Burlington July 1942 Timetable

Posted on by April 29, 2024
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As I suggested yesterday, the idea of taking long summer vacations during wartime quickly disappeared in 1942. Instead, the full-page ads on the inside and outside back covers of this timetable both focus on the war effort.

Click image to download a 24.5-MB PDF of this 40-page timetable.

The timetable no longer promises that Burlington will be able to meet all wartime demands without impairing its ability to satisfy personal travel and shipping demand. Instead, it encourages people to consult Burlington agents to find out “how best to utilize the substantial part of the transportation facilities of the Burlington that are not yet required by war traffic.”

Burlington April 1942 Timetable

Posted on by April 29, 2024
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This timetable restores the two pages of rail fares that were omitted from yesterday’s. Since the page count is still 40, this meant reducing the number of pages dedicated to ads to just two. The rail fares are about 10 percent higher than they were in 1940, which contributes to my suspicion that they were deleted from the previous timetable because Burlington was uncertain about a proposed rate increase.

Click image to download a 24.9-MB PDF of this 40-page timetable.

Of the two pages of ads, the inside back cover once again promises that Burlington will be able to meet wartime demand “without any impairment of the high quality service to which its patrons are accustomed.” One of those services is advertised on the back cover, namely taking people on vacations in the West. Continue reading →

Burlington January 1942 Timetable

Posted on by April 29, 2024
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Going into effect exactly four weeks after the attack on Pearl Harbor, this timetable has four fewer pages than yesterday’s from 1940. This was accomplished by reducing the number of ad pages by two and eliminating two pages of rail fares. I wonder if the railroad deleted the fare pages because it thought prices would be likely to change due to the war.

Click image to download a 24.5-MB PDF of this 40-page timetable.

In one of the ads, “Transportation for the Emergency,” Burlington pats itself on the back for having the foresight to buy “thousands of new freight cars and many powerful locomotives” in preparation for the war. The point of the ad is that the railroad expects to be able to meet war demands without reducing service to the general public. This is meant to be reassuring but it verges on admitting that the railroad is looking forward to profiting from the war. Continue reading →

Burlington May 1941 Timetable

Posted on by April 29, 2024
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Burlington included five full-page ads and one page with two half-page ads in this timetable. This is similar to 1939 and 1940 timetables. Among the full-page ads in this one are ones for the Exposition Flyer and a back-cover ad encouraging people to “visit 3 wonder spots on 1 Burlington ticket,” meaning Colorado, Glacier, and Yellowstone parks. A half-page ad invites people to write for a copy of Burlington’s 1941 booklet of escorted tours.

Click image to download a 27.0-MB PDF of this 44-page timetable.

The ad on the other half of that page promotes the Buffalo Bill, a short-lived train between Denver and Cody. The timetable on page 15 explains that this train operated three days a week by from June 25 through August 30. This train began operating in 1937 (when it went from June 23 through September 3) and continued through 1941. It did not run in 1942 for obvious reasons and was not revived after the war. Continue reading →

A New Conception in Travel Luxury

Posted on by April 29, 2024
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In a profound example of poor timing, just a few weeks after the stock market crash that heralded the beginning of the Great Depression, Burlington inaugurated a new Chicago-Denver train called the Aristocrat. To equip the train, along with another new train between Chicago and Omaha/Lincoln called the Ak-Sar-Ben plus new equipment for an existing Chicago-Twin Cities train called the Black Hawk, Burlington ordered 45 sleeping cars from Pullman and produced 35 other cars, including coaches, diners, and observation-lounges, in its own shops (possibly by refurbishing existing cars).


Click image to download a 1.4-MB PDF of this 20-page booklet.

Because the Burlington was 80 years old in 1930, these cars were called the “Anniversary Fleet,” and have previously been described by press folders for the Aristocrat and Black Hawk and Ak-Sar-Ben. Today’s booklet was for ordinary passengers and includes interior photos of many of the cars on the train. Continue reading →

SP&S October 1967 Timetable

Posted on by April 29, 2024
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Spokane, Portland and Seattle’s logo was red and white, and the logos of its parents Great Northern and Northern Pacific were red, white, and black making it easy to print them on the cover of SP&S timetables (since the timetables also had black lettering). But then in 1967 Great Northern changed its main color to Big Sky Blue. I wonder if anyone at SP&S grumbled about having to pay extra money just to print two little blue logos on its timetable covers.

