A royal follow-up to that trip was made by Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip in October 1957, following state visits to Canada and the US. While air transportation was used, the part of the trip between Washington DC and New York City was done by rail.
The Queen wished to repeat in away, how her father and mother made their trip to New York City, sailing up the harbor. B&O provided two special Pullman equipped trains, running as military Main trains under strict security. There was an 11 car train for the Press and a 12 car train for the Royal entourage. Equipment was Pullman high-end accommodation heavy weight cars in excellent condition. B&O provided a 'stream-styled' heavy weight dining car on each train. Included in the Royal train were two US Army communication cars and B&O office car 100 for the royal couple.
The trains left Washington DC on Sunday evening on the B&O and spent the remainder of the night under military guard at Camp Kilmer NJ, reached by the Port Reading branch from Bound Brook. Two leading diesel units were removed from each train at Camp Kilmer, due to weight restrictions on the 500' 1888 iron swing bridge over the Arthur Kill to reach Staten Island. They ran on to Cranford Jct. via Reading and CNJ to await the return of the equipment.
A Lehigh Valley pilot crew forwarded each train from Camp Kilmer to Staten Island Junction and the SIRT, about an hour apart with the Press train leading. The SIRT pilot crew boarded at SI Jct. as the LV pilot crew got off, while the train rolled along at a walk. Both trains were an hour apart and ran non-stop 14 miles to Stapleton Yard by The Narrows. Official greetings were made by state and local dignitaries. Buses took the Press and a motorcade was run for the Royals to the St. George Ferry Terminal. A freshly painted SI Ferry awaited the Press, and a US Army Governors' Island boat had been specially outfitted for the Royals and their ride up New York Bay to Manhattan, and a parade up Broadway. That evening the royals flew to London from Idlewild Airport.
This unusual routing enabled the PRR and CNJ to have no interruptions of their busy commuter service that Monday morning because of the POTUS/Main Train mode of operation for both of these specials. In case anyone wonders who paid for all of this it was Buckingham Palace, using budgeted royal travel funds. Here is the Lehigh Valley conductor's report for the Royal train. B&O, the Reading Company and the Staten Island Rapid Transit had similar conductor's reports for the account of riders and fare collection later.
S.Islander
