20th Century Limited v.s. Broadway Limited

These two trains represented the best in Pullman travel in the 20th century. They traveled between the same two cities, were both all-Pullman until after WWII, and were both re-equipped in 1925, 1929, 1935, 1938, and 1949. So... Which one was better?

Pros and Cons:
The 20th Century Limited
Pros:
More ridership prewar.
Almost always traveled in more than one section.
Had a Boston section of the train that split off at Albany. (Renamed the New England States in 1949)
Only required one Hudson to pull the train (Prewar).
Red carpet rollout in Grand Central Terminal.
Flatter routing/less grades.
Water scoop to take water on the fly.

Cons:
Lost it's all-Pullman status early on in 1957.
Less ridership postwar.
Kept it's extra-fare until it lost all-Pullman status.
Longer route.
Had to change from steam/diesel to electric power at Croton.


The Broadway Limited
Pros:
More ridership postwar.
Was one of the last all-Pullman trains in the US.
Had a Washington D.C. section that split off at Harrisburg. (Renamed the Liberty Limited in 1938)
Lost it's extra fare during WWII.
Shorter route.
Water scoop to take water on the fly.

Cons:
Less ridership prewar.
Required two K4 Pacifics to pull the train (Prewar).
More grades.
Had to change from steam/diesel to electric power at Harrisburg.



If there are any other pros and cons, tell me and I'l add them. If not, let the debate begin!

Edit: Also, if you have had any experiences on either of these trains, feel free to share them!

Pro and Con for the Pennsy, Broadway's route was shorter, but endured intense grades west of Harrisburg.
Pro for both, each had a water scoop to take water on the fly.
Con's for both: They had to switch loco's from steam/diesel to electric, Pennsy at Harrisburg, an the NYC at Croton.

Actually the grades across the Allegheny Front Range west of Altoona weren't all that steep (as opposed to Saluda), ranging from the steepest of @ 1.78% for several miles, and most of the route to Johnstown was @ 1% or much less ... most of the other trackage was well under 0.50% from Harrisburg to Pittsburgh. The exception being the @ 2 mile long "Slide" which was usually downhill trains only, which was 2.37%

Hm, thanks for clarification. Everything I've read makes the Curve and the area around it very,very steep.

It's a difficult choice...."20th century limited" or "Broadway Limited". In both cases i prefer the 1938 Broadway (Loewy )and Century (Dreyfuss) paint schemes. Both trains had their personality. But even in the interior and the exterior looked always antagonistic. The best scene would be a NYC Niagara pulling the entury vs a PRR T1/S1 pulling the Broadway

Aljv12 said:

It's a difficult choice...."20th century limited" or "Broadway Limited". In both cases i prefer the 1938 Broadway (Loewy )and Century (Dreyfuss) paint schemes. Both trains had their personality. But even in the interior and the exterior looked always antagonistic. The best scene would be a NYC Niagara pulling the entury vs a PRR T1/S1 pulling the Broadway

Click to expand...

Hmm, a very interesting twist. I'll try this and see how it looks.