with Columbia Wilmot carpet, and the floor in the body of the car with inlaid linoleum. The trimmings of the care are bronze, Pullman standard. There are four basket racks, 3 feet 8 inches long, and eight 6 feet 6 inches long. The car is lighted by eight Pintsch Gas Lights in the center, and two in the vestibules. These lamps are supplied with gas from two tanks 9 feet 6 inches long. The platforms of the car are standard style, Type "A." with wide vestibules, Pullman standard, finished in mahogany with Roller Curtains, and the floors are covered with rubber tiling. The car is painted outside, in Pullman standard color; and the lettering, numbering and striping done with aluminum leaf. From a mechanical standpoint, the appliances on these cars for safety and comfort, are the best that human ingenuity and skill can devise. Gould couplers are used, and the brakes are Westinghouse standard, with a high speed attachment, and with a braking power of 90 percent, of the weight of the car. The trucks are Lehigh Valley standard six wheel, these wheels being 36 second steel tired, on steel axles. The wheel base of each truck is 10 feet 6 inches, and the side bearings Frictionless Roller. The journals are 4 1/4 inches by 8 inches, M.C.B. standard, and the bearings Phosphorus Bronze, lead lined. The brake shoes are Ross Charcoal Iron to fit M.C.B.'s standard Christie head. The seats in the car have Hale & Kilburn 178 pressed steel fittings. The present Cafe Library and Dining Car, and the magnificent Pullman Palace Parlor Car, which have given such eminent satisfaction, will continue to run in this train, the only change of equipment being in the coaches. Geneva Gazette March 9, 1900 Lehigh Valley Railroad ____ Trans-Atlantic travel has reached a point where all the discomforts that used to exist years ago in connection with the details of arranging trips are no longer known, the railroads and steamship companies furnishing facilities that remove any difficulty whatever, and making it very easy and simple for a passenger to complete his arrangements. The Lehigh Valley Railroad has made it a custom for some years of having passenger representatives located at New York City meet all incoming passenger steamers from European ports, and also passengers arriving by its trains, who are going abroad; and in fact, attend to all business in connection with arranging for hotel accommodations, sleeping or parlor car tickets and the checking of baggage, etc., etc., that it is necessary for passengers destined to points beyond New York via the Lehigh Valley Line, or the transfer to steamers of passengers and baggage, looking after, looking after steamship accommodations, etc. Mr. Charles A. Foucart, who is the Steamship Passenger Agent representing the Lehigh Valley Railroad, is on hand to meet incoming steamers, and will also meet parties on arrival of Lehigh Valley trains, to see their comfortable transfer to the steamship. Mr. Foucart is a thoroughly experienced man, and his manner of performing any service for passengers is so cheerful, that it is in reality a pleasure for one just coming off of a long steamship trip to meet them. Union Springs Advertiser Thursday, March 29, 1900 The "Black Diamond" with Engineer John McIntyre of Sayre at the throttle recently made the run from Alpine to Geneva, a distance of 43.9 miles, in 35 minutes, which is at the rate of 74.5 miles per hour. Jefferson County Journal, Adams, N.Y., July 31, 1900 Boy Takes Wild Ride on the Lehigh Clinging to a ventilator on top of one of the passenger coaches of the Lehigh Valley's Black Diamond Express, 14-year-old John Neumis rode 95 miles in 96 minutes and arrived safely. He was black with dust from head to foot, cut and blistered by flying bits of coal and his arms ached with the task of holding on. He took the dangerous ride to let his parents know that he was still alive. The boy left North Scranton several weeks ago and as time passed and his parents heard no word from him, they became alarmed. Finally someone started the rumor that he had been drowned. The boy was in Sayre when he saw in the papers his reported death and at once determined to get home as quickly as possible to relieve the anxiety of his parents. He had no money, but went to the railway station to see if he could not steal a ride on a freight train. While waiting the Black Diamond steamed into the station. As soon as he saw it his resolution was made. Getting on the far side of the train he managed to climb up on the top of a car unobserved. Throwing himself flat he clung to a ventilator. The road winds along the river bank with many sharp curves. Exposed as he was, he received dust, smoke and cinders full in the face. The burning cinders from the smokestack cut and blistered him, and the wind came near sweeping him off. At Towanda he could have left his perilous position, but he set his teeth and held on. At Tunkhannock he was almost exhausted, but he was only 20 miles from home. When the junction was reached he was so weak and cramped that for a time he was compelled to rest. Then he tramped the five miles to his home and greeted his people. American Engineer and Railroad Journal, P. 380, November, 1900 Fast Runs on the Lehigh Valley ______ Black Diamond Express During the period from October, 1897, to July last, the "Black Diamond Express" of the Lehigh Valley has made a number of fast runs which have been tabulated by the passenger department and are produced in the accompanying table. The regular schedule of this train is, westbound. New-York to Buffalo, 448 miles, 9 hours and 55 minutes, including the ferry and 13 stops. Deducting time consumed by the ferry and stops, the actual running time of the train between Jersey City and Buffalo, 447 miles, is 9 hours and 12 minutes. The regular schedule of the train, eastbound, Buffalo to New York, 448 miles, is 10 hours and 3 minutes, including ferry and 13 stops. Deducting the time consumed by ferry and stops, the actual running time of the train between Buffalo and Jersey City, 447 hours, is 9 hours and 20 minutes. Especial attention is called to the fast run made by train No. 9 on July 21, 1900, Alpine to Kendaia, a distance of 34 miles in 23 minutes, or a speed of 89 miles per hour. Another instance is shown on November 3, 1899, where train No. 9 ran 43.9 miles in 33 minutes, this being 80 miles an hour. It is understood that these figures are taken from the train sheet records. (Separate Excel file: "LV speed tables") The Tribune Almanac and Political Register (1901) "Railroad Trains Speed" P. 181, LEHIGH VALLEY. - The "Black Diamond Express" of the Lehigh Valley Railroad has made several very fast runs. On March 25, 1897, it ran from Three Bridges to Bound Brook, 16 miles, in 11 minutes, or an average of 87.29 miles an hour. The schedule of this train from New-York to Buffalo (including ferry and thirteen stops) is 9 hours and 55 minutes, a distance of 447.53 miles, an average speed of 46% miles an hour. On October 8, 1898, the train made the run from Buffalo to Rochester Junction, 69 miles. In 67 minutes, and the first 105 miles in 102 minutes, including a five-minute stop at Rochester Junction. The run to Ithaca, 148 miles, was made in 2 hours and 46 minutes, including one stop of five minutes and another of seven minutes. On June 24, 1899, train No. 9, with six cars, made the distance from Sayre to Buffalo in 170 minutes actual running time, an average of 60.21 miles an hour. On November 3, 1899, the same train ran 43.9 miles in 33 minutes, a speed of 80 miles an hour, and on July 21, 1900, established a record between Alpine and Kendaia, 34 miles, of 23 minutes, being at the rate of 89 miles an hour. Journal of the American Society of Naval Engineers Vol. XIII (Washington, D.C. ) 1901. P. 217 FAST RAILROAD SPEED. A speed of 90 miles per hour was recently made by the Black Diamond Express of the Lehigh Valley Railroad. The train consisted of four Pullman cars and an "Atlantic" type engine. This train was 13 minutes late at Rochester Junction, and on the run to Manchester an attempt to make up the lost time was made and was more than accomplished. On one section of the road a distance of 5.1 miles was made in exactly 3 minutes and 41 seconds. For the last 1,800 feet of that distance brakes were applied, slowing down for a train-order board. The first 41 miles, by actual blue-print measurement, were run in 3 minutes and 8 seconds. This speed was timed by three watches, which never left the hands of the men holding them. The total distance was covered at an average rate of 88 miles an hour, and the rate for the first 4f miles was exactly 90 miles per hour. On the same run the distance between Rochester Junction and Manchester, 20.I miles, was covered in 19 minutes and 10 seconds. This time was taken from a standing start at Rochester Junction to a full stop a Manchester, the speed being reduced to a rate of 25 miles an hour through the Manchester yards. Union Springs Advertiser Thurs., March 18, 1901 Flattering Foreign Mention One of the moat esteemed papers in France, The Petit Marseillais, printed in its number of January 31, 1901, the following about the Black Diamond Express, of the Lehigh Valley Railroad: "THE FASTEST IN THE WORLD. We expose in our reception and telegram rooms a picture of the 'Black Diamond Express,' a train of the Lehigh Valley Railroad of the United States. This road, which, leaving NewYork. takes the direction of Buffalo and the region of the Great Lakes of North America, runs along the Lehigh River through the most picturesque country of the United States that which is popularly known as the as the Switzerland of America. The train represented in the picture which we exhibit, makes the seven hundred and nineteen kilometers that separate New York from Buffalo, in nine hours and twelve minutes, deducting the time of the thirteen stops. The two greatest runs made were between Alpine and Kendaia, where, in November, 1899, sixty nine kilometers were run in thirty-three minutes, and where, in July, 1900, this train beat its own record in covering a distance of fifty four kilometers in twenty five minutes." This newspaper, which has a circulation of 300,000, is known to many Americans who travel abroad, and particularly on the Riviera, for the many courtesies which it is always ready to extend to the citizens of America. The article shows how closely the publishers follow the American items of interest, and their readiness to acknowledge the superiority of American railroading. Railroad Gazette March 29, 1901 Automatic Block Signals on the Lehigh Valley Officers of the Lehigh Valley announced that the equipment of the main line of that road from Jersey City to Buffalo, 448 miles, with automatic block signals, will be finished by June 1. This means an addition of about 75 miles of line, double track, to the mileage heretofore reported in the Railroad Gazette. The Hall Signal Company, which has furnished and put up all of the automatic signals on this road, is now at work on its contract from Van Etten Junction to Manchester; the new contract, the final one for the main line, covers the road from Manchester, N.Y., westward to Depew. The sections are now worked by the manual block system. From Depew westward the line is already signaled. All of the signals now to be erected, and all which have been put up within the last year, are semaphores, worked by electric motors. Every block section has a distant signal. The Lehigh Valley will thus be the first trunk line to have automatic signals throughout the whole of its main line. Geneva Daily Times Thursday, May 23, 1901 Boy Traveler at the Lehigh ___ Fed at Police Station Last Night. ____ Thomas Has New Suit and Will Go His Way Rejoicing ____ Age and wealth considered, Frederick Thomas, who says that he is 13 years old and that his home is at 1625 Wabash avenue, Chicago, must be given credit for being the greatest traveler that ever honored Geneva with a visit. The boy arrived here from New York on the Black Diamond Express last evening. He intended to start westward later in the evening but fell asleep at the Lehigh station and missed the train. Just how he came from New York, where he has been, where he is going, are best told in his words. He speaks with a Boston accent but is without many of the mannerisms peculiar to New Englanders. "I wanted to go back to Chicago," said the boy to a TIMES reporter at the police station last evening, "so I asked the fellows around the station in Jersey City which was the fastest train out of there for Chicago. They told me the Black Diamond, but that I could not beat my way on it. I looked the train over and climbed aboard after it started. I got on a step under the extension vestibule, put my arm on t e hand rail and fell asleep. "I woke up while the train was at some station in Pennsylvania. Some boys were yelling at me. I climbed out and picked up some stones. After I hit one of them boys in the middle of the forehead they let me alone. Down in Jersey City they told m to get off at Geneva. When the train got here I thought it was the place and climbed off. Then the cop got me." Capt. Beales captured the young man, fed him and later sent him on his way. Thomas has been around the Lehigh Valley station all today, and will remain there until he starts westward tonight. he men at the station, railroad officials and others, are interested in the boy. They took up a collection and bought him a suit of clothes this afternoon. Frederick says that he has traveled over much of the United States, and that his story is true is proven by the fact that he knows every route he has traveled, with terminal and junction points, from San Francisco, Cal., to