The eight years between 1878 and 1886 saw huge changes in the railroad industry. Some of these changes are visible by comparing the map in this brochure with the one in the Iron Mountain’s 1878 timetable. The 1878 map used the heaviest lines for just the Iron Mountain Route, namely St. Louis to Texarkana and branches to Columbus, Kentucky and Cairo, Illinois.

Click image to download a 11.2-MB PDF of this timetable, which is from the David Rumsey map collection.

By 1886, the Iron Mountain Route had been purchased by Jay Gould and, along with the Texas & Pacific and International & Great Northern, made a part of the Missouri Pacific system. As a result, the map in today’s brochure shows the entire Missouri Pacific and these subsidiaries in a heavy line.

However, these changes are not apparent on the timetable side of the brochure. The schedules only show Iron Mountain routes. As near as I can tell, they are the exact same schedules as shown in the 1878 timetable. They show the same connections to the Texas & Pacific and International & Great Northern, but don’t show any new connections to Missouri Pacific lines.

It’s a little surprising that the trains in 1886 weren’t any faster than in 1878. But, other than other rail lines, the railroads had little competition, so there was little incentive to speed up their trains.