Erie Limited
train service in United States of America

The Erie Limited was a streamlined passenger train operated by the Erie Railroad between Jersey City, New Jersey (for New York City) and Chicago, Illinois via the Southern Tier. It operated from 1929 to 1963. After the merger of the Erie and the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad (DL&W) in 1960 it was known as the Erie-Lackawanna Limited. Once the premier passenger train on the Erie, repeated service reductions in the 1950s and 1960s left it a shell of its former self. The Phoebe Snow replaced it in 1963.
History
The Erie Limited debuted on June 2, 1929, replacing the Southern Tier Express, which had run between Jersey City and Buffalo, New York. The new service joined two other Jersey City–Chicago trains: the Atlantic Express/Pacific Express and Chicago Express/New York Express. The train included a Buffalo section with parlor and buffet service which split at Hornell, New York.
The primary competitors to the Erie Limited were the New York Central Railroad's 20th Century Limited and the Pennsylvania Railroad's Broadway Limited. Both trains were well-established on the New York–Chicago run and enjoyed several advantages over the Erie Limited: direct access to Manhattan, faster running times (16 hours versus 24), and more luxurious accommodations.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Erie Limited” as train service in United States of America. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as train service in United States of America. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Dec 1, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q28126621. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1929, 1963 and 1960.
Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Erie Limited”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Erie Limited primary sources, Erie Limited archive and Erie research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Erie Limited”?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
- Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Erie Limited” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.