Valley Railroads: Empire State Express Letterbox Hybrid
MSTzilla: Like the Empire State Express, this cache has run its course and has been stolen.
Valley Railroads: Empire State Express
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(regular)
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This cache is located in Bowdoin Park on the beautiful Hudson River. You'll find it along the RED trail.
This letterbox hybrid is part of a series of caches celebrating the history of railroads in the Hudson Valley. This cache is for the Empire State Express of the New York Central Railroad.
Inside this cache is a handmade stamp and tokens that are specific to this letterbox hybrid. You don't have to have a stamp of your own to claim the find, just log it as you would any other regular cache. Feel free to use the stamp in the cache but please return it and the ink pad to the bag for others to use. Also, please take only one token as they take a while to make. I hope you enjoy the series.
This cache commemorates the Empire State Express, a passenger service that ran from New York City to Buffalo, traveling along the Hudson River, from 1891 to 1971, spanning ninety years. The New York Central System became a vast railroad and the introduction of the Empire State Express became a symbol of its' success. From the first run, the Express was national news as it made the trip with four passenger cars in just over 7 hours! The legend of the number 999 (locomotive) was cemented into history.
The New York Central Railroad saw to it that the Empire State Express had the best and newest trains on the rails. Beginning with the 4-4-0 steam locomotive #999 with polished fittings and shiny black boiler coupled to beautiful passenger cars, luxury and speed were the terms of the day. In the late 1930's to 40's, the Express was led by J-class Hudson 4-6-4 steam locomotives, believed to be some of the most beautiful and powerful steam engines to travel the Hudson River lines. The Hudson's of the Express sported polished drive rods and silver painted drive wheels along with the new "streamliner" design of polished covers to match the new Budd polished passenger cars. In the late 40's, the Central had to face the facts and phased out the steam locomotives, turning to the new diesel engines and naming them "Dreamliners." After a couple more decades, the New York Central was merged with the Pennsylvania Railroad and the end of the Expess was in the wind. Amtrak took over the defunct railroads in 1971 bringing an end of an era. Although Amtrak used the title Empire State Express for some trains in the 70's, the luster and romance of the Express were gone.
Chances are, you will see a Metro-North or Amtrak passenger train or two pass by on the famous rails along the Hudson while you're searching for the cache. Just think of the old steam locomotives on those tracks!
Other caches in this series:
Valley Railroads: Central New England Railway (GC1TRKB)
Valley Railroads: New Haven (GC1TRMN)
Valley Railroads: Penn Central (GC1TX8M)
Valley Railroads: New York O&W (GC2191D)
Valley Railroads: New York & Harlem (GC2TN43)
Valley Railroads: New York, New Haven & Hartford (GC2VDTV)
Hold up of the "Yonkers Sugar Special" (GC1X22A)
Valley Railroads: Derailment! (GC2X3BH)
Valley Railroads: Trestle Collapse (GC2XJ8X)
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Jba'g or fghzcrq