Portland, Maine. Elmira Gazette Friday, May 24, 1901 Stole Ride on Black Diamond ____ Fred Thomas Slept Under the Extension Vestibule. ____ He Was First Noticed at Sayre, Pa., Where Some Boys Threw Stones at Him. Geneva, Mary 24. - On his way from Jersey City to Chicago, Fred Thomas was found at Geneva riding on the steps under the extension vestibule platform of the Black Diamond Express Wednesday night. He had ridden all the way from Jersey City in that manner. In fact he admitted that he was used to traveling in that way, beating his way from place to place. He was not conscious of his danger, evidently, as he said he had slept most of the day. He claimed that his home was at No. 1625 Wabash avenue, Chicago, and that he was going there to see his sister, who was dying. In fact, he said, he always said that when he was caught on trains and also found it a good thing to say when he wanted to raise money. When he was at Jersey City in the Pennsylvania depot he claims he asked some of the station men to show him which was the fastest train from there to Chicago. The pointed to the Black Diamond, nut told him he could not beat his way on that. He walked around the station and looked the train over, and when no guard was looking slid down the platform just as the train was starting and jumped on the step under the vestibule extension. Here he made himself at home and settled down for a comfortable trip. As he was tired he soon fell asleep, and was not conscious of his perilous ride around the curves and over the mountains that the Black Diamond traverses. He slept until he was awakened by some boys at Sayre, Pa., who discovered him and commenced to plague him. He says he jumped down and threw stones at the boys and drove them away. As the train again started he again jumped to his perch and continued his ride. As he get on the steps, however, he was seen by one of the station officials, who telegraphed ahead to Geneva that the boy was stealing a ride and to have him taken off the train. Captain Beales was at the train when the train rolled in and soon captured the young traveler. He was taken down town where he told his story to the police. They gave him a supper and lodging for the night. Yesterday a number of persons became interested in the boy and book up a collection for him which was enough to purchase a new suit of clothes and gave him a ride to Chicago in a Pullman besides. He resumed his journey last night as a first class passenger. The boy says he has traveled all over the United States, which is evidently a fact, as he knows accurately the roads over which he has traveled with the terminal and junction points of same from San Francisco to Portland, Maine. New York Times Sat., Aug. 10, 1901 EIGHT HURT IN A TRAIN WRECK. Two Cars of the " Black Diamond Express" Jump the Track Near North Leroy ____ BUFFALO, Aug. 9. - Two rear cars of the Lehigh Valley Railroad's "Black Diamond Express," which left this city at noon for New York and Philadelphia, jumped the track and broke loose from the rest of the train near North Leroy, ten miles east of Batavia, at 12:53 o'clock this afternoon. The train was making over fifty miles an hour at the time. One of the derailed cars was a Pullman observation coach, the other a parlor car. The latter remained on the cross-ties and nobody in It was hurt. The observation coach plunged down an embankment and dropped over Into a ditch on its side, eight of its occupants being Injured, none of them seriously. Their names follow: AMES. L M.. New York: porter. BENTLEY, S. M., Buffalo: conductor. CRANE. P. H., 295 Garfleld Place. Brooklyn. JOHNSON, LUKE, Lakewood, N. J. JOHNSON, Mrs. LUKE. KEENER. FRED., Lakewood, N. J. . KEENER. Mrs. FRED. ROP. L. M., 507 Fourth Street Brooklyn. There was much excitement at Leroy when the accident was first reported there. Railroad orders came in quick succession over the telegraph wires, and wrecking trains were rushed out to the scene of the catastrophe, carrying many physicians to look after the Injured, whose numbers were greatly exaggerated. After the eight who h a d been hurt were cared for, the train, with the exception of the two derailed cars, started on its way, again, leaving the scene of the accident at 2:30 o'clock, just a little more than two hours having elapsed. Up to a late hour to-night the cause of the accident had not been determined. Officials of the railroad said they did not know why the cars had left the track, an examination of the rails having failed to explain the matter. The train was in charge of Engineer McIntire of Sayre, Penn., and Conductor R. Mack of Easton, Penn. The Black Diamond was put In service in 1896, and it is said to be the first accident that has befallen it. When the " Black Diamond Express" reached Jersey City at 12:00 o'clock, this morning it was found that Mrs. Luke Johnson was the only one of the injured whose condition was at all serious. She had two disfiguring cuts on her face and the lower part of her chin appeared to have been severed. L.W. Ames, the porter, seems to have been the hero of the accident. The passengers of the observation car said that despite his own injuries he went among them after the car rolled down the embankment and did all he could to add to their comfort, refusing to leave the car until the passengers had been attended. At the station in Jersey City he went about looking after the passengers, despite the efforts of fellow employees to take the burden off his shoulders. When questioned about the wreck he refused to talk. The passengers from the observation car said that to them It had seemed as if the train played " snap-the-whip" with the car, which was jerked from the rails and bumped along the ties for a hundred yards or more before It turned over. Rochester Democrat & Chronicle Monday, Aug. 19, 1901 WASHOUT ON LEHIGH. Inconvenienced Many Pan-American Tourists. Wllkes-Barre, Aug. 18. - The washout on the Lehigh Valley railroad at Vosburg, forty miles north of here, Saturday evening, was the most disastrous in the history of the road. Fortunately no lives were lost, but the damage done was considerable. All traffic came to a standstill and a large number of passengers bound to end from the Pan-American Exposition were put to much Inconvenience. The Black Diamond Express, bound west and carrying New York and Philadelphia passengers, got within six miles of the washout when It was halted. The officials of the road saw that It would be Impossible to get the train through the tunnel during the night, so they ordered It back to Wllkes-Barre. It arrived here at 11 o'clock, and the passengers were given their choice of staying at a hotel over night or take an early morning train over the Delaware & Hudson and Erie railroads to Waverly, N.Y., where connection could be made with the main line of the Lehigh Valley again. Most of the passengers remained In the city over night and this morning some of them returned home, while others continued their journey went over the Delaware & Hudson. An Investigation shows that a cloudburst had occurred and that it washed out the road bed for over an eighth of a mile. But the greatest damage was at the tunnel. Thousands of tons of loose earth was brought down the embankment carrying with It logs and other debris. The latter blocked the entrance to the tunnel and the water accumulated on the tracks to a depth of five feet. Help was summoned from elsewhere along the line and early this morning an army of men were at work. The heavy rain continued this afternoon. At 10 o'clock the officials said the tunnel would be cleared before midnight and through traffic then resumed. New York Sun, Sunday, Oct. 20, 1901 Lehigh Entertains British Railroad Men. The officials of the Northeastern Railroad of England who are visiting this country were guests of the Lehigh Valley Railroad yesterday in an inspection tour of the bay and harbor. Luncheon was served on the tug Lehigh. The visitors came down from Buffalo on Friday on the Black Diamond Express and made a careful inspection of locomotive, cars, roadbed and way. They said that their trip had been in every particular a complete revelation of the possibilities of travel. The Lehigh Valley system of steam heating and electric lighting pleased them particularly. Ithaca Journal, Nov. 5, 1901 NEW FAST TRAINS. _____ Ithaca To Be Given Excellent Service By Lehigh Valley ____ Number Six, Seven and Eight, Three of the Speediest and Most Elegantly Equipped Passenger Trains to be run Through This City - Schedule Operative in November. _____ Three of the fastest and most elegantly equipped trains on the Lehigh Valley system, upon the adoption of the new winter schedule about November 10, will be run through Ithaca, over the Ithaca branch, or the "Old Road" as it is called. The positive announcement was made today to The Journal by Paul S. Millspaugh, district passenger agent, who attended a meeting of officials held in Buffalo yesterday. The trains are No. 6, the Exposition Express, No. 7, the New York and Chicago Day Express, and No. 8, the New York and Chicago Limited, all now running over the main line between Geneva and Sayre, and excluding the Black Diamond Express, the best on the road. Number 6, a solid vestibule train running between Buffalo, Philadelphia and New York, now leaves Buffalo at 8 P.M., arriving in Philadelphia at 6:50 A.M., and New York at seven in the morning. The train carries six sleepers and is a fast limited express with coaches for Baltimore and Washington. The only stop made between Buffalo and Geneva is at Rochester Junction. It will arrive here about 11 o'clock at night, stopping at this station only, on the Ithaca Branch. Number 8, the second eastbound train is a solid vestibule train from Chicago and Detroit, over the Grand Trunk, and does not enter Buffalo, coming around Depew Junction. It carries a parlor-car, dining-cars and sleepers and will arrive in Ithaca at 8 o'clock A.M., making the same stops as Number 6. The train will arrive in New York at four o'clock in the afternoon. Number 7, the third train, which the company has decided to run through this city, leaves New York at 10 o'clock A.M., and arrives in Buffalo at 9:15 P.M. Under the new schedule the train will reach Ithaca at six o'clock, and will stop only at Geneva and Rochester Junction between here and Buffalo. Through coaches for Chicago and Detroit are carried. Besides the announcement of the new service it is also stated officially, that the present trains with the exception of the one put on for Pan-American visitors and arriving here at 1:25 A.M., will be continued. This will give Ithacans four trains to Buffalo. No. 1 now leaving here at 5 o'clock in the afternoon will depart about two hours later, after No. 7, to do the local business and will make the usual stops. The changes in the time of the other trains have not yet been decided. This is the first time since the construction of the new route between Geneva and VanEtten, opened in 1891 to avoid the Tompkins County hills, that Ithaca has been afforded such excellent train service. For the past several years, influence has been brought to bear on the Lehigh authorities to operate the fast trains over this division but owing to the great extra expense and loss of time, the company would never consent to the idea. Thirty minutes more in time is required to make the run over the Old Road, besides the necessity of keeping two extra engines and crews here to assist the trains up the steep grades. It is for the sole benefit of Ithaca and students, and the fact that Ithaca is one of the best stations on the road, that the company has arranged the new schedule. New York Sun, Sunday, Oct. 20, 1901 Lehigh Entertains British Railroad Men. The officials of the Northeastern Railroad of England who are visiting this country were guests of the Lehigh Valley Railroad yesterday in an inspection tour of the bay and harbor. Luncheon was served on the tug Lehigh. The visitors came down from Buffalo on Friday on the Black Diamond Express and made a careful inspection of locomotive, cars, roadbed and way. They said that their trip had been in every particular a complete revelation of the possibilities of travel. The Lehigh Valley system of steam heating and electric lighting pleased them particularly. Railroad Gazette January 24, 1902 Speed of the Black Diamond A reporter who is good at details has figured out the average speed of the Black Diamond Express of the Lehigh Valley and gives the figures which we here quote: The Black Diamond, westbound, leaves New York at 12 o'clock noon, reaching Buffalo at 9:45 p.m. The run from Jersey City to Newark, 7.7 miles, is made at the rate of 16 miles an hour; Newark to South Plainfield, 17.8 miles, at 42 miles an hour; South Plainfield to Easton, 50.5 miles at 51 miles an hour; Easton to South Bethlehem, 11.8 miles, at 34 miles an hour; South Bethlehem to Allentown, 4.7 miles, at 39 miles an hour; Allentown to Mauch Chunk, 28.9 miles, at 42 miles an hour; Mauch Chunk to Wilkes Barre, 53.8 miles, at 36 miles an hour; Wilkes Barre to Tunkhannock, 31 miles, at 49 miles an hour; Tunkhannock to Sayre, 64 miles, at 52 miles an hour; Sayre to Geneva, 73.5 miles, at 54 mile an hour; Geneva to Rochester Junction, 35 miles at 51 miles an hour; and Rochester Junction to Buffalo, 68.1 miles, at 54 miles an hour. The average of these runs is 49.80 miles an hour. The trains were built by the Pullman Company, and consist of four cars each. The engines were built especially for this service by the Baldwin Locomotive Work. They have 80-inch drive wheels. Railroad Gazette January 24, 1902 New Dining Cars for the Lehigh Valley The Lehigh Valley has put in service two new dining cars built by