The black was used in a role similar to the 'cat whiskers' that appeared on the PRR's GG-1's. Later, the Pacific engine was replaced by Alco's PA-1 diesels, which were painted Cornell red with black playing a secondary role. The Black Diamond competed with services offered by the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad and the New York Central Railroad although slower than either of these, its level of service won it the nicknames 'the Handsomest Train in the World' and 'the Honeymoon Express.' In 1940, the train was provided with the line's first set of lightweight streamlined coaches, designed by Otto Kuhler, who also designed streamlined shroudings for the existing 4-6-2 Pacific locomotives that hauled the train. For most of its existence the Black Diamond used the Lehigh Valley Terminal in Buffalo. That lasted only five years, as the United States Railroad Administration decided in 1918 to re-route all Lehigh Valley trains into New York Penn Station to centralize traffic. In 1913, the train was forced by the PRR to vacate the station so the eastern terminus was changed to the Central Railroad of New Jersey's Communipaw Terminal. Service between Jersey City, New Jersey and Buffalo began on, It originally used the Pennsylvania Railroad's Exchange Place Station, where passengers could board ferries to station to New York. History The Black Diamond Express in 1898. It ran from New York to Buffalo from 1896 until May 11, 1959, when the Lehigh Valley's passenger service was reduced to four mainline trains.

The Black Diamond, also known as the Black Diamond Express, was the flagship passenger train of the Lehigh Valley Railroad (LV).

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