The Mercury

[jacksonbarno]

The Mercury was one of the early American streamliners, completed in 1936. The original Mercury ran between Cleveland and Detroit. The train was extremely popular, so much so that the Chicago Mercury between Chicago and Detroit began running. These two trains ran their schedules initially with two sets of equipment between them. The schedules for the Mercuries allowed each to begin at Chicago or Cleveland and run to Detroit, where the second set would make the run back to Cleveland or Chicago. In 1939, a J3a Dreyfus Hudson and a J1e Hudson (Previously streamlined as the Commodore Vanderbilt) replaced the two K5 Pacifics on the Mercury run. The two K5s were transferred to two new trains that began service in 1941 called the Cincinnati Mercury and the James Whitcomb Riley, which both ran between Detroit and Cincinnati. Two more sets of Mercury equipment were built for these trains. The Riley's set was painted light grey with a orange window band. This was later changed to a darker grey window band. In 1944, the the two ex-Empire State Express Hudsons replaced the two Dreyfuss Hudsons that pulled the train since 1939. I am pretty sure these two were bumped to the Riley and Cincinnati Mercury. The Riley was equipped with one all Budd stainless steel consist in 1948. This trainset was virtually identical to the two used on the Pacemaker between Chicago and New York. In 1951, the Mercuries were re-equipped with all Budd consists, but these were not the same as the trains that were re-equipped in 1948. By the mid 50's, the Mercuries were becoming less and less popular. First to go was the Cincinnati Mercury in 1956. The Talgo style test train called the Xplorer replaced the Cincinnati Mercury and ran the same schedule until it itself was canceled. In 1958, the Chicago Mercury was essentially absorbed by the other Detroit - Chicago trains in that corridor, such as the Wolverine, and the Cleveland Mercury was discontinued. The Riley survived the creation of Amtrak, but was renamed the Cardinal in 1977.

Also, somewhere along the line, the Mercury was involved in a rear-end collision with the Commodore Vanderbilt which wrecked the observation car. I don't know anything more about this, but I do have a picture of it.

 

[Thai1On]

JB, great story about the Mercury consists. Is there anything like it in Trainz?

Dave

 

[jacksonbarno]

Sadly, no. Hopefully someone will make them though. They were the first design Dreyfus ever did for a railroad, and it's what got the NYC interested in asking him to streamline the 20th Century Limited. His designs for the interiors of the cars was revolutionary too. He designed the cars to feel like individual rooms and not one long tube. There are pictures of the interiors on Wikipedia. Sadly, none of the cars or locomotives survived.

 

[xcrossi]

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[jacksonbarno]

Still, both are not the Mercury. First of all, the Mercury was more "clean" looking than both of those. Second, the cars were unique. Third, the Mercury locomotive that was originally made for the train was a Pacific, not a Hudson.

 

[xcrossi]

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[Thai1On]

I was thinking of trying to reskin either the Crusader or the Commodore to have a "Mercury like" style locomotive and consist. I need to find to color photos or videos of this train.

Dave

 

[xcrossi]

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[chris2001trainz2010]

I bet that if you tweak the crusader's mesh file a little and make the front round as opposed to commodore-style front, then color it correctly, it would look fairly close.

 

[jacksonbarno]

Locomotive:
http://www.brasstrains.com/Classic/...Mercury-4917-with-Aluminum-Striping-on-Skirts

1936 train with full skirts:
http://www.brasstrains.com/Classic/...York-Central-1936-Mercury-7-Car-Passenger-Set

1939 train with removed skirts:
http://www.brasstrains.com/Classic/...939-Mercury-11-Car-Passenger-Set-w--Interiors

 

[Thai1On]

JB, while I have you on the subject do you know what the train consisted of? What cars were used and in what order?

The pictures are very handy. I've been looking for the James Whitcomb Riley in color, but so far no luck .

With any luck Leefer maybe reading this thread and tweak the Crusader or the Commodore

.

Dave

 

[jacksonbarno]

Hmm... I'l check my books and see what I come up with for a consist.

 

[xcrossi]

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[xcrossi]

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[jacksonbarno]

This video has film of the Mercury in the late 40's/early 50's when it was still running with the original equipment. It's a pretty cool video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrQ3Y5jT89M

 

[jacksonbarno]

Sorry for the double post, but one thing that I just thought of...

The Mercury, from 1939 to around 1944/1945, when the Dreyfuss Hudsons started to get their streamlining removed (the ESE ones kept theirs until 1952 and headed up the Mercury from 1944 to 1952) was regularly assigned two Dreyfuss Hudsons: A J1 5344, which was formerly the Commodore Vanderbilt that was restreamlined in 1939, and another J3 Dreyfuss that was bumped from 20th Century service. I don't know the number.

Here are some pictures of 5344:

In terms of paint, they both are the same: a bit darker gray than the 20th Century Hudsons, and instead of the broad window stripes, there is one stripe near the top of the tender that lines up with the Mercury passenger cars. The number on the side of the locomotive was also removed (which makes the task of finding the number for the J3 less of a hassle).


From what I read, the Riley used observations resembling the Mercury ones, copies of the diners, and Budd coaches mixed in with modernized ones, all with the orange window band.

I assume from around this date onwards because the skirting is partially removed and such, it's just a guess, I didn't get it from a book or article, so it's anyone's guess.

Hmm... I recall seeing color film of the Riley somewhere... gimme a sec, let me find it.

In the meantime, here is a video of some Hudsons, including the 20th Century!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0AGYIVjNIg

Found a consist!
The original, Dreyfuss-designed ''Mercury'' train set comprised nine cars:
* '''Baggage/Coach'''
** Baggage compartment
** Smoking compartment - capacity 12
** Coach section - capacity 40
* '''Coach'''
** Coach section - capacity 48
** Smoking compartment - capacity 12
* '''Coach/Kitchen'''
** Coach section - capacity 18
** Kitchen
** Pantry
* '''Dining'''
** Dining room in 3 section - capacity 56
** Waiting lounge - capacity 6
* '''Coach'''
** Coach section - capacity 56
* '''Coach'''
** Coach section - capacity 56
* '''Lounge'''
** Lounge section with bar - capacity 31
* '''Parlor'''
** Parlor section - capacity 14
** Private compartment - capacity 6
** Parlor section - capacity 11
* '''Parlor/Observation'''
** Parlor section - capacity 26
** Observation section - capacity 11

This site has a lot of good info:
http://shelf3d.com/i/Cincinnati Mercury




More pictures:

 

[jacksonbarno]

 

[Thai1On]

JB you're amazing at finding these wonderful information on these famous named trains. The 2 cars above are very curious having 6 wheel trucks on what looks like lightweight cars.

I'm bringing the Commodore into the paint shop to start to try and reskin it into a Mercury like locomotive. Wish me luck .

Dave

 

[jacksonbarno]

The cars were rebuilt from heavyweight coaches, so that explains why they have six wheel trucks.
Good luck with the Mercury, I am going to try to repaint his Dreyfuss Hudson into the Mercury J3.

 

[Thai1On]

Good luck on the Hudson as I tried to make the Empire State Express, but the mapping made in torture to try and do.

So far the pin striping over the front pilot is not going well. Again due to the mapping the strips gets jumbled. On the up side the James Withcomb Riley lettering under the cab window is looking good. Once I finish this I'll start on the tender and post early screen shots.

Dave