the Pullman Company at Chicago from plan and specifications by the railroad company. They are 72 feet 6 inches long over sills, 9 feet 8 inches wide over sills, and 10 feet 1/4 inches over all. Pullman standards have been largely used. The car is framed in their usual manner with anti-telescoping device, steel platforms and wide vestibules. Pullman 5-a trucks with the Hodge triple brake equipment, giving a brake power of 90 percent of the weight of the car are applied under the car. The dining room, which seats thirty persons, is finished in Cuban mahogany, with handsome veneered panels. Combination fixtures for Pintsch gas and electric lights are provided for both the center and side lamps. The kitchen is finished in oak and contains, besides a coal range, steam tables, grilles and ample lockers. The floor is covered in copper and wood drain mats. Opalescent glass is used in the fixed sash. The ceiling, which is of the full Empire type, is decorated with gold leaf. Lehigh standard finish with aluminum striping has been used on the exterior. Buffalo Morning Express Aug. 21, 1902 LEHIGH VALLEY'S EQUIPMENT. RECENT REPORT SHOWS AN EXCELLENT CONDITION. Up to the present, the Lehigh Valley has 740 locomotives, of which 804 are passenger engines, and the rest are used for freight. On the Buffalo division between Buffalo and Manchester, there are twenty of the class known as the 1100 class, which are heavy compound consolidated moguls and able to haul a train of 2.000 tons. The class known as the Atlantic type, the standard engine, is used on the Buffalo division for hauling the fast trains. On the Black Diamond Express, which leaves Buffalo at noon each day, the engines go to Sayre, 177 miles, in less than 175 minutes. Several stops must be made to take water and in going through the long yards in East Buffalo. These engines have an 80-inch driving wheel. The time gained on the Buffalo division is lost on the mountains above Wilkes-Barre, where the trains are forced to make a climb for several miles, where it is necessary to call Into service an extra engine. New freight cars are being built for the Lehigh, and with the completion of the order the number of freight cars in active service will be close on to 50,000, beside a great number of new steel coal cars which were recently turned out for the handling of the Lehigh's big coal business. Buffalo Morning Express Aug. 21, 1902 SPIKE ON THE RAIL. BLACK DIAMOND EXPRESS THRILLING ESCAPE Wilkes-Barre, Aug. 20 - The Black Diamond Express reached Sayre the other night two hours late. after an exciting experience. The train had just passed Glen Summit and had started down the steep mountain side that lies beyond where the track is straight and smooth. Suddenly, about midway of the descent, the engineer spied a large spike lying across the rail. With a lightning jerk he threw on the emergency brake. The train came to an abrupt stop. Pouring from the train, the passengers thronged to the front of the engine. The two front wheels of the small pony truck under the forward end of the locomotive had been thrown from the track and had slid along beside the rails for some distance. Under the drive wheel of the engine was found the spike which had nearly caused a fatal accident. The spike had been carried along under the drive wheel from the point where it originally lay, a distance of about a hundred yards. The question of forcing the two forward back on the rails proved a most perplexing one. The engine started, backed and executed various maneuvers in an attempt to regain the track, but to no purpose. At length, after fifteen minutes had been consumed in these fruitless efforts, the conductor doffed his coat and started to to the Wilkes-Barre station, two miles off, to secure help. At this moment a Chinaman from a lumber camp, of appearance far from prepossessing, rushed excitedly to the spot. He jabbered for a few minutes, said the Daily Journal, and then ran madly into the nearby woods, returning in a few minutes with a round stick, three feet long, several inches in diameter and sharpened at the end. It is what is known as a canting stick, used by lumbermen in rolling heavy logs. John Chinaman inserted one end under the forward wheel and placed the other beside the track, so that the stick served for a rail, leading from the wheel diagonally back to the track. The engineer then back the locomotive slowly and the wheels were rerailed. Then Johnnie received an ovation. The jeers which had greeted his first appearance turned suddenly to shouts of applause, and the passengers swarmed around him to offer their congratulations. Stylishly dressed women hastened up, eager to shake hands with him. He said he once worked on a railroad. The train immediately started on its way and arrived at Sayre without further incident. Evening Telegram, New York Wed., Nov. 2, 1902 Black Diamond Express Wrecked; Fifteen Injured ____ Train Running at 40 Miles an Hour When Crash Occurred ____ Dashed Into Engine Standing on Siding ___ Carrie Nation, Kansas "Saloon Smasher on Board Sustains Cut on Forehead _____ Fifteen passengers were injured, some of them seriously, in a wreck in which the engine and one car of the Black Diamond Express of the Lehigh Valley Railroad were overturned on the Pennsylvania Railroad tracks near the Jersey Meadows shops a mile west of Marion, shortly after noon today. While running at the rate of forty miles an hour the Black Diamond Express dashed onto a siding on which a Pennsylvania was standing, the Lehigh engine and one coach, which was crowded with passengers, being wrecked and thrown completely from the tracks. Mrs. Carrie Nation, the famous Kansas "saloon smasher," was among those injured, receiving a gash on the head. Three of the injured, who were taken to St. Francis Hospital in Jersey City were: Frank Hull, 59 years old, of No. 403 Putnam Ave., Brooklyn, severely bruised about the head and cut on the face. William H. Garder, of No. 376 Fifth St., Jersey City, porter on the Black Diamond Express, bruised and cut. Samuel Robinson, colored, passenger, of Shelbyville, Ind., badly bruised, but not dangerously hurt. The scene of the wreck was just across the Hackensack River from the west side of Jersey City, and a long distance from any building except the shops. The nearest roads are the Newark plank road and the Newark turnpike, each about a quarter of a mile from the scene of the wreck and each reached only across the meadows or through the car shop yards. Word was at once telephoned to Jersey City for ambulances. St. Francis Hospital was the nearest to the accident, and from there the first aid reached the injured and to it the worst hurt were taken. The Black Diamond, which is the fastest train on the road, left Jersey City westward bound, at 12:42. Beside the passengers who were hurt, the more seriously injured of the trainmen are the engine driver and the fireman of the express. All but three of the fifteen injured passengers were able to resume their journey by a later train. The Lehigh Valley Railroad uses the Pennsylvania tracks from Jersey City to West Newark. When near the Meadows shops, just this side of the city limits of Newark, the express train suddenly swung onto a siding where the Pennsylvania engine was standing. The engine driver and fireman of the Lehigh Valley engine are said to have jumped when they saw that a collision was inevitable. The engine driver of the Pennsylvania engine went down in the crash which followed. The whole trainload of passengers were violently shaken up, one coach almost completely overturned. A wild panic ensued, and it was some time before those in the car could be extricated from their perilous position. It was then found that 15 of those in the coach were more or less seriously hurt. Within half a mile of the scene of today's accident 15 persons were dashed to death on the Lackawanna road a few years ago. About seven years ago there was a rear end collision on the Pennsylvania road at the same spot and several were hurt. Journal of the Western Society of Engineers Vol. 7, January to December, 1902, Page 165 (In Discussion of spiral curves by William Beahan) The history of a curve on the Lehigh Valley Railroad at Kennedy Station in New Jersey shows in a practical way the effect of spirals. The curve is a short one but sharp for that locality. As I recollect it, the length is 1,000 feet, and it is a 4-degree curve. The Black Diamond Express train passes over the curve on the westbound track often at a speed of 75 miles an hour. That part of the road was built 25 years ago. There was for a very long time a special rule on all employees' time cards requiring all passenger trains to slow down for that curve. It had been relined a few years ago by the late Richard Caffrey, then General Roadmaster of the road and an excellent trackman, particularly on alignment. When rock ballasting the line at that point in 1899, I obtained permission to spiral the Kennedy curve. Mr. Torrance did the work and I think used a spiral some 240 feet long. The center line and superelevation were carefully put in and monuments set. The track was watched and checked until the ballast was to a firm bearing. Nothing was said to the trainmaster or enginemen, and this was the first curve spiraled on that division. The enginemen found that the Kennedy curve was riding well at full speed and ceased to slow down for it. Noticing this, the trainmaster took them to task for it. They claimed that for some reason the curve was riding so well, slowing down was not necessary. The trainmaster rode over the curve several times to investigate. He asked me what had been done to that curve. I made no reply. He took the special rule off the time card. I then told him what had been done. The Kennedy curve was never an obstruction to speed from that time until I left the road. Genoa (N.Y.) Tribune May 20, 1904 Lehigh Valley's Through Car Line to St. Louis On May 13, the Lehigh Valley will inaugurate a through Pullman sleeping car service between New York and St. Louis, via Buffalo and Cleveland, in connection with the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern and Big Four railways. The car will be operated westward on the Black Diamond Express and the Southwestern Limited; eastward on the Knickerbocker Special via the Big Four route and Lehigh Valley Train No. 1, leaving St. Louis at 12 o'clock noon, daily. A rail line of the latest Pullman sleeping cars will be placed in this service, and as the car passes both ways over the famous Lehigh Valley Railroad, the "Switzerland of America," by daylight, this will form an added attraction to any expected to attend the great Louisiana Purchase Exposition to be held at St. Louis. Liberal rates have been announced by the Lehigh Valley to St. Louis and return, particulars of which will be cheerfully given by ticket agents. August, 1904 Through Car Service Arrangements. WESTWARD. Train No. 1. - Daily. Buffalo Express. Pullman Observation Parlor Car Philadelphia to Buffalo. Day Coaches New York and Philadelphia to Buffalo. Dining Car Easton to Buffalo. Day Coach New York to Chicago, on No. 9 from Buffalo. Train No. 9. - Daily. "black Diamond Express. " Pullman Observation Parlor Car, Cafe and Dining Car, New York to Buffalo. Day Coaches New York and Philadelphia to Buffalo Pullman Sleeping Car New York to Chicago via Buffalo and Grand Trunk Ry. System. Pullman Sleeping Cars Buffalo to Detroit and Buffalo to Chicago via Grand Trunk Ry. System. Day Coach Buffalo to Chicago. Dining Car Battle Creek to Chicago. Pullman Sleeping Car New York to St. Louis via Buffalo and L. S. & M. So. Ry. Cleveland & C. C. C. & St. L. Ry. See note " - Baggage Restrictions" on this train. Train No. 3. - Daily. Solid Vestibule Train. Pullman Sleeping Cars New York to Buffalo, New York to Toronto, New York to Chicago via Buffalo and Grand Trunk Railway System. Day Coaches New York to Chicago via Buffalo and Grand Trunk Railway System. Dining Car New York to Mauch Chunk and Niagara Falls to Woodstock. Cafe Parlor Car London to Chicago via Port Huron. Train No. 5. - Daily. "The Buffalo Train." Pullman Sleeping Car New York To Buffalo. Pullman Buffet Sleeping Car Philadelphia to Buffalo. Pullman Sleeping Car New York to Ithaca via Sayre. (Grand Trunk Cafe-Parlor Car, Pullman Parlor Car, and Day Coaches Buffalo to Toronto and Huntsville via Muskoka Wharf daily except Sun day. Sunday to Toronto. Day Coaches New York to Buffalo. Day Coach Philadelphia to Buffalo. Connects at Buffalo with Sleeping Car Buffalo to Chicago, leaving Buffalo 1.00 p. m.; Dining Car Niagara Falls to Toronto. EASTWARD. Train No. 8. - Daily. Pullman Sleeping Car and Day Coaches Chicago to New York via Grand Trunk Ry. System and Suspension Bridge. Day Coach Wilkes-Barre to New York. Day Coach Wilkes-Barre to Philadelphia. Cafe Parlor Car Chicago to Detroit and Port Huron. Dining Car Sayre to Easton. Train No.4. - Daily. Solid Vestibule Train. Pullman Sleeping Car Chicago to New York via Grand Trunk Railway System and Buffalo. Pullman Sleeping Cars Detroit to Buffalo and Chicago to Buffalo via Grand Trunk Railway System. Pullman Observation Parlor Car Buffalo to Philadelphia. Day Coaches Chicago to New York via Grand Trunk Railway System and Buffalo. Day Coach Buffalo to Philadelphia. Dining Car Chicago to Battle Creek and Buffalo to Easton. Pullman Sleeping Car St. Louis to New York via C. C. C. & St. L. Ry. and Cleveland; L. S. & M. So. Ry. and Buffalo. Train No. 10. - Daily. "Black Diamond Express." Pullman Observation Parlor Car, Cafe and Dining Car, Buffalo to New York. Day Coaches Buffalo to Philadelphia and New York. See note "Baggage Restrictions" on this train. Train No. 20. - Daily. Pullman