Railroad Magazine, September 1939

(P. 119)

The Lehigh Valley's First Streamliner

By Freeman H. Hubbard

Editor of Railroad Magazine

The Lehigh Valley, long famous as a coal carrier, is stepping up its passenger service. Last May, you remember, we published photos of the

'streamstyled “Asa Packer," Nos. 25 and 26, which runs between Newark, N.J., and Mauch Chunk, Pa. This run had been added to the Lehigh Valley schedules some time previously, but the company's executives at 143 Liberty

Street, New York City, decided a few months ago that it needed more "personality," a more modern dress; and so they sent for Otto Kuhler.

Mr. Kuhler needs no introduction here. as an industrial designer he has done more to streamline and modernize railroad equipment than anyone else we know. He has also painted a number of front covers for this magazine.

Anyhow, as we were saying, Otto Kuhler was called in to see what he could do for Nos. 25 and 26 on a limited expense budget. The result was partial streamlining of the engine, a finishing of the whole train's exterior in attractive yellow and black, and the inclusion of various innovations inside the cars.

(P. 120)

With a final touch of showmanship, the Lehigh Valley took the train out of the ordinary class by giving it a name instead of a number. Naturally, the public was please. Word got around that the Lehigh Valley was beginning to interest itself seriously in the comfort and convenience of its passengers. Business picked up. The "brass hats" at 143 Liberty Street rubbed their hands in glee.

"Fine!" they said. "Now let's see what Mr. Kuhler can do with some more of our trains."

So they put him to work at restyling Nos. 28 and 29, which connects New York City (Pennsylvania Station) with Wilkes-Barre, Pa. The road has ordered ten new coaches, which we understand will be humdingers and will lift the road's standard of equipment to a new high. We would not be at all surprised to learn that Mr. Kuhler was modernizing The Black Diamond also and that some of the new coaches would be assigned to this Niagara Falls flyer.

The 28 and 29, previously known as the Wilkes-Barre Express, has been stylized and futurized from pilot to marker lights and is now proudly skimming the rails as The John Wilkes. This name, we might add, is that of a member of the British House of Commons who championed American colonial rights in the turbulent reign of George III and for whom the city of Wilkes-Barre was named. Personally, we think that if a man is significant enough to have a streamlined train christened in his honor, his portrait should appear somewhere in or on the cars; and since the late Mr. Wilkes was slighted that respect, we are doing the next best thing by printing his likeness here.

In dressing up the engine - which is the 2102, a Baldwin Pacific type, class K-5 - Mr. Kuhler and J.P. Laux, the road's superintendent of motive power, saved weight by the use of new drivers and rods, applying this saving to the light-weight bullet-nose, streamline shell. "We set the headlight in the center of her nose," Mr. Kuhler informed us, "to suggest resemblance to an airplane."

The stack and all appliances on the top are enclosed, as you will notice from the photos, while aprons shroud the cylinders and tank. The cab is Really a new streamline type, all of its steam pipes having been placed inside the jackets to minimize the danger of burns to the fireman, who, incidentally, can operate all valves without moving from one point in the cab. A smoke eliminator developed by Mr. Laux and booster equipment are installed. All handrailing is of stainless steel; cab windows are chromium plated. The 2102, in keeping with the rest of the train, is gaily painted maroon, black, and white.

(Page 122) The John Wilkes, which is, of course, air-conditioned, in addition to being thoroughly renovated and redecorated, is the Lehigh Valley's first all-streamlined train. Boarding it at Mauch Chunk, we found inside a harmony of design - an atmosphere of restfulness and travel luxury. There is a smoking lounge for women coach passengers, with individual settees, a dressing table, and a full-length mirror. Easing ourselves into one of the cozy coach seats, all of which are covered with rust-colored mohair, we were told by the genial Gus Kaiser, the road's advertising agent, that these seats had been specially designed for comfort; and that the flooring, rubber overlaid with carpeting, was the ideal combination to deaden noise. Looking still further, we discovered a new kind of baggage rack which seemed to provide ample space for suitcases, packages, tennis rackers, or what have you.

