MAY. 1952 NYC System Biggest Owner of Diesels Add 7 More Units Last month saw delivery of the Cen• tral's 1,650th diesel locomotive unit. The 2,250 horsepower unit was placed in To Beeliner Fleet; service at Harmon, N. Y., at the head• end of the Twentieth Century Limited. By acquiring 420 new diesel units for Service Widened the System in 1951, the Central set a new record for the number of diesels Seven more Beeliners (diesel rail it has received in a single year. NYC passenger cars) have been placed in is now the largest owner of diesel service on the Central. With 18 of them power among all railroads. now in operation, the Central has more of the self-propelled cars than any Delivery of road freight units during other railroad. April made it possible to dieselize all main line freight trains between New The newest cars have been placed in York and Buffalo. service between Jackson and Grand Rapids, Mich.; between Buffalo and All of the Central's through pas• Syracuse, N. Y.; and between Pough- senger trains between the east and mid• keepsie and Albany, N. Y. Four of them west also are hauled by diesel power. have been added to the run between So far in 1952, the Central has re• Boston and Springfield, Mass., where ceived 201 diesel units. An additional the first NYC Beeliner went into action. 302 remain on order and are expected to be delivered by mid-1953. When The Beeliner running between Jack• they have all been received, the Sys• son and Grand Rapids will cut the time tem's diesel fleet will number 1,939, of the westbound trip on that run by about 54% of the number required for 25 minutes. At Springfield the rail full dieselization. diesel cars will provide better connec• DAMSEL WITH DIESEL accepting delivery tions with trains to New York, and at (For new styles in diesels, see page 11 of 1,650th unit on NYC's behalf at Har• Albany better connections with west• of this issue of the HEADLIGHT.) mon, N.Y., is songstress Connie Russell. bound trains. The self-propelled car assigned be• tween Poughkeepsie and Albany will perform commuter service essentially, making stops at many of the smaller Who Writes the Pay Check? communities between its terminals. At Buffalo, the Beeliner from Syra• With their pay checks for the last pay our work ... he is the purpose of it. cuse will make connections with a simi• period in April, all NYC employes re• "We are not doing him a favor by lar car running to Niagara Falls. ceived a reminder of the importance of serving him ... he is doing us a favor the Central's customers in making the by giving us an opportunity to do so. checks possible. "A customer is not an outsider in our A leaflet, distributed with pay checks, business ... he is part of it. ON TIME, ACROSS THE BOARD! pointed out: "This pay check never could "A customer is not a cold statistic . A perfect, across-the-board "on have been written if it weren't for your he is a flesh-and-blood human being time" record—the pride of any rail• railroad's customers. The money they with feelings and emotions like our road operating department — was pay, for tickets and for freight service, own. chalked up by NYC's through pas• is the money that goes into your pay "A customer is not someone to argue senger fleet the morning of April 30. check. That makes a customer a very or match wits with. Nobody ever won As satisfied smiles lit up the faces of dispatchers, tower men, train important person. an argument with a customer. crews and officials up and down the "In fact, a customer is the most im• "A customer is a person who brings line, one after another of NYC's portant person ever to call on a railroad us his wants. It is our job to handle overnight streamliners rolled into its employe, in person, by mail, or by tele• them profitably — to him and to our• terminal on time or minutes early phone. selves. —a top-notch feat when you're run• "A customer is not dependent on us "A customer is the man, or woman, ning one of the biggest and fastest . we are dependent on him. behind our pay checks. Let's always re• passenger fleets in the country. "A customer is not an interruption of member that." CONCERNING THE CENTRAL Steel Troubles Hurt NYC shops and necessitating lay-off of a Timetable Changes number of operating employes. The Central's freight traffic, running The steel upset could hardly have With the coming of daylight saving below 195l's level, was dealt a further come at a worse time for the Central time for the summer months in most blow last month by a serious decline and its employes. The March strike on of the territory it serves, the Central in industrial production due to strike NYC had caused a net deficit of $1,- has issued new passenger timetables, troubles in the steel industry. 