Click image to download a 5.7-MB PDF of this 12-page timetable.

This timetable lavishes a whole page to Northern Pacific’s two transcontinental trains, the North Coast Limited and Mainstreeter and SP&S’s connections to those trains. It devotes another whole page to Great Northern’s two transcontinental trains, the Empire Builder and Western Star and SP&S’s connections to those trains. But the connections are the same: the SP&S train that connected with the Empire Builder at Spokane also connected with the North Coast Limited at Pasco, and likewise for the Western Star and Mainstreeter. Continue reading →

Northern Pacific April 1958 Timetable

Posted on by April 1, 2024
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Northern Pacific introduced this cover to its timetables in 1957. The cover shows the domes but highlights the round-tailed observation car. Like most cars introduced on the train before 1954, these cars were built by Pullman, but in 1954 NP — perhaps influenced by the Burlington — began buying cars from Budd, starting with the dome cars.

Click image to download a 22.9-MB PDF of this 36-page timetable.

In January 1958, Northern Pacific introduced new Budd-built diners to the North Coast Limited. The back cover of this timetable encourages people to enjoy “fresh Rocky Mountain brook trout” and “select boneless prime sirloin” in these diners. A color image of the black-and-white photo on the back cover was used on Northern Pacific postcards.

Northern Pacific May 1955 Timetable

Posted on by April 1, 2024
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Vista domes were introduced to the North Coast Limited in the summer of 1954. On July 27, photographer Ron Nixon took photos of a dome which was apparently in Montana for a shakedown run, but the the dome coaches were not regularly added to the train until mid-August and the dome sleepers in September.

Click image to download a 24.9-MB PDF of this 36-page timetable.

Having gone most of the summer of 1954 without domes, it was reasonable for this May 1955 timetable to announce that four domes would be on each train in the summer of 1955. The cover picture is a Leslie Ragan painting (shown in color here) done for the Budd Company. The same painting would be on 1956 timetables, but the advertising in those timetables would focus on the introduction of stewardess-nurses and the Traveller’s Rest cars rather than the domes.

NP January 1953 Condensed Timetable

Posted on by April 1, 2024
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On November 15, 1952, Northern Pacific finally speeded up the North Coast Limited to times competitive with the Empire Builder and Olympian Hiawatha. At the same time, it replaced the heavyweight Alaskan with the partially streamlined Mainstreeter. A brochure about these two changes can be downloaded from Wx4. This timetable was issued two months later.

Click image to download a 2.3-MB PDF of this 4-page timetable.

Like the Alaskan, the Mainstreeter didn’t go between St. Paul and Chicago, but unlike the Alaskan both sleeping cars and coaches from the Mainstreeter went through to Chicago via Burlington’s Black Hawk. Also unlike the Alaskan, the Mainstreeter had a dining car, which was a significant upgrade in service. Continue reading →

Northern Pacific April 1952 Timetable

Posted on by April 1, 2024
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Although the cover calls this the Summer timetable, the back cover notes that it went into effect on April 27, seven months after yesterday’s. Yesterday I noted that the schedule for the Alaskan included a sleeping car between St. Paul and Fargo that, from October through January, went via Great Northern’s Dakotan. This timetable says it was back on the Alaskan but only through May, while June through September it would again be part of the Dakotan.

Click image to download a 23.8-MB PDF of this 36-page timetable.

This certainly seems strange. The Dakotan left St. Paul at 9 pm and arrived in Fargo at 6 am. The Alaskan was faster, departing St. Paul at 9:30 pm and arriving in Fargo at 5:30 am. The two trains served different towns along the way so anyone getting on or off at a town on the NP would have to go coach or ride the Alaskan‘s St. Paul-Mandan sleeping car. Continue reading →