View source for Clocker (train)

{{Short description|Former passenger train service}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2021}}
{{italic title}}
{{Infobox rail service
| box_width   = 300px
| name        = ''Clocker''
| image       = AMTK 923 leaving 30th StxRP.jpg
| image_width = 300px
| caption     = A [[GG1]] pulling a ''Clocker'' departing [[Philadelphia]] in 1976
| type        = [[Inter-city rail]]
| status      = Discontinued
| locale      = [[Northeast Corridor]]
| predecessor = 
| first       = 1910s
| last        = October 28, 2005
| successor   = [[NJ Transit Rail Operations|NJ Transit]]
| operator    = 
| formeroperator = [[Pennsylvania Railroad]], [[Amtrak]]
| ridership   = 
| start       = {{amtk|Philadelphia}}
| stops       = 
| end         = {{amtk|New York}}
| distance    = {{convert|91|mi|km}}
| journeytime = 95–110 minutes
| frequency   = Multiple weekday round-trips
| trainnumber = 
| class       = Unreserved coach
| stock       = [[Amfleet]] coaches
| gauge       = {{railgauge|ussg}}
| el          = Overhead catenary 
| speed       = 
| owners      = [[Amtrak]]
| routenumber =
| map         = {{Clocker}}
| map_state   = 
}}

The '''''Clocker''''' was a passenger train service between [[Philadelphia]] and [[New York City]] on the [[Northeast Corridor]] at first by the [[Pennsylvania Railroad]] and later by [[Amtrak]]. The service was nicknamed the ''Clocker'' by riders as trains were scheduled to leave each terminal at the top of the hour. The name was eventually adopted into official use by Amtrak in 1981. The service was briefly renamed '''''Acela Commuter''''' in 1999 before the name reverted to ''Clocker'' in 2003. 

Amtrak discontinued the service on October&nbsp;28, 2005, and it was partially replaced by additional [[NJ Transit Rail Operations|NJ Transit]] express trains between [[Trenton, New Jersey]], and [[New York City]] at times approximating the ''Clocker'' schedule.

== History ==
=== Pennsylvania Railroad ===
The ''Clocker'' was originally a [[Pennsylvania Railroad]] express train service between New York and [[Broad Street Station (Philadelphia)|Broad Street Station]] in Philadelphia;<ref name="trains">{{cite journal|last=Rung, Jr.|first=A. M.|date=January 1948|title=Philly's personality trains|journal=Trains}}; 15</ref> the name was unofficial, and PRR timetables did not use it. Soon after [[Pennsylvania Station (New York City)|New York Penn Station]] opened in 1910, the express trains began departing New York and Philadelphia [[wiktionary: on the hour|on the hour]] through the day, giving rise to the Clocker name (which the railroad itself seems never to have used). Until the [[railway electrification system|electrification]] of the Northeast Corridor in 1933, most ''Clockers'' were scheduled to both leave and arrive on each hour, but faster schedules after electrification eliminated the on the hour arrival.

Pennsylvania Railroad cut back on the schedule, and by the time Amtrak took over the nation's passenger rail service on May&nbsp;1, 1971, the ''Clocker'' service no longer ran hourly.

=== Amtrak ===
[[File:Bombardier ALP-46 in Philadelphia's 30th Street station.jpg|thumb|left|An Amtrak ''Clocker'' train pulled by a [[NJ Transit]] locomotive at Philadelphia's [[30th Street Station]] in 2003]]
At the launch of [[Amtrak]], the railroad assigned each run an individual name (listed in the table below). Starting with the October 1981 timetable, Amtrak officially adopted the ''Clocker'' name for the service.<ref>{{cite web|date=October 25, 1981|title=National Train Timetables|url=http://www.timetables.org/full.php?group=19811025&item=0010|access-date=April 18, 2010|publisher=[[Amtrak]]}}</ref> The trains were unreserved, coach class only, and Amtrak targeted the ''Clocker'' service at commuters travelling to local stops bypassed by the high-speed [[Metroliner (train)|''Metroliner'']] trains, the ''[[Regional (Amtrak)|Regional]]'' trains, and other named long-distance trains.

During the 1990s, [[NJ Transit]] started contracting with Amtrak to accept their monthly passes on the ''Clocker'' trains. These two decisions drastically shifted the clientele on the trains. Monthly ticket holders from New Jersey preferred the ''Clocker'' trains over the NJ Transit trains because they were faster and more comfortable, meanwhile, Amtrak's passengers avoided the ''Clocker'' trains because they were slower and frequently crowded. Also, the monthlies meant that few passengers traveled to or from Philadelphia.