Sleeping Car Buffalo to New York. Pullman Sleeping Car Ithaca to New York, open for occupancy 8.30 p. m. Day Coaches Buffalo to New York. Train No. 8. - Daily. Pullman Sleeping Car Toronto to New York via Grand Trunk Ry. System and Buffalo. Pullman Sleeping Car Buffalo to New York. Pullman Buffet Sleeping Car and Day Coach Buffalo to Philadelphia. Day Coaches Buffalo to New York. Dining Car Toronto to Niagara Falls and Easton to New York. Baggage Restrictions. - The accommodations on the "Black Diamond Express," (or baggage, being limited, no baggage will be carried except that belonging to passengers on same train. Station Baggage Masters will, so far as possible, send baggage either by train preceding or train following the "Black Diamond Express." No Bicycles, Theatrical or Commercial baggage will be carried except when accompanied by the passenger, and provided the space in the car is sufficient to warrant acceptance. Tickets for corpse will not be sold for and corpse will not be carried on this train. New York City and Brooklyn Baggage. - All baggage checked to "New York" will be delivered at West 23d Street Station. Passengers desiring baggage checked to Desbrosses Street or Cortlandt Street, must notify the Station Baggage Master, who will arrange accordingly. Baggage for Brooklyn must be checked to that point. The main distributing office of the New York Transfer Company is at the West 23d Street Station, and baggage intended for transfer to points in the City should be checked to "New York," as more prompt service is assured than if checked to either Desbrosses Street or Cortlandt Street. Brooklyn Baggage may be checked through via Annex boat from Jersey City. Union Springs Advertiser Sept. 21, 1905 Express to the Farmers Government rural free delivery in Schuyler county, New York, has a strong competitor. A handsome collie dog awaits the arrival of the Black Diamond Express from New York and Philadelphia, at a point on the Lehigh Valley Railroad near Watkins Glen, on Seneca Lake, and carries home to his master on farm nearby, a bundle of newspapers obligingly thrown from the train by the Pullman conductor, who makes up the package of newspapers that have been abandoned by the passengers on his car. Thus the farmers around that point in central western New York get their afternoon New York and Philadelphia newspapers about twelve hours ahead of the Government deliver, and free in the bargain. The good fortune to the farmers has resulted from what might be called "canine curiosity." Several months ago the Pullman conductor noticed collie waiting at the tracks every time the Black Diamond Express passed. One day he threw off a bundle of newspapers, which the dog eagerly took in his mouth, and galloped away with them. As this seemed to be what the dog had been waiting for the conductor and others on the run of the Black Diamond Express have continued the practice, and it is now a daily occurrence, although the speed of the Black Diamond Express at this particular point is above 60 miles an hour, and the papers have to be made up in strong packages to prevent being scattered when the bundle reaches the ground. The interest of the trainmen in the matter has spread to the passengers, who eagerly look out for the canine rural delivery messenger when passing that point. A peculiar proof of canine intelligence lies in the fact that the dog arrives at the point where he meets the train, a half hour before train time each day, starting from home, so the farmers say, without being coached to do so. New York Sun March 5, 1906 Operation Brings Wealth ____ Wilkes-Barre, Pa., March 4. - John Spires, an engineer on the Lehigh Valley's Black Diamond Express, living at Sayre, recently had cut from his neck a nail blown into it 26 years ago by an explosion at a Fourth of July celebration. The operation was interesting and was reported in many papers. Finally it caught the eye of a London lawyer, who for two years had been searching for Spires to pay him a legacy of $35,000 left by an aunt. He wrote to Spires, who fully established his identity and has just been notified that the money awaits his orders in London. New York Sun Sunday, Aug. 12, 1906 A Smart Collie Is Rover ______ Dog Organizes Fast News Service For His Master _____ Of His Own Initiative Established a Connection With the Lehigh Valley Express and Got the Evening Papers 300 Miles From New York Ahead of Any One Else. ____ Until a few months ago he was known as the Black Diamond mystery. The Black Diamond scoots over a crossing two miles east of Burdett, a hamlet in Schuyler county, not far from Watkin's Glen, N.Y., at 7:20 o'clock every evening, if she's on time. The boss of the Black Diamond is Conductor G.M. Pierce of Buffalo, who, except for his big frame, reminds one greatly of the late United States Senator Hoar of Massachusetts. One fine evening about a year ago Conductor Pierce noticed on a little elevation near the Burdett crossing a splendid Scotch collie, ears erect, watch narrowly the approach of the train. As it passed the crossing the dog turned deliberately and trotted back over the hills. The next night, same dog, same place; same result. Next night, ditto, and so on for a week. Conductor became interested. So did all the other regulars on the train. They wanted to know why the dog came from somewhere every night to meet the train. After a week had run by Conductor Pierce said: "I'll try an experiment tomorrow night, and we'll slow down a little at the crossing to see what happens." After the train pulled out of Wilkes Barre the following night Mr. Pierce made up a bundle of the latest editions of the New York afternoon papers and when the train approached the Burdett crossing he was out on the platform of the observation car and threw the bundle toward the dog. The collie gave a quick, sharp bark, wagged his tail furiously and bounded toward the bundle, which he picked up on his mouth and trotted away over the hills. Every night thereafter the dog got his bundle of papers. All of the regular passengers on the train and all of the crew wondered where the collie carried his burden, to whom he belonged and what was his name. Conductor Pierce hit on a way of finding out. Into the bundle one evening he slipped his card, on which he wrote his address. Not many days thereafter there came to Mr. Pierce's Buffalo home a letter from George M. Canfield, a well to do farmer of Burdett, in which the receipt of the papers was gratefully acknowledged, together with a little biographical sketch of the dog. His name was Rover; he'd been in that Canfield family since he was a puppy, was the chum of the children, drove the cows to and from the pasture, headed the sheep and did pretty generally the work of a hired man about the farm. Whatever game him the notion to go down to the meet the train Mr. Canfield didn't know, but he was noticed many days before the bundle of papers were brought home that Rover skedaddled for somewhere immediately after he had brought up the cows from the pasture. "And," continued the latter, "I have come to think since I have been getting the New York daily papers regularly that I'm probably the only farmer in the State not far from 300 miles from New York who has the pleasure of reading editions of all the New York afternoon papers at his tea table. Somehow Rover must have gotten the old philosopher's notion that 'all things come to him who waits.'" New York Sun Monday, Dec. 24, 1906 TOWERMEN STOP A TRAIN ____ Union of Three Strike Against an Order to Work Twelve Hours a Day ______ CALEDONIA, N. Y.. Dec. 23. - The Lehigh Valley Railroad crosses the Buffalo, Rochester and Pittsburg Railroad at grade near this place-and the trains on either road road are passed through on signals operated from a tower. The Lehigh Valley has the run of the tower, with three men working on an eight hour schedule. Last week orders came from the headquarters of the western division in Buffalo to cut the force to two men, each to work twelve hours a day. They were to get an increase in pay of $10 a month. The tower hands couldn't see things that way and organized a union of three. When the Black Diamond Express came along from the west at about noon last Wednesday the engineer found the signal set against him. He stopped the train and climbed down from the cab to find out what was the matter. The operator in the tower didn't know anything about it. He hadn't received any orders to stop the train. At about that time the towerman introduced himself. He was very sorry to detain the engineer and the passengers, but just as soon as the chief dispatcher saw fit to rescind that order reducing tho tower force the Black Diamond could proceed. Until that happened the signal and the switch were set against her. He was acting under instructions from the union of three. The telegraph wires began to hum with messages, the engineer continued to swear and the passengers amused themselves by walking the ties, while the towerman, leaning out of a window, grinned and ate his lunch. The telegraph operator finally recorded a message from Buffalo rescinding the order, the signal and the switch were thrown and tho Black Diamond sped on its way. Schulze, W.A. "Train Speeds on American and German Railways." Bulletin of the International Railway Congress Association, P. 553, Vol. 21 Jan., 1907 Jersey City-Sayre-Geneva-Buffalo. - Passengers from New York cross the Hudson river by ferry-boat. The best train on this line is the Black Diamond Express, which does the distance (446-6 miles or 719 kilometres) in 10 hours 8 minutes in the one direction and in 10 hours 55 minutes in the other; the respective speeds (stops deducted) being 74-4 and 70-1 kilometres (46-2 and 43-6 miles) per hour. Newark to Easton (68-3 miles or 110 kilometres) Tunkhannok to Sayre (64 miles or 103 kilometres), Sayre to Geneva (73-5 miles or 118-3 kilometres), East Buffalo to Rochester (63-7 miles or 102-5 kilometres), take respectively 1 hour 19 minutes, 1 hour 17 minutes, 1 hour 25 minutes, 1 hour 8 minutes, the speeds thus being 83-5, 80-3, 83-5, 90-4 kilometres (51-9, 49-9, 51-9, 56-2 miles) per hour. In connection with the last section, East Buffalo to Rochester, it may be noted that the next fastest train runs from Buffalo to Rochester (68-1 miles or 109-6 kilometres) in 1 hour 25 minutes, the speed being 77-4 kilometres (48 miles) per hour; and that the Black Diamond Express on the return journey takes 1 hour 28 minutes from Rochester to Buffalo, the speed being only 74-7 kilometres (46-4 miles) per hour. Elmira Gazette January 7, 1907 Lehigh Valley Adds to Present Equipment ____ The Lehigh Valley has placed an order for six passenger coaches, and two combination buffet baggage cars for use in the Black Diamond Express, to replace similar equipment on that train. Delivery of his equipment is promised in May, 1907. and the cars are to be the most modern and comfortable that can be made. The Lehigh Valley has also placed an order for fifteen new locomotive tenders for February and March, 1907 delivery. Syracuse Daily Standard Feb. 1, 1907 Remarkable Run of the Black Diamond The Black Diamond Express, conceded to be one of the handsomest trains in the world, is becoming also famous for its running time. Scarcely a week passes but that good reports are heard of this remarkable train. No matter what delays occur on the road, the Black Diamond is always given the right of way, because the train has, since the day it was placed on the Lehigh schedule, arrived at its destination on time, and this record is jealously guarded by all those connected with the train from the general passenger agent down to the mechanic who taps the wheels. One day last week the Black Diamond was delayed some 50 minutes on the Van Etten branch, owing to the temporary disarrangement of part of the mechanism connected with the engine. When the trouble had been removed, the engineer knew there was a task before him to make up that 50 minutes, but did not shrink from it. The run from Cayuta to Sayre, a distance of 24 miles, was made in 20 minutes, and from Sayre to Wilkes Barre, 54 miles, the run was made in 78 minutes. The record of the train on the balance of the run to New York is not know on this division, except that a message flashed over the wire that the Black Diamond had arrived in New York on time. New York Times Feb. 13, 1907 Girder Saves Passengers Part of Lehigh Valley Train in Danger of Plunging Over Bridge Easton, Penn., Feb. 12. - An iron girder extending above the track this afternoon saved at least two cars of the Lehigh Valley's west-bound Black Diamond Express from going over the side of the Delaware Bridge and into the river, seventy feet below. The two last cars were derailed in a manner that seems to mystify railroad men. The first of the derailed cars ran along the ties for a distance of about 25 yards. The others swerved to the right and ran to the very edge of the bridge. The women shrieked and the men rushed towards the doors. Some were prevented from jumping out. Several persons were slightly injured by broken glass. Page 346, VOl. XXII, The Railway Magazine, January to June, 1908 (London) Exit the 'Handsomest Train in the World' How rapidly events move in America, in connection with railways, may be judged from the following. Early in the present year the Railway Magazine received from the Lehigh Valley photographs of the new coaches just constructed for the Black Diamond Express; accompanying the pictures was the following statement: - "The Black Diamond Express, the most popular train of the century, running between New York and Buffalo on the Lehigh Valley Railroad, has complete new equipment, consisting of Pullman