The Nickel Plate bestowed the name Nickel Plate Limited on an existing (unnamed) Chicago-New York service in April 1929. It was the first named Nickel Plate train since 1906. The Nickel Plate also added Pullman club cars and sleepers to compete with New York Central Railroad service (such as the Forest City) over the same route.[1]: 154 The DL&W's New York Mail handled eastbound through cars between Buffalo and New York while the Phoebe Snow (before 1949, the Lackawanna Limited) handled cars westbound.[2]: 45 Into the train's later years, it would offer the range of sleeper accommodations, from the open sections to the modern roomettes to a drawing room.[3] The Nickel Plate trains would link with the DLW trains at Lackawanna Station in Buffalo.[4]
In 1954 the Nickel Plate renamed the train: the westbound train became the City of Chicago while the eastbound train became the City of Cleveland. Through service to Hoboken ended in 1959. Both trains survived the Nickel Plate itself: service ended on September 10, 1965, a year after the Nickel Plate's 1964 merger with the Norfolk and Western Railway. They were the final remnants of the Nickel Plate's passenger service.[2]: 46
Major stops
The following are major station stops en route:[5]
^"New York, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad Company, Condensed through schedules". Official Guide of the Railways. 82 (8). National Railway Publication Company. January 1950.
^"Index of Railroad Stations, p 1034". Official Guide of the Railways. 94 (1). National Railway Publication Company. June 1961.
^Official Guide of the Railways, December 1951, Nickel Plate section, Table 1