More news on the Western Star front. Great Northern cut almost seven hours from the eastbound Western Star by eliminating the detours to Great Falls and Grand Forks. Though it left Seattle at 10 pm, the same time as in the previous timetable, it arrived in St. Paul at 3:50 pm instead of 10:30 pm.

Click image to download an 3.2-MB PDF of this timetable.

This meant the Star could no longer be combined with the Black Hawk without an unacceptable 7-2/3 hour layover. Instead, starting with Great Northern’s June 19 timetable, it was combined with the Afternoon Zephyr, which required only a 70-minute layover (at least some of which was necessary to cut out the Western Star cars that wouldn’t go to Chicago). The eastbound Mainstreeter continued to be combined with the Black Hawk and both trains were still combined with the Black Hawk westbound.

The “principal trains” shown on this timetable are ones between Chicago & Denver, Chicago & Minneapolis, Chicago & Kansas City/St. Joseph, St. Louis & Minneapolis, Denver & Houston, Kansas City & Billings, and Denver & Billings. From the system timetable for this date, what’s missing are mainly various mixed and branchline trains.

The system timetable was down to 28 pages. This condensed timetable is the equivalent of just 6 pages but manages to include these schedules as well as a map and two pages of rail fares.