observation parlor car, high back seat coaches, a dining car (a la carte service, and a combination buffet smoking and baggage car. This new equipment has been constructed from plans especially designed to provide the acme of comfort, and the builders have put upon it the very best sill, resulting in the production of a train which warrants a renewal of the name first applied when the Black Diamond Express was inaugurated, 'The Handsomest Train in the World.' The new strain will be operated on its present fast schedule between New York and Buffalo, leaving New York daily at noon." Within a few days of the receipt of the above communication, we were informed that from February 9th, 1908, the "Black Diamond Express" would be withdrawn. The reasons for this action are given by the company as follows: - "In placing this train in service between New York and Buffalo, the Lehigh Valley gave to the public additional facilities for travel, and undertook to furnish its patrons with a high-class and expensive service. Various improvements and conveniences having been added to the train from time to time, a moderate extra fare was charged. "Recent Legislation in the State of Pennsylvania, with which the public is familiar, together with the legislation and administrative rulings of other states and the federal government, has not only resulted in a considerable loss of revenue, but has, in affecting the management of train service generally, tended to increase the expense of operation. It is the hope of the company that the conditions will so change in the near future as to warrant reinstating the service." Waverly Free Press Friday, July 19, 1907 New Black Diamonds. The appearance of the new Black Diamond Express on the Lehigh Valley Railroad in the near future need not surprise the patrons of that system. The train, which is intended to be the most modern in the country or perhaps in the world, Is being built in Springfield, Mass., and will, according to present calculations, be placed in service the latter part of August. Springfield paper says: "A. W. Donop, of the U. S. Steam Heat & Electric Lighting Co., of New York, arrived to superintend the electrical work of the new Lehigh Valley electric trains in course of construction in this city. The new cars will be of massive iron and will constitute three trains that will be known as the "new Black Diamond Express." Mr. Donop has charge of the electrical work on these cars. When completed the new trains will be the most up-to-date in the world. Each car will carry its own dynamo to supply, the power for light, heat and fans. The Lehigh Valley Co. expects to have the Black Diamond Express in operation the latter part of August." Elmira Telegram Feb. 2, 1908 BLACK DIAMOND OFF Poor Business On The Lehigh Valley Railroad Results In Taking Off Its Best Train. [Special to the Telegram) Sayre, Pa., Feb. 1. - C. W. Kinney, superintendent " of the Pennsylvania division of the Lehigh, announced this afternoon that under the new time schedule, to be made effective on February 9, the Black Diamond Express trains Nos. 9 and 10, will be discontinued. Mr. Kinney had just returned from New York, where he attended a meeting of Lehigh officers, held for the purpose of preparing a new schedule. From what can be ascertained, the Black Diamond is to be discontinued as a part of the general retrenchment policy of the railroad. Mr. Kinney said that he did not know when the train would be put back in service, and the word used in reference to the discontinuance was that it is "indefinite." A few months ago the Lehigh purchased a complete equipment for the Black Diamond, and it is probable that the new cars will be placed in the shops, awaiting the return of "good times," and then again the Lehigh's flyer will commence making trips. Mr. Kinney announces that the other important change in the new time schedule is that No. 146 will leave Sayre at 3:25 instead of 4:55 p. m. New York Times Feb. 5, 1908 Why Black Diamond Was Cut Off The Black Diamond Express, the fast train from New York to Buffalo on the Lehigh Valley Railroad, will be discontinued on Feb. 9. In explanation of the abandonment of this train an official of the road said yesterday that it has been decided upon in view of the loss of revenue caused by the rate legislation in Pennsylvania and by legislation and administrative rulings in other states and by the Federal Government. Railroad Gazette Feb. 7, 1908 At the end of this week the Black Diamond Express trains of the Lehigh Valley between New York and Buffalo will be discontinued. The company hopes that the causes - adverse legislation, state and federal orders, increasing costs, dull business, etc. - will soon abate so as to permit the reinstatement of the trains. Railroad Gazette May 29, 1908 The Black Diamond Express of the Lehigh Valley, between Buffalo and New York, which was taken off last winter, will be put back on its old schedule June 14. The train was taken off on February 9. It will leave Buffalo at 11a.m., and New York at 12 o'clock daily, running through in 9 hours, 55 minutes. Waverly Free Press Friday June 19, 1908 The equipment for one of the Black Diamond Express trains, consisting of coaches 292, 294. 295. 421 and dining car No. 362 left the Sayre shops Wednesday for Jersey City in charge of Conductor Krome, and drawn by engine 2007 and Engineer Murphy. A special train, consisting of a buffet library car and five sleeping cars, arrived in Ithaca Tuesday morning over the Lehigh Valley Railroad en route from Chicago, with members of the Cornell alumni, also train No. 5 was run in two sections Tuesday and Wednesday mornings from Jersey City to Ithaca to accommodate the alumni, who were going to attend class reunions and commencements at Cornell University. Union Springs Advertiser Thursday, Feb. 15, 1909 "Handsomest Train in the World" New Cars for the Black Diamond Express, on the Lehigh Valley Railroad The Pullman Palace Car Company is now building for the Lehigh Valley Railroad, six new passenger coaches which in interior and exterior finish and arrangement, will eclipse anything heretofore built in this, or any other country, in the way of passenger cars used on regular trains (or the accommodation of the public. These new cars will be run in the Black Diamond Express trains between New York and Buffalo, and will replace the coaches now used in these trains, themselves, models of comfort and luxury, but considered by the Company to be not good enough for the Black Diamond Express, and which it has been considered necessary to replace, with the end in view of keeping ahead of all competitors in affording the public accommodations which cannot fail to be appreciated to an extent that will occasion increased patronage, and consequent increased revenue. The inauguration of the Black Diamond Express train service on the Lehigh Valley Line, between New York and Buffalo, in 1896. marked an epoch of progress in railway car building which has met with universal favor at the bands of the traveling public, as shown by the popularity of this train, and the new business which has come to this road by reason of this service; and now with the operation of new coaches of still later date, more comfortable and luxurious, it is confidently expected thai the popularity of the train will accordingly increase. Each car is provided with a large and elegantly appointed smoking room; also with two saloons - one for men and one for women. A luxurious retiring room is connected with the room for women The men's saloon is provided with white metal wash basin, and both saloons with flush closets, the water supply being furnished by air pressure. The seating capacity of each car is 61 people; and the weight about 50 tons. The six new coaches will be exactly alike in every respect, and a description of one of them will suffice to inform the reader as to the detail of the make-up of all. The length of the car is 70 feet. Width, a fraction over to feet. The roof of the Empire style of construction, and the inside finished in solid mahogany. A particular feature about the interior finish, is the ceiling, in three ply white wood empire deck, with oval deck sash The decoration of the ceiling is in gold. The windows of the car are double sash with plate glass, supplied with Pantasole Shades, silk facing, fixed with Acme Window Shade fixtures. The seats in the body of the car are covered with plush of the best quality, and have mahogany ends. In the smoking room the seats are covered with enameled green leather. The heating of the car is accomplished by the use of hot water circulation, which is a decided departure from the system of steam heating now in common use. The floor in the smoking room and hall-way at ladies' end, both saloon and platforms, is covered with rubber tiling, the ladies retiring room with Columbia Wilmot carpet, and the floor in body of car with inlaid linoleum. The trimmings of the car are bronze, Pullman standard. There are four basket racks 3 8 inches inches long, and eight 6 feet 6 inches long The car is lighted by eight Pintsch gas lights in center, and two in the vestibules. These lamps are supplied with gas from two tanks 9 feet 6 inches long The platforms of the car are standard style. Type " A , " with wide vestibules, Pullman standard, finished in mahogany with Roller Curtains, and the floors are covered with rubber tiling. The car is painted outside, in Pullman standard color; and the lettering, num bering and striping done with aluminum leaf. From a mechanical standpoint, the appliances on these cars for safety and comfort, are the best that human ingenuity and skill can devise. Gould couplers are used, and the brakes are Westinghouse standard, with a high speed attachment, and with a braking power of 90 per cent, of the weight of the car. The trucks are Lehigh Valley standard six wheel, these wheels being thirty-six second steel tired, on steel axles. The wheel base of each truck is 10 feet 6 inches, and the side bearings frictionless Roller. The journals are 4 1/4 inches by 8 inches. M. C. R. standard, and the bearings Phosphorous Bronze, lead lined. The brake shoes are Ross Charcoal Iron to fit M. C. R.'s standard Christie head. The seats in the car have Hale & Kilburn 178 pressed steel fittings. The present Cafe Library and Dining Car, and the magnificent Pullman Palace Parlor Car, which have given such eminent satisfaction, will continue to run in this train, the only change of equipment being in the coaches. Waverly Free Press Friday, May 13, 1910 Many Changes in Time Announcement has been made that the new timetable of the Lehigh Valley will go into effect on May 22nd. A large number of changes are to be made in the running time of the various trains and two new trains between Buffalo and New York will be added. The new trains will be numbered 12 and 15. Trains 9 and 10, the Black Diamond Express trains will be the finest and fastest trains and will be composed of Pullman and Buffet cars only and their running time between New York and Buffalo will be ten hours. No change will be made in the time of train 9, but train 10 will not leave Buffalo until 12 o'clock noon and will leave Sayre at about 4 p.m. Elmira Telegram, May 29, 1910 One more step in the movement for greater speed in railroad travel was made yesterday, when the Lehigh Valley railroad put into effect its faster train schedule between the Atlantic and the Great Lakes. The "Black Diamond Express" is changed into an all-parlor car train, and its running time from Buffalo to New York and Philadelphia is cut thirty minutes. The "Buffalo Fast Line" makes the run from New York in an hour less and from Philadelphia in twenty minutes less time than heretofore. A new train is added - the Central New York Express - leaving New York at 10:15 and Philadelphia at 9:01 p.m., for Ithaca, Rochester and Buffalo. Elmira Telegram June 5, 1910 A Lehigh Valley dining car is being refitted in the company shops at Sayre, Pa., with an interior finish of smooth mahogany. The car is absolutely free from carving, bas-relief-work, scrolling or moldings of any kind which, in the opinion of the scientific railroad men are dust collecting, microbe-breeding enormities which must be relegated to the past. "Why," exclaimed Superintendent A.M. McGill enthusiastically, "if a microbe should light anywhere inside the car it would fall off and break its neck." The effect of the plain mahogany finish is very rich, and every precaution has been taken to make the car sanitary. The stove is surrounded with asbestos paper and galvanized iron, and there is a solid copper floor beneath the entire kitchen. The garish paneling and frescoing of the Pullman cars of fifteen years ago has disappeared, and the Lehigh Valley has extended this return to simplicity, which is almost severe, to the exterior of their coaches. There is not an inch of gold lettering or numbers either on its coaches or its engines. On the Black Diamond it permits itself the luxury of silver lettering. New York Times Dec. 23, 1910 Icy Ride on Engine Pilot _____ Young Man Who Steals Passage on Lehigh Flyer Nearly Frozen Special to The New York Times Ithaca, N.Y., Dec. 22. - Clinging to the pilot of the Black Diamond Express, the Lehigh Valley's fastest train, Adolph Jerge, a young man 21 years of age, rode from Geneva to Ithaca today. When the train pulled into the local station Jerge dropped to the tracks in an unconscious condition. His ears, cheeks, feet, and hands were frostbitten, as he had made the trip without overcoat or gloves, and had on light summer underwear. Jerge hails from Massachusetts. He was out of work and penniless, and when the flyer pulled into geneva he determined to start home. He crouched ahead of the smokestack so that the fireman and engineer could not see him, and remained in this position, clinging to a rod for the forty-mile trip, which the Black Diamond makes in 55 minutes. He could not remember any impressions of the last half of the trip, as he was practically unconscious during the time. Prompt medical assistance saved his life. Railway and Locomotive Engineering May, 1911 Simple Atlantic Type for the Lehigh Valley The Baldwin Locomotive Works have recently built five Atlantic type locomotives for the Lehigh Valley Railroad. These engines are designated as class F-3 on the road, and are the latest development of a type originally introduced in 1896, for handling the "Black Diamond Express." Although not exceptionally heavy for a locomotive having this wheel arrangement, they present a marked increase in capacity over the original engines, as the following table shows: 1896 - Tractive force, 18,900 lbs.; cylinders, 19 x 26 ins.; drivers, 76 ins.; steam pressure, 180 lbs.; grate area, 63.9 sq. ft.; heating surface. 