All in all, The John Wilkes is a pleasant conveyance to ride in. We glanced around with approval at the shaded tubes of soft non-glaring lights above each seat and on the ceiling, lights strong enough to read by and yet restful to the eyes. There were fluorescent lights - the kind we had seen all over the New York World's Fair, so beautiful by night. first tried out experimentally in railroad service by the New York Central, fluorescent lighting later met with instant success when installed on The Asa Packer's cafe and lounge cars, and now used throughout The John Wilkes, making The Wilkes, indeed, the only train on earth to be illuminated entirely in this manner.

The inside of the tube is coated with fluorescent material filled with gaseous mercury and argon. Invisible ultra-violet light is generated in the tube by a controlled mercury arc and this causes the fluorescent coating to glow with visible light. The illumination on the passenger's newspaper or magazine is 10 to 12 foot candles, compared with less than half that much on the average passenger car.

This modern system is highly efficient, providing an abundance of good light for little power, which is most desirable when you consider that the electric power supply aboard a steam train is necessarily limited. And it has the additional advantage of generating only an imperceptible amount of heat, which means that much less heat for the air-conditioning apparatus to pump out of the car. For these reasons fluorescent (P. 123) lighting has been adopted by the Lehigh Valley as a standard of lighting. J.M. Brown, the company's electrical engineer, cooperating with Mr. Kuhler; and is eventually to be installed on all Lehigh Valley trains.

The John Wilkes consists of one baggage-express car, one mail-baggage car, four coaches, one club car, one diner, and one Pullman chair car. Except for the chair car, which has been done over at the Pullman works, all of this equipment was rejuvenated at the Lehigh Valley shops at Sayre, Pa. A small bronze tablet to that effect is attached to the aisle doors of each car.

To encourage the employees' interest in their modernization program, company officials sent The John Wilkes on a special pre-inauguration run from Sayre to Manchester, N.Y., and return. Each shopman who had helped improve this train was invited to be a guest on the excursion and to bring along his wife or lady friend. It was a unique kind of a picnic. After that the streamliner was placed on exhibition at Hazleton, Pa., and at Wilkes-Barre, and inspected by thousands of local residents.

The christening ceremony was staged in Wilkes-Barre on June 2nd, immediately preceding the usual preview run for journalists and such, including your (P124) editor - a run from Mauch Chunk to Jersey City, N.J.; and two days before the train was put into regular service. A bottle of champagne was broken over the pilot by Mrs. E.G. Smith, whose husband is a newspaper publisher as well as a director of the Lehigh Valley; and the new-old train was on its way.

` With William Kocher at the throttle and Joe Brislin keeping an expert eye on the automatic stoker, The John Wilkes made good time to Mauch Chunk, in the mountains, where a new engine crew took over, H. Hochen and Fireman L. Mohler, while news hounds and camera men swarmed into the swanky cars. There were only two ladies on our preview trip. One was Otto Kuhler's charming blonde wife; the other was a pert little gal reporter from some town in New Jersey, we forget her name. Our conductor was Robert Williams, assisted by Flagman James L. Kane and Brakeman George Reid.

The final lap of our journey was routed over the freight line from Newark, a route not normally used for passenger traffic. Aboard the Lehigh Valley's first and only streamliner, The John Wilkes, pulling onto Jersey City terminal, we passed and saluted the Reading's first and only streamliner, The Crusader, deftly snaking its way through the yards southbound in its daily run to Philadelphia; and your editor was reminded that in Dec. '37 he had taken The Crusader's preview trip, Philadelphia to Hershey, Pa., and back.

Our next preview, we hope, will be on the rejuvenated Black Diamond. As we said before, the Lehigh Valley's passenger service is stepping up.