page_title: Blue Comet
section_title: Legacy
hierarchical_section_title: Blue Comet / Legacy
caption_attribution_description: English: Lionel Blue Comet Ad
context_page_description: The Blue Comet was a named passenger train operated by Central Railroad of New Jersey from 1929 to 1941 between the New York metropolitan area and Atlantic City.
  Designed by Central Railroad of New Jersey president R.B. White in 1928, this train whisked passengers from Communipaw Terminal in Jersey City to Atlantic City, making the total trip from Manhattan to Atlantic City in three hours. The Blue Comet would take NY&LB trackage to Red Bank, then follow the Southern Division Main Line to Winslow Junction, where it would travel over the Atlantic City Railroad's tracks to Atlantic City.
  The colors chosen for the Blue Comet's locomotive and passenger cars were ultramarine and Packard Blue, for the sea, cream, for the sandy coastal beaches, and nickel. The tickets for the train were blue, the dining car chairs were upholstered in blue linen, and the porters were dressed in blue as well. The locomotive was capable of 100 miles per hour, and the railroad claimed the train itself was the first east of the Mississippi to be equipped with roller bearings for easy starting and stopping.
context_section_description: In the 1930s, the Lionel Corporation produced a Blue Comet model train, which is now considered a desirable collectable. While the set was popular, it bore little resemblance to the actual train.
  A sixth-season episode of HBO's The Sopranos is titled "The Blue Comet". In the episode, toy train buff and mobster Bobby Baccalieri is murdered in a hobby shop as he bargains for an antique Lionel Blue Comet set.
  The Comet passenger railcar class of the 1970s and later was named to honor the Blue Comet.
  In December 1975 a special Blue Comet Nostalgia Train operated with a steam locomotive from Raritan Bay to Bay Head along the former New York and Long Branch Railroad (today's North Jersey Coast Line).  The nostalgia trip was filmed and appeared in a Christmas special edition of the Tomorrow television program with host Tom Snyder on December 25, 1975.
  Rivarossi produced a special HO-scale anniversary edition in 1979. It consisted of the 1978 steam locomotive 4-6-2 Heavy Pacific 831 CNJ plus two sets of four different coaches. The set was not prototypical of the actual train. International Hobby Corporation reproduced the Rivarossi HO sets, including a DCC ready locomotive.
  Overland Brass made an HO-scale limited edition of the Blue Comet G3s Pacific locomotive. These models are accurately detailed and considered valuable.
  Bethlehem Car Works makes an HO version of the prototypical coaches, diner, and combine. However, these models are not painted in Blue Comet livery.
  In 1979, The Little Rascals Christmas Special, Spanky learns that his mother (voiced by Darla Hood) is getting him a Blue Comet model train set, only to later find out that his mother had to sell her winter overcoat to buy the train. He then tries to raise the funds with the gang in order to buy the coat back.
  MTH produced several versions of the Blue Comet in O gauge. One is a faithful replica of the 1930s Lionel. Another under their Rail King line is more prototypical, and features sound and synchronized smoke features.
  Aristo Craft produced a G-scale Blue Comet set. Like other manufacturers' Blue Comet representations, some minor details deviate from the original.
  Documentary filmmaker Robert A. Emmons, Jr., details the history of the Blue Comet in the 2009 documentary film De Luxe: The Tale of the Blue Comet.
  In 1998, Lionel produced a second Blue Comet with a model 4-6-4.
  The Black Cat Motorcycle Club of Lansdale, Pennsylvania often encountered the Blue Comet on their rides to the Jersey Shore. Members renamed the club "Blue Comet MC" in 1937.
  In 2001, Lionel produced another Blue Comet model train with a real model 4-6-2; only 1,000 were produced. This model was an entire set.
  Also in 2001, Lionel produced a separate two car pack consisting of Combo car Halley, and Coach car Tuttle.
  In 2003, Lionel produced a separate model of diner "Giacobini".
  In 2009, Auran produced CGI models of the Blue Comet train as an add-on for its Trainz Railroad Simulator 2009 PC game. This package contains two G-3s models, one in the Blue Comet's blue livery and one in the later black livery, as well as a P-47 model in a similar, but unlined version of the latter livery. The package also includes models of the train's baggage, combine, coach, diner and observation cars.
  In 2012, Lionel produced a fourth Blue Comet model train with a real model 4-6-2. The locomotive and four cars are sold separately.
  In 2014, up and into 2017, PIKO Model Trains  & Model Buildings produced a "G"-scale version of  "The Blue Comet" using Engine #592 Camelback 2-6-0 with tender, along with 1 Combine car "Hailey" #300, and 2 Coach cars "Westphal" #1172 and "Faye" #1174. Each of these units is sold separately.
  The bar in Newark Penn Station is named for The Blue Comet. (It closed in 2017.)
caption: Lionel Ad.
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