2,230 sq. ft.; weight on drivers, 81,800 lbs.; total weight, 140,940 lbs. 1911 - Tractive force, 22,900 lbs.; cylinders, 20 x 26 ins.; drivers, 77 ins.; steam pressure, 200 lbs.; grate area, 76.9 sq. ft.; heating surface, 2,883 sq. ft.: weight on drivers, 107,250 lbs.; total weight, 184,650 lbs. The longitudinal seams are butt-jointed, with diamond welt strips inside. The arrangement of the front end is rather peculiar. The nozzle is double, of medium height, and the spark arrester, consisting of netting, is in the form of a cylinder, which is fastened at the top to the stack base, and at the bottom to the nozzle-stand. Two adjustable petticoat pipes are placed inside the spark arrester, and a fixed diaphragm plate is placed in front of the lower tubes. A cinder pocket is used with this arrangement. The cylinders are lined with hard bushings, and the steam distribution is controlled by balanced slide valves, driven by Walschaerts motion. The valves have an outside lap of 1J4 ins. and leaf springs on each side. One of these is placed under the firebox, in the rear of the trailers, which is an arrangement which should promote easy riding. The tender is carried on equalized pedestal trucks, having cast steel transoms and steel-tired wheels. The frame is composed of 13-in. channels, with oak bumpers. The tank carries 7,000 gallons of water and 12 tons of coal; it is U-shaped in plan, and has a sloping bottom, so that the coal is shaken forward to the fireman. These engines are excellent representatives of anthracite-burning locomotives for fast passenger service. The design is of special interest, because of the success of similar locomotives previously used on the Lehigh Valley. HARD COAL BURNING ATLANTIC FOR THE LEHIGH VALLEY RAILROAD. N. Hibbils, Superintendent of Motive Power. Baldwin Locomotive Works, Builders. It is thus seen that, for an increase in total weight of 31 per cent., the tractive force has been increased 21 per cent., the grate area 20.3 per cent, and the total heating surface 29.5 per cent. The new locomotives, in proportion to the tractive force developed, thus have a relatively larger heating surface than the original design, and the increase in heating surface is very nearly in proportion to the increase in total weight. The new design uses a modified Wootten type of boiler, with straight firebox tube sheet and sloping back head. The mud ring is supported on vertical expansion plates at the front and back, and at one intermediate point. The grate is composed of longitudinal water-tubes and rocking bars. Firing is accomplished through two 16-in. doors, placed 42 ins. between centers, transversely. The boiler barrel is composed of three rings, and is straight topped. The second ring carries the dome, and is the smallest in the shell, as it laps inside the first and third rings. an inside clearance of ? in. and are set with a travel of 6 ins. and a lead of J4 in. The link and reverse shaft bearings are combined, on each side, in a single casting, which is supported by longitudinal bearers, outside the leading drivers. These bearers are bolted, in front, to the guide yoke, and at the back to a cast steel frame brace, which is made in two sections, and spliced at the center. These sections are interchangeable. The guide yoke is also of cast steel, and is spliced like the frame-brace. It is bolted to vertical lugs cast on the frame, and the use of separate knees is thus avoided. Castle nuts are used on all machinery pins and bolts, also on the waist sheet and furnace bearer sheet bolts, the guide yoke splice bolts, pedestal binder bolts, and the bolts in the equalizing work. The trailing wheels are rigid in this locomotive, but sufficient clearance is provided between rails and flanges to enable the engine to traverse 16-deg. curves. The spring rigging is arranged with four The leading dimensions of the new engines are given in the table which follows : Boiler - Type, Wootten, straight; material, steel; diameter, 66 ins.; thickness of sheets, ?? in.; working pressure, 200 lbs.; fuel, hard coal; staying, radial. Firebox - Material, steel; length, 108 3/16 ins.; width, 102^ ins.; depth, front, 58^ ins.; back, 54^ ins.; thickness of sheets, sides, back and crown, 5/16 in.; tube, l/i in. Water Space - Front, 4 ins.; sides and back, 3yi ins. Tubes - Material, steel; thickness, No. 11 W. G.; number, 320; diameter, 2 ins.; length, 16 ft. 2% ins. Heating Surface - Firebox. 178 sq. ft.; tubes, 2,705 sq. ft.; total, 2,883 sq. ft.; grate area, 76.9 sq. ft. Driving Wheels - Diameter, outside, 77 ins.; journals, 9 x 12 ins. Engine Truck Wheels - Diameter, 36 ins.; journals, 5J4 x \0l/i ins. Trailing Wheels - Diameter, 56 ins.; journals, 8 x 12 ins. Wheel Base - Driving, 6 ft. 11 ins.; rigid, 13 ft. 7 ins.; total engine, 24 ft. 10 ins.; total engine and tender, 56 ft. 2-1/2 ins. Weight - On driving, wheels, 107,250 lbs.; on truck, 42,200 lbs.; on trailing wheels, 35,200 lbs.; total engine, 184,650 lbs.; total engine and tender, about 320,000 lbs. Tender - Wheels, diameter, 36 ins.: journals, Syi x 10 ins.; tank capacity, 7,000 gals.; fuel capacity, 12 tons; service, passenger. Cayuga Chief Weedsport, N.Y., Jan. 18, 1913 The Black Diamond Express on the Lehigh Valley is now an all steel train, and every coach is built entirely of steel. Railroad Reporter and Travelers' News, (New York) P.80 February, 1913 FOUR O'CLOCK TEA ON THE BLACK DIAMOND. Four o'clock tea, with the compliments of the railroad, is the latest fad in travel luxury. It is being served by the Lehigh Valley Railroad as a drawing card for its Black Diamond Express between New York and Buffalo, and has caused a good deal of comment of the kind that railroads like. Its most desirable quality is that it breaks the monotony of the afternoon, and, bromidic as it may sound, tea does cheer. The Lehigh Valley's tea probably cheers more than ordinary kinds because it does not cost anything. For there is no doubt but that things taste better when you don't have to pay for them. Waverly Free Press Friday, May 15, 1914 Eighteen Years on the Black Diamond ____ Seated at the throttle of his engine No. 2407, pulling the Black Diamond Express on the Lehigh Valley, when it arrived in Sayre .Wednesday afternoon, was the veteran engineer of that train, Thomas Farley, of Buffalo. Mr. Farley is one of the oldest .engineers in point of service on the Lehigh Valley today, and is the second oldest on the Buffalo division; the man older than he being a yard engineer, at Buffalo. He has been at the throttle of Lehigh engines twenty-seven years, eighteen of which have been on the train he now pulls. Mr. Farley's record as an engineer is an interesting one. When the Black Diamond was first started by the Lehigh, he was chosen to make the first eastbound trip from Buffalo. -This was on May 6, 1896. The interesting fact about Mr. Farley's trip today is that it is the beginning of his nineteenth year as engineer on that train, and during the time the train has been operated, he has never missed a trip, having made alternate trips for the first seven years and, since, that, time making a trip each third day. Mr. Farley began.his railroad career as a track employe at Easton, Pa., later coming to Sayre, and then to Buffalo, from which place for five years he ran the Lehigh engines when the road was using the Erie tracks between Waverly and Buffalo. Mr. Farley is a young man yet, being under sixty years of age, and he holds many records for fast time, since he has been at the throttle of the Lehigh Valley's fastest express train. Elmira Telegram June 21, 1914 Black Diamond _____ An Added Improvement to this Popular Lehigh Valley Train At the request of many regular patrons of the Lehigh Valley railroad who do not care to pay Pullman fares for short runs, the officials of the railroad have decided to include one or more day coaches in the equipment of the Black Diamond Express. These will be new steel cars, conforming in appearance to the rest of the Black Diamond Express which has all-steel equipment throughout. The make-up of the rest of the train will be the same. It will have a steel observation parlor car, a steel diner and a steel club car. For those who prefer to pay the Pullman fare the accommodations will be the same as always, but those who do not care to pay it will have the advantage of the fast time of the Black Diamond Express and comfortable seats in day coaches of the latest design, without any extra fare. The change will go into effect June 28. New York Times Aug. 8, 1915 Try to Wreck Fast Train ____ Obstruction in Path of the Lehigh's Black Diamond Express. ____ Buffalo, Aug. 7 - Operating officials of the Lehigh Valley Railroad were at Stafford, near Batavia, today, investigating a reported attempt to wreck the Black Diamond Express. It was found that a pile of tools and scrap iron had been put on the rails a short distance from Stafford Station. The engineer saw the obstruction in time to slow down. The material was scattered about, but the engine did not leave the rails. No arrest has been made. Watertown Herald Oct. 9, 1915 Lehigh Valley R.R. Gives Best Train for Pathe Picture. ___ The Whartons, who make motion pictures for Pathe, succeeded recently in securing the most remarkable concession ever obtained from a railroad. In filming the first episode of "Wallingford" it was necessary to shoe the private car in which that famous high financier dazzles the inhabitants of the little "tank" towns. The Lehigh Valley R.R. not only permitted the Whartons to attach a big steel flatcar, properly equipped, to their best train, "The Black Diamond Express," but stopped the train twice to allow for the taking of scenes. The special car had to be sent all the way from Buffalo for the purpose, but the railroad supplied that also, fixing it up specially according to the Whartons' instructions. Binghamton Press, Sat., Nov. 20, 1915 COLE TOURING CAR GOES DISTANCE OF 107 MILES IN HOUR AND 55 MINUTES AND WINS SPECTACULAR RACE WITH FAMOUS BLACK DIAMOND EXPRESS TRAIN _______ Average of 55.8 Miles Hourly Is Maintained, Including Two Stops and Delay on Detour _______ Shattering practically every known stock pleasure car highway speed record for the distance of 100 miles or more. A. E. Higgins of Buffalo, on Nov. 7, drove a 1916 Cole Eight stock touring car from Buffalo to Geneva, a distance of 107 miles, in 1 hour and 65 minutes, defeating the famous Black Diamond express, the pride train of the Lehigh Valley railroad, by 14 minutes. An average of 86.8 miles an hour for the entire trip was made, including two stops and one delay necessitated by a detour. The race between the Cole Eight and the fast passenger train had been announced several days prior to the date scheduled for the run, and people in all of the towns along the route were out to see the speeding auto as it passed through. Several of the large Eastern motion picture companies had operators stationed along the course and pictures were taken of the car and train as they sped by. The engineman in charge of the Black Diamond knew that his train had been pitted against the Cole Eight and pressed the monster locomotive to Its utmost. However, from the time the train the automobile, which marked the actual start of the race, there was never a moment when the train could have been considered as a contender for the honors of the day. The Cole Eight and the express train left Buffalo on even terms, passing the city limits neck and neck. Just as he crossed the starting line, Mr. Higgins "stepped on" the accelerator, and from then on, the Cole eight-cylinder car never once gave the train a chance to catch up with it. The course led from Buffalo to Clarence, Batavia, Leroy, Caledonia, Avon, Lima, Bloomfield, Canandaigua and Geneva.. Only one passenger rode with Mr. Higgins, so that the car depended solely on is natural balance and roadibility in sticking to the highway. This in itself is regarded as one of the most remarkable features of the trip. Thrilling Moments Thrilling moments were numerous along the course. About 40 miles out a tire blew out. A stop was necessary, but a new pneumatic was in place in a little more than two minutes and the car was on its way. The Cole Eight had acquired such a good lead on the speeding train, however, that even with this stop, the express could not begin to catch up with it. Again at Avon, the car was threatened. Just as the limits of the town loomed up ahead, a switch engine, hauling a train of freight cars, lumbered on to the crossing and stopped. The brakes had to be applied to prevent a collision and a wait of several minutes was encountered before Mr. Higgins