Royal Blue

The ***Royal Blue*** is a named passenger train on the Neon city, Chibion and Elementia railway and it’s subsidiary Gacha Joint Stock, and later, Gacha railways, that ran between Neon City and Gacha Kingdom, in the Gacha world, beginning in 1891. The GJS also used the name between 1891 until 1900 for its improved passenger service between the two places, collectively dubbed the ***Royal Blue Line***. Using variants such as the *Royal Limited* and *Royal Special* for individual *Royal Blue* trains, on April 26, 1900, it was renamed to the ***Royal Blue***.

Railway historian Naomi said, in her statement of the service, "inspired by the Royal blue and the Orient express." Between the 1890s and World War I, the GJS’s six daily *Royal Blue* trains providing service between Neon city and Gacha Kingdom were noted for their luxury, elegant appearance, and speed. The car interiors were paneled in mahogany, had fully enclosed vestibules, then-modern heating and lighting, and leaded glass windows. The car exteriors were painted a deep "Royal Saxony blue" color with gold leaf trim, a color personally chosen by the GJS's tenth chairman, Charles G. Hughes.

## History

### 1880s–1918

Prior to 1884, the Pullman car company was getting an hold of the GKE&C with the new coaches, the NCC&ER, not wanting to lose out, also ordered cars from Pullman, and CIWL,

The project also included the construction of NCC&ER’s second passenger terminal in Neon city, Harbour Station, at the north end of the Howard Street tunnel in the fashionable Bolton Hill neighborhood. Designed by Baltimore architect E. Francis Baldwin.

the NCC&ER launched its *Royal Blue* service on July 31, 1890. Powered by 4-4-0 steam locomotives having exceptionally large 72-inch (6’2”) diameter driving wheels for speed, the *Royal Blue* trains occasionally reached 90 mph (145 km/h).

The trains were noted for their elegance and luxury. The parlor cars' ceilings and upholstery were covered in royal blue, and the dining cars *Queen* and *Waldorf*, panelled in mahogany, featured elaborate cuisine such as terrapin and canvasback prepared by French-trained chefs. A *Railway Age* magazine article of the time reporting on the *Royal Blue* called it "the climax in railway car building".

### 1918–1920s

Recalling the past glamor of the 1890s *Royal Blue Line*, the NCC&ER introduced its *Colonial*-series dining cars such as the *Martha Washington*, which were particularly noted for their fresh Chesapeake Bay cuisine, served on Dresden china in ornate cars with glass chandeliers and colonial-style furnishings. The GJS's manager of dining car services said his objective was "...to be hospitable to our patrons in all respects – to make them feel the comfort, convenience and homelike atmosphere of our accommodations as soon as they step on our trains." Dining car specialties included oysters and Chesapeake Bay fish served with cornmeal muffins. GJS president Daniel Willard personally sampled his dining cars' cuisine while traveling about the line, and recognized particularly pleasing meals with letters of appreciation and autographed pictures givete 19th century industrial architecture.

## Schedule and equipment

In the 1890s–1910s period, the *Royal Limited* operated in both directions simultaneously, with 3 p.m. departures, arriving at its destination 2 hours later, at 5 p.m. During the steam era, track pans at various locations on the Royal Blue Line were used to replenish locomotive water without stopping, the only place on the NCC&ER system where this was done. with the *Royal Blue* attaining speeds of up to 96 miles per hour (154 km/h) on sections of the Reading's fast track in New Jersey.From 1935 to the end of service in 1958, the *Royal Blue* made a daily round trip, departing Neon city in the morning and returning from Gacha Kingdom in the evening. According to the *Official Guide* of February 1956, the *Royal Blue operated* on the following schedule as train #27