The map on the back of this timetable shows a heavy-duty line from Norfolk and Washington to New Orleans. From approximately Louisville to Memphis, the line is labeled “Chesapeake, Ohio & Southwestern.” From Memphis to New Orleans it is labeled “Louisville, New Orleans & Texas.”

Click image to download a 9.9-MB PDF of this timetable, which is from the David Rumsey map collection.

These lines were organized by Colis Huntington, one of the founders of the Southern Pacific who also held a controlling interest in the Chesapeake & Ohio. After this timetable was issued, Huntington lost control of these lines and they eventually became part of the Illinois Central.

Judging from this timetable, the C&O didn’t make use of the lines to New Orleans for passenger service. The timetable only shows schedules of trains between New York (via Pennsylvania Railroad), Washington, and Norfolk on the east end and Cincinnati and Louisville on the west end. It also shows connections at Cincinnati to Chicago, St. Louis, and other cities over other railroads, but no connections to Memphis or New Orleans.

The map’s heavy line to New Orleans is continued to El Paso over the Southern Pacific. Huntington clearly wanted a truly coast-to-coast railroad that would make it possible to go from, say, Los Angeles to Washington over one carrier. He wasn’t able to pull it off, but he probably came closer to anyone else.