again secured the right of way. For a third time, the path of the car was crossed by an obstacle, when, on a little farther, it was found necessary to make a slx-mlle detour to avoid a stretch of road that was under repair. With all these hindrances, however, the Cole Eight made the first 89 miles of the journey in exactly 35 minutes, and completed the first 63 miles in just 67 minutes. With the necessary slx-mlle detour, the Eight negotiated 107 miles in making the trip while the route taken by the express train between the two points Is only 102 miles. Thus, the Black Diamond, In point of actual distance covered, had a five-mile advantage on the Cole Eight. Will Try Again. Because of the two stops and the detour, which prevented the motor car from making tho best possible time, Mr. Higgins has determined to repeat the performance in the very near future. Arrangements have been made to give the Cole Eight a complete right-of-way along the road just the same as was accorded it In the towns through which the route led on, the last occasion. And so confident is Mr. Higgins that he will better his previous time that his friends have posted a $600 forfeit, which will be sacrificed If the Cole Eight does not make the trip in one hour and 40 minutes, flat To do this It will be compelled to cut 15 minutes from the last record It set and, will have to average 60.6 an hour for the entire distance, providing it will not be necessary to make the detour. If it still necessary to take the 6-mile circuit to get back on the main road, an average speed of 64.2 miles an hour will be necessary. This is the second time that the Cole Eight has established a speed record at Buffalo. On a previous occasion, but on a much shorter run, the Cole Eight defeated the Empire State Express, another of the fast passenger trains which pass through Buffalo, and at that time set an average of something over 60 miles an hour. It is doubtful whether any stock pleasure car, however, under similar circumstances and on roads such as those which the Cole Eight covered, ever made better time than did Mr. Higgins' car in the race with the Black Diamond for such a distance. Elmira Telegram, May 21, 1916 'Black Diamond' is Twenty Years Old The Black Diamond, the Lehigh Valley railroad's daylight between New York and Buffalo, is twenty years old. The first Black Diamond left New York and Buffalo simultaneously on May 13, 1896. At its start it was hailed as one of the most luxurious trains ever put in service. The idea of the train was conceived Charles S. Lee, then general passenger agent, later passenger traffic manager and now retired. A premium of $25 in gold was awarded to Charles M. Montgomery, then a clerk in the Merchant's Hotel in Toledo, Ohio, for suggesting the name adopted. A nation-wide contest was conducted on the subject and Mr. Montgomery's suggestion was selected from more than 35,000. The train as originally constituted, aside from the engine was made up of four cars. All of these were of wood construction and the longest, a cafe car, was 67 feet in length. This car was also the heaviest, weighing 119,000 pounds. It was the only one with six-wheel trucks. Aside from the cafe car, part of which was used for baggage, the other cars included two coaches and an observation parlor car. The original circular announced that each car on the train was "finished in polished Mexican mahogany, with figured mahogany panels and inlaid beveled French-plate mirrors. The ceilings are of the new style Empire-dome pattern, finished in white and gold." Special emphasis was laid on the fact that the train would be lighted throughout, including the vestibules, by Pintsch gas, and running water was to be had in the lavatories. Five engines were used during the progress of the train between New York and Buffalo. The total weight of the largest was 115,300 pounds. For a week before the inauguration of the service, the new train was open to inspection. It stopped at all stations and visitors were welcomed by the crew acting as a reception committee. The engineers originally assigned to the Black Diamond were John L. Turner, Dennis McGuire, Thomas McHale and Thomas Farley, all of whom are still active as engineers; Joseph Keller, who is now general fuel inspector of the line; John Pickley, now an examiner of firemen, seeking promotion to be engineers; Rudolph Searfoss, Alfred E. Mason, William Owens, John McChesney and Elijah Moody, all of whom have since died or are no longer in the service. Mr. Farley is still running the Diamond and has not missed a trip since the train was first inaugurated, except in one or two instances when he was held at the terminal on company business. The three conductors first assigned to the Black Diamond will be found on that train today. They are Richard Mack, Thomas E. O'Donnell and O.D. France, each one of whom has come to be part of the Diamond itself. An interesting contrast may be made between the Diamond of 20 years go and today. Now the train is made up of seven cars, most of which are 72 feet in length; the diner is 72 and 6/10 feet in length. Practically all of them have six-wheel trucks and the dining and parlor cars each weigh 151,000 pounds. Of course, the entire train is now of solid steel construction. But three engines are now used in the trip from New York to Buffalo, but the weight of these engines, hauling the heavier train, is more than doubled. The heaviest weighs 262,326 pounds. Elmira Telegram Sept. 1, 1918 Pair of Veterans ___ Two Engineers of the Black Diamond Died During the Week. Sayre, Pa., Aug. 31. - Two engineers of the Lehigh's famous Black Diamond Express died during the week. Tuesday, Dennis F. Maguire died at Atlantic City. He held the throttle on the Black Diamond for 20 years. Burney Weller, one of the best known engineers on the Lehigh system and for eleven years at the throttle of the Black Diamond Express, died Thursday at a sanitarium at Stamford, Conn., where hee went three weeks ago for the benefit of his health. Mr. Weller had been in the employ of the Lehigh Valley for thirty years and for twenty-five years he was an engineer. Railroad men considered him one of the best engineers in the country. He pulled the fastest trains on the Lehigh, he was able to make the running time, and at the same time he was conservative. And Lehigh officials say that they could always depend upon him to take his train to the terminal in spite of all kinds of engine trouble. New York Sun Tuesday, Sept. 10, 1918 Lehigh Valley Will Use Penna. Station ____ To Give Up Communipaw Terminal Sept. 15. Special Despatch to The Sun. Washington, Sept. A number of through trains on the Lehigh Valley Railroad are to be run into the Pennsylvania station in New York, beginning September 15, under orders issued by Director General McAdoo today. The Lehigh Valley is to cease on that date the use of the Communipaw terminal of the Jersey Central for all passenger traffic, except troop trains. Trains not going through to Manhattan will go to the Jersey City terminal of the Pennsylvania. It is proposed to send Lehigh Valley trains Nos. 5, 7, and 8, 9 and 10, 29 and 30 and 11 and 28 into the Pennsylvania station at New York, while the remainder of the Lehigh Valley passenger service, consisting of trains Nos. 1, 27, 33,40, 22 and 34, will use the Jersey City terminal of the Pennsylvania. Passengers from downtown New York for trains leaving the Pennsylvania uptown station will use the Hudson and Manhattan Railroad trains, connecting at Manhattan Transfer. Hudson and Manhattan trains and the Pennsylvania ferry service also will be used by passengers for the Lehigh Valley trains leaving from the Pennsylvania's Jersey City station. The New York Times May 14, 1922 3 DEAD, 36 HURT IN LEHIGH WRECK. BLACK DIAMOND EXPRESS CRASHES INTO AUTOMOBILE NEAR LEROY, N. Y. RUNNING 70 MILES AN HOUR. TRAIN BUCKLES IN CENTRE AS PARTS OF AUTO ARE CARRIED BACK UNDER WHEELS. Leroy, N.Y., May 13. -- Collision with a small touring automobile wrecked the Black Diamond Express of the Lehigh Valley Railroad at 10:30 A. M. today and resulted in the death of three persons and the injury of between thirty-five and forty. The train, making seventy miles an hour, hit the automobiles, driven by THOMAS R. BRODIE of Leroy, at the North Leroy crossing of the State road. BRODIE was instantly killed. His automobile was picked up on the fender of the locomotive, where it had been carried for about 300 yards. Part of the automobile got under the locomotive's fender and jammed the front wheels. This and the sudden application of the emergency brakes caused the train to buckle near the centre. Three day coaches in the middle of the train left the rails and plunged down a thirty-foot embankment, overturning in the ditch below. One Pullman car directly behind these coaches jumped the tracks, but halted at the edge of the embankment. The engine, baggage car, diner and the other Pullmans remained on the tracks. Drove In Front Of Train. E. G. MOSIER of Buffalo, engineer of the train, said he saw the automobile approaching the tracks when the train was half a mile from the crossing. He immediately sounded the whistle, he said, and expected that the driver would stop, as he apparently had a clear view of the tracks, but just before the train reached the crossing the automobile was driven on the tracks, directly in its path. The locomotive hit the automobile squarely and hurled the body of the driver a hundred feet away. The engineer believed the jamming of the automobile under the front wheels brought the train to so sudden a stop that the coaches buckled. Emergency brakes would not have had that effect, he declared. Other railroad men expressed the opinion that few passengers would have been saved had the coaches not been of steel construction. In the V-shaped pile which they made in the ditch these railroaders said, coaches of the older type would have been crushed into a shapeless mass. Motor cars and trucks were pressed into service to carry the injured to Batavia, where the hospitals were filled with victims of the wreck. Physicians and nurses from Buffalo were called to help care for the wounded. Lists of Dead and Injured. The list of dead includes: THOMAS R. BRODIE, Le Roy. L. E. CLAY, traveling salesman, Portland, Me. E. E. CORSER, yardman, Niagara Falls. Those recorded as injured are: MRS. BLANCHE BARASKEWITZ, Detroit. JOHN P. BURKE, Buffalo. MRS. BARBARA CHEHOSKI, and seven-year-old son, Freeland, Pa. D. A. CHIFRO, North Tonawanda. C. WILLIS COX, Detroit. MRS. DRENNAN, Detroit. MRS. ERTNA, Rochester. CYRUS FIELD, Niagara Falls. HOWARD GOULD, negro, Philadelphia. JOHN HUMPHREY, Buffalo. STANLEY JOSEPH, Edwardsville, Pa. MRS. FRANCIS KORPINSKI, Ironwood, Mich. RICHARD EDWARDS LISLE, Broome County. JOSEPH MASON, Philadelphia. E. W. MILLER, Towanda, Pa. MRS. E. W. MILLER, Towanda, Pa. FRANCES MILNER, Niagara Falls, Ont. MRS. FELIX O'ROURKE, Seneca Falls. MRS. J. S. PEARSON, Philadelphia. FRANK RASTAETTER, Buffalo. MRS. FRANK RASTAETTER, Buffalo. JOSEPH RIGLETS, Detroit. MRS. JOSEPH RIGLETS, Detroit. C. SACCAMANNS, Buffalo. CHARLES SHENK, Tonawanda. RUTH SHERRER, Temple. ROBERT SOUGH, negro porter. ROBERT STEVENSON, porter. MRS. CLARABEL TRACY, Detroit. MRS. ROSABEL TRACY, Geneva, N.Y. JOSEPH S. TWARBOSKY, Edwardsville, Pa. SAMUEL WAITER, Jersey City, N.J. FRANCIS WELMER, Niagara Falls. There are also two unidentified women among the most seriously injured, both of whom may die. Each is about 50 years old. One wears a wedding ring with the initials "N.D." The other's wedding ring is marked "R.O.B. to L.R.W., November, 1920." Pullman Passengers Escape. None of the passengers in the Pullmans was injured. W. J. McGARRY, manager of the American Railway Association at Washington, who was in the chair car immediately back of the day coaches, was the first person to leave the train. He gave assistance to a woman who had been thrown through a car window. He said that in his opinion the wreck was caused by part of the automobile being carried along with the trucks under the smoker and coming in contact with a switch point. There was wild confusion among the passengers as the cars went over the embankment. Word was at once telephoned to the nearest stations and physicians were sent from Batavia and Leroy. A special train was also made up at Buffalo. A large number of the wounded were taken to Batavia by automobiles before the relief train arrived. F. E. CLAY of Portland, one of the dead, boarded the train at Batavia, the last stop before the wreck occurred. He died after being taken to Batavia. MR. CLAY was a representative of the Curtis Publishing Company. The Black Diamond was wrecked near the scene of today's accident on the night of Aug. 6, 1901, resulting in the injury of eight persons. Ithaca Journal-News, Friday, Dec. 24, 1926 Lehigh "Star" Name of New Fast Train ____ Will Leave New York at 11:45 P.M., Arriving in Ithaca at 7:41 A.M., Offers Exceptional Service En Route - Starts Jan. 3 ___ A new train service between New York City, Ithaca, Rochester and Buffalo was announced today by local officials of the Lehigh Valley Railroad. It will e effective Monday, January 3. The new train will be known as "The Star" and will operate nightly from the metropolis. Leaving the Pennsylvania station in New York City at 11:45 o'clock each night the train is expected to be of great advantage to patrons remaining in the city for the theater. The train will make fast time en route, being scheduled to arrive in Ithaca at 7:41 A.M. The new train will consist of Pullman cars accessible at 10 o'clock. Another feature of the new train will be the record run between Ithaca and Buffalo, leaving here at 7:45 o'clock, and being