363,955 in the Central's income account In addition to adjustment of sched• Added to this was carry-over dam• for the first three months of 1952, and ules to conform with daylight time, age to traffic volume resulting from the trouble in steel hurt prospects for the top speed of several trains is being the strike of engineers, firemen and a fairly rapid recovery. reduced in the interest of greater com• conductors against the Central's lines fort for overnight passengers. west of Buffalo in March. Although this will mean that sched• Imminent threats of a steel strike Terrace Grade Crossings Out ules of some NYC long-distance trains early in April slowed down production One of the biggest grade crossing will be lengthened, the additional at the mills and caused a drop-off in elimination projects in recent years on time is expected to contribute greatly Central carloadings. Coal, iron ore, the Central is being carried out near to riding comfort and dependability. steel, and finished products using steel NYC's Terrace Station in Buffalo. Surveys conducted by NYC's Pas• all were affected. Resulting loss of A new station building to replace the senger Traffic department have shown revenue, coupled with the lessened de• present one at the Terrace and a new that passengers are more interested mand for equipment, forced the tem• electrically operated signal interlock• in those two qualities of train service porary closing of some of the Central's ing plant are being erected in conjunc• than in speed. car and locomotive shops. tion with the elimination and are ex• The changes will mean only about About 3,300 shop employes were laid pected to be in operation early in the 30 minutes more running time be• off. Installations affected were the West fall. tween major mid-western and eastern Albany, N.Y., Beech Grove, Ind., East To carry the tracks under Buffalo cities. Since most of the extra time Buffalo, N.Y., and Avis, Pa., car shops; streets, two new tunnels, each about will be consumed during the night, the West Albany and St. Thomas, Ont., 500 feet long, are being built. The tun• convenient arrival and departure locomotive shops; and the Elkhart, nel floors are at a level below the times will be maintained. Ind., foundry. high water mark of nearby Lake Erie, By railroad clock, the westbound Before NYC freight business could which makes it necessary to thorough• Twentieth Century Limited, Commo• stage a real comeback, the all-out ly waterproof all tunnel construction. dore Vanderbilt, Empire State Ex• strike of steel workers caved in the The new tunnels are to be equipped press, Advance Empire, and North roof on industrial traffic, wrecking with pumps to provide drainage. (See Shore Limited leave one hour earlier hopes for a quick reopening of the picture this page.) than before. The eastbound Century and Commodore depart an hour and a half earlier; and the eastbound Cleve• land Limited, an hour earlier. Commuter trains in the New York, Boston and Chicago areas will be scheduled on daylight time and, as an additional convenience to passengers, most commuter timetables will be printed in daylight time. Will Run Train to Meeting The annual meeting of the Central's stockholders will be held May 28 in the ballroom of the Hotel Ten Eyck, Albany, N. Y. Stockholders attending in person, and others voting through proxies, will elect the directors who will guide the company's affairs during the coming year. Re-election of the present 15 directors is proposed in proxy statements mailed to all share• holders. Following the practice begun two years ago, a special train will be run to Albany from New York for the ac• commodation of stockholders in that city and surrounding areas, where the addresses of the greatest number of NYC stockholders are concentrated. A special fare of $3.50 (including tax) for Photo by Buffalo Evening News CONCRETE ROADBED is being laid in Buffalo to carry relocated Central tracks to the 284-mile round trip will be in ef• new Terrace Station there. Work is part of big grade crossing elimination project. fect on the train. Page 2 New York Central Headlight Strike Damage Shows Serious damage done by the strike of engineers, firemen and conductors in March shows up in the $2,548,169 loss for the Central in that month. The strike—which tied up NYC's lines west of Buffalo and curtailed serv• ice on other parts of the System—cut deep into revenues as business was lost to other railroads and other forms of transportation.