Until 2002, the 7:59 AM ''Clocker'' from [[Princeton Junction station|Princeton Junction]] included a private club car known as Club&nbsp;200 that members paid up to $1,200 per year to join ({{inflation|US|1200|2002|fmt=eq}}). This was the last private club car used in regular commuter service on the Northeast Corridor.<ref name="Club">{{Cite news|last=Kennedy|first=Randy|date=May 22, 2002|title=Lots of Seats, but Sorry, This Car's Taken|language=en-US|page=A1|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/05/22/nyregion/lots-of-seats-but-sorry-this-car-s-taken.html|access-date=March 16, 2021|issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

When the ''Acela Express'' was introduced in 1999, Amtrak launched what it called the Capstone Program, a short-lived plan to re-brand the ''[[Northeast Regional|NortheastDirect]]'', ''[[Keystone Service]]'' and ''[[Empire Service]]'' trains as ''Acela Regional'' and the ''Clocker'' trains as ''Acela Commuter''.<ref name="Acela">{{Cite news|last=Machalaba|first=Daniel|date=March 28, 1999|title=Metroliner Name on Past Track|language=en-US|work=Chicago Tribune|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1999-03-28-9903280070-story.html|access-date=March 16, 2021|via=The Wall Street Journal}}</ref> Following mass rider confusion between this service and the high-speed [[Acela Express]] service, the name reverted to ''Clocker'' in 2003.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Acela Service: Refreshing the Amtrak Brand — Amtrak: History of America's Railroad|url=https://history.amtrak.com/blogs/blog/acela-refreshing-the-amtrak-brand|access-date=March 16, 2021|website=Amtrak History}}</ref>

By the early 2000s, NJ Transit was paying $6 million per year to compensate Amtrak for monthly ticket holders riding Clocker trains,<ref>{{Cite news |last=Belson |first=Ken |date=July 8, 2007 |title=Multilevel Train Rolls Out, Changing Little for Riders |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/08/nyregion/nyregionspecial2/08topicnj.html |access-date=March 16, 2021 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> and was loaning Amtrak its new [[Bombardier ALP-46|ALP-46]] locomotives to haul the trains' [[Amfleet]] coaches.

On October 28, 2005, Amtrak discontinued the ''Clocker'' service altogether and sold the Northeast Corridor operating slots to NJ Transit which used them to partially replace the service with additional [[Northeast Corridor Line]] express trains between Trenton and New York City at times approximating the ''Clocker'' schedule.<ref>{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=October 12, 2005|title=More Capacity, Express Service With Timetable Change: Four express trains to replace discontinued Amtrak Clockers; More frequent service at stations from Jersey Ave. to Metropark; Weekend "Holiday Express" service on the NEC and M&E lines|url=https://www.njtransit.com/|url-status=live|access-date=March 17, 2021|website=njtransit.com|publisher=New Jersey Transit|language=en-US|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000301103004/http://www.njtransit.com:80/ |archive-date=March 1, 2000 }}</ref>

== Naming ==
{| class="wikitable"
!Name<ref name=50years>{{Fifty Years of Amtrak Trains}}</ref>{{rp|244}}
!Number
!Notes
|-
!colspan="3"|New York-Philadelphia
|-
|''Philadelphian''
|237
|
|-
|''Betsy Ross''
|211
|Sunday-only service ran Springfield-Washington
|-
|''Keystone''
|219
|Also the name of a ''[[Keystone Service]]'' train 1980–1981; see ''[[Valley Forge (train)|Valley Forge]]''
|-
|''Garden State''
|221
|
|-
|''William Penn''
|223
|
|-
|''Quaker City''
|225
|
|-
|''Rittenhouse''
|227, 241
|
|-
|''Schuylkill''
|229
|Discontinued April 26, 1980
|-
!colspan="3"|Philadelphia-New York
|-
|''Manhattan Limited''
|252
|
|-
|''Gotham''
|254
|
|-
|''Edison''
|200
|
|-
|''New Yorker''
|202
|
|-
|''Big Apple''
|204
|Also the name of a ''[[Keystone Service]]'' train 1980–1994; see ''[[Valley Forge (train)|Valley Forge]]''
|-
|''Central Park''
|210
|Discontinued April 26, 1980
|-
|''Murray Hill''
|220
|
|-
|''Herald Square''
|222
|
|}

== Notes ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
* {{Commons category-inline}}

{{Former Amtrak routes}}

[[Category:Former Amtrak routes]]
[[Category:Railway services introduced in 1971]]
[[Category:Railway services discontinued in 2005]]