scheduled to arrive in Rochester at 9:55 o'clock and Buffalo at 10:45 o'clock. A breakfast car will be attached to the train. A good connection may also be made at Bethlehem, Pa. with trains from Baltimore, Md., Washington and Philadelphia. The connecting train will leave Philadelphia at 12:05 A.M. nightly. It was also announced that the Lehigh Limited would continue to operate the usual train in addition to the new train, and leave New York City at 9:10 o'clock, arriving in Ithaca at 5 a.m. Binghamton Press Sat., Feb. 16, 1924 RUNAWAY COUPLE ARRESTED ON BOARD LEHIGH VALLEY TRAIN ____ Sayre, Pa., Feb. 16 - Held on the request of authorities In Westmoreland county, Pa., who charge that on Feb. 8 he ran away with a young woman and deserted his wife and four small children at United, a small town near Pittsburgh. James Monoclis, 28 years old, with his companion, Miss Theresa Kolcun, 34 years old, were taken to the county jail in Towanda yesterday to await action by the authorities in the western Pennsylvania county. The couple, en route from Sayre to Wilkes-Barre, were arrested and taken from the eastbound Black Diamond Express at Tunkhannock Thursday afternoon, and later that same night were brought back to Sayre by Constable Ford Seager. This action was taken on the complaint of United officers who, believing that as Monoclis had relatives in Sayre, he might come here with the young woman, wrote to Chief of Police Keller for information. Upon receipt of. the letter Tuesday afternoon Chief Keller and Constable Seager went to the home of the relatives and learned that at 1:30 o'clock that afternoon they had boarded the Black Diamond. Telephone communication was established with Wyoming county authorities at Tunkhannock and two deputy sheriffs arrested the couple. During their stay in Sayre the pair lived as man and wife, it is said, and Monoclis introduced her as his wife. They are of Polish extraction. Questioned by officers, the girl admitted that she had lived with Monoclis though not married to him, but disclaimed knowing that he was married and the head of a family. Rochester Democrat & Chronicle, Friday, Dec. 24, 1926 Rail Holiday Traffic Hits Record Peak ___ Travelers Move in Floods To and From City, All Lines Here Report ___ Twentieth Century Moves in Ten Sections, and Others are Loaded. ____ Officials of railroads entering Rochester reported last night that it seemed as if all America was in motion, either toward this city or away from it. The annual holiday exodus and inpouring was in full swing, and the railroad officials said that never before had the great lines handled the volume of passenger business that they are this season. "We're sure doing some business here tonight," observed the New York Central train dispatcher. He said that thirty-six sections of regular trains operated out of Rochester last night, whereas normally there are only eight or nine sections. The extra sections were in addition to the regular trains and ran as high as ten cars in the section. Crack Trains Loaded The Twentieth Century Limited, going east, operated in ten sections of ten cars each, and other crack trains ran many additional sections. The commodious station resembled a hotel lobby in a college town after a big football game throughout most of the day, but officials had made all preparations in advance, and the crowds were handled expeditiously. The peak was probably reached yesterday, but officials are looking for another day almost as large today. Sections were the rule on the Lehigh Valley, too. The Black Diamond Express ran in two sections, both east and west, with two sections of each train comprising twenty-four cars, loaded to capacity. The Lehigh Limited, leaving Rochester at 9:25 o'clock last night to connect with the Limited at Rochester Junction, traveling east, ran as a separate section of ten cars out of Rochester, and the Chicago Express, due at Rochester Junction at 10:40 o'clock, was running in two sections. Lehigh officials said passenger traffic was higher this year than in any previous year. Last Saturday, the Lehigh Valley ran ten special trains out of Ithaca to care for 5,000 Cornell students, homeward bound for the holidays. Other Lines Busy. The Erie, Buffalo, Rochester & Pittsburgh and other lines were operating extra sections on all trains in and out of the city, and interurban lines were carrying capacity crowds. Rochester Democrat & Chronicle Sunday, December 4, 1927 New Observation Car for Lehigh ------ Makes First Journey on Black Diamond; New Type Here _____ A new observation lounge car, especially built by the Pullman Company for the Black Diamond, and the first of its kind to appear east of Chicago, left Buffalo on its maiden trip to New York recently as did the second car of the type, christened the "White Diamond." The glass-enclosed observation sun room in the rear marks a departure in Pullman construction. This compartment is an enlarge observation platform completely enclosed, with six wicker chairs affording protection from the weather and maximum visibility for viewing the Lehigh Valley route the year round. In the lounge room are twelve upholstered walnut chairs, together with smoking, writing and reading facilities. The decoration is in a modified Adam style; walls walnut, ceilings in light tints of buff, green and gold, adding a touch of Spanish influence. The parlor compartment has twenty-four chairs, especially designed for great comfort, upholstered in light green mohair of Venetian pattern. Another innovation is in the lighting, which is accomplished by brown side lights with ivory color shades, the customary center arc lights having been supplanted. Niagara Falls Gazette June 1, 1938 Sets Record for Railway Service ____ Engineer of Famous Black Diamond Express Retires ____ Lockport, June 1. - Fred A. Callan, 70 years old, yesterday completed 50 years and three and one half months continuous service on the Lehigh Valley Railroad. This is believed to set a record for long and continuous service in American railroading. Mr. Callan retired on pension after completing his last run at the throttle of the famous Black Diamond Express between New York and Buffalo. Mr. Callan was born on a farm in the town of Royalton and accepted his first railroad position as mail clerk on the New York Central between Niagara Falls and Rochester. On the following Feb. 12, 1888 the promising young railroader entered the service of the Lehigh Valley as a fireman. In this capacity he worked through all the different branches of the service until January 7, 1982, when he was promoted to the responsibility of an engineer, first on freight trains till June 10, 1896, and then on the New York and Chicago passenger express between Buffalo and Sayre, Pa., for 10 years, to June, 1906. At the end of this period, Mr. Callan was advanced to the Black Diamond Express, which was his beloved run without interruption up to the time of his retirement. Rochester Democrat & Chronicle Tuesday, May 31, 1938 Railroad Man Ends Cab Job of 32 years ____ F.A. Callan Pilots Black Diamond For Last Time ____ Geneva - A service of 61 years with the Lehigh Valley Railroad ended last night when Fred A. Callan, 70, Buffalo, stepped down from his cab in the Buffalo yards. Known to many Genevans and to railroad men over a wide area, the veteran engineer of the Black Diamond Express for 32 years, brought his crack train into Geneva shortly after noon yesterday. He answered the greetings of a group of railroad men with a bright smile and a hearty wave as the big engine thundered up to the local station. "That's one thing about Fred," one of the men said, "he's always good natured and always glad to see you. And boy, let me tell you he's a driver." Callan had little time to talk, as the Diamond's stop In Geneva is brief. He did not have the time to follow a custom of year's standing, that of sending his fireman across the street for two ice cream cones, a solemn ritual. Callan helped to build the 104-mile road between Buffalo and Geneva. He started railroading in 1887 as a mail clerk for the New York Central between. Niagara Falls and Rochester. In 1888 he went with the Lehigh as a fireman but In 1891 and 1892 was temporarily assigned to aid in. the construction of the Buffalo-Geneva line. In 1892 he was promoted to engineer, first on the fast freights then on the New York and Chicago Express and, in 1906, to the Black Diamond. His last run yesterday was from Buffalo to Sayre, Pa., and return. Last night, at 10:45, when the Diamond pulled into Buffalo, he was met by a largo group of railroad executives, headed by Frank M. Parker, Buffalo superintendent. "All along the line," he said, "the boys were out to wish me well. It was a grand run." Rochester Democrat & Chronicle Friday, July 13, 1938 Lehigh Shifts Time For Black Diamond A two-hour shift in the schedule of the Lehigh Valley Railroad's express train, the Black Diamond, has been announced, effective Sunday. Under the change the train will leave Rochester at 9 a.m. instead at 11:05 a.m., arriving in New York, Philadelphia and Washington correspondingly early. Westbound, the train will arrive here at 5:25 p.m. instead of 8:55. The shifts are part of the railroad's new "daylight service." Times Leader Wilkes Barre, Pa., March 13, 1940 Joseph Keller First Black Diamond Pilot Known as the Wilkes-Barre Knight at the Throttle _____ Local Engineer, Now 80, Drove Famous Train on Time on Its Initial Run Out of City _____ Announcement that the Lehigh Valley tentatively plans to place into service during the summer an entirely new Black Diamond Express train which will be similar to the crack "John Wilkes" flier, turns time back to 45 years ago, when the first Black Diamond rolled out of Wilkes-Barre on its initial run between Buffalo and New York City. Seated at the throttle of the engine on the express's first run out of this city on May 18, 1896, was Joseph Keller, who resides at 48 Terrace street, city, and who is one of the oldest and best known veteran of the rails in the Wyoming Valley. Mr. Keller, who will celebrate his 80th birthday anniversary on July 29 of this year, retired from active service on the Lehigh Valley in 1928 after having served 45 years with the railroad. His recollections of the "Black Diamond," which name is now famous, were refreshed by a scrap-book containing mementos and photographs of that period, which he has retained through the years. Never Forgot Thrill "I'll never forget the thrill I got when I received the dispatch stating that I would be one of the engineers for the first run," Mr. Keller said. "At that time, the new train was being talked about so much that all of us passenger locomotive engineers were hoping that we would be slated for the run." That despatch, which was received by Engineer Keller on May 14, 1896 and remains as one of his prize possessions, read as follows: "You have been selected as one of the enginemen who are to run the 'Black Diamond Express' over the Wyoming Division. "This Company has spared neither time, labor nor expense in making this train one of the finest in America with a view of drawing to our line business which we never enjoyed before. "In order to make the train a complete success it is necessary that it is handled properly with good judgement over the mountain, and around the curves, and I would therefore ask that each of you spare no pains to make the success of this train complete, exercising the very best judgement at all times and doing everything in your power to keep the train on time without announce to the passengers." (Signed) C.L. Bardo, Train Master, Wilkes-Barre, Pa. Maiden Run in Four Stages "The maiden run of the 'Diamond' was made in four states from Buffalo to New York," Mr. Keller said. Engines were changed at Sayre, Wilkes-Barre and Easton, and new shifts of men were put on at those points. Old engine No. 655 was given to me to the pull over the mountain from here to Easton, where I was replaced by another engineer. I'll never forget the ovation the new train was given on that trip. "The depot here at Wilkes-Barre was jammed with thousands who came to look it over. Stations were crowded all along the line, and people even turned out at bridges and highway crossings. I don't know how many times I had to toot the whistle." The train itself was entirely new in design and equipment for that period. The cars were of the then newly-developed vestibule type, with elaborate scrollwork interiors, globes of Pintsch gas lights hanging from ornate chandeliers, and tasseled draperies enhancing the windows. Its library-buffet car was the most unusual and strike of any in the country at the time. Account of Run An interesting account of Mr. Keller's run was related in a clipping from the May 23rd edition of the Elmira Telegram in 1896, which read as follows: "On the train from Wilkes-Barre to Jersey City were First Vice President Charles Hartsborne and Third Vice-President John B. Garrett. Trainmaster Bardo accompanied them over the Wyoming Division. The distance from Wilkes-Barre to Easton, 101 miles, was covered in two hours and thirty-five minutes, making three stops. The train running to Jersey City is known as No. 10 and the one to Buffalo is No. 9. At Flemington Junction, in New Jersey, 150 mile or more of the inhabitants waited for the trains to pass, and saluted them with a volley from guns and revolvers. "Joseph Keller of Wilkes-Barre, a responsible young man who resides on Brewery Hill, runs the flier between Wilkes-Barre and Easton. The touch of Joe's hand on the switch of the air-brake is as soft as a child's. He is vigilant, and a placid in danger as an unruffled lake, fearless as a lion, and has nerves like steel."