Shockingly, by 1967 Rock Island’s timetable had shrunk to a four-panel brochure, each panel about 4″x9″, thus making it about the same size as the 1964 condensed timetable. This was probably the last timetable listing the Golden State, which would make its last run in April, 1968. Despite declining ridership, Rock Island-Southern Pacific still charged an extra fare for that train, which this timetable calls a “special service charge.”

Click image to download an 1.2-MB PDF of this 4-page timetable.

Trains 5 & 6, once called the Des Moines Rocket, had been cut back to Rock Island. Yesterday’s timetable still had two trains a day between Chicago and Omaha, 7 & 8, the Corn Husker, and 9 & 10, the Corn Belt Rocket. This timetable cut that back to one unnamed train a day each way, but perhaps to share the credit the trains are numbered 7 & 10. Continue reading →

Even Rock Island’s condensed timetables were shrinking in the mid-1960s. Where the 1962 condensed timetable shown here a couple of days ago consisted of three 4″ wide panels (the equivalent, counting both sides, of 3 pages of a regular timetable), this one just has two such panels (equal to 2 pages of a standard timetable).

Click image to download an 1.1-MB PDF of this 4-page timetable.

Not surprisingly, there were several changes since the timetable presented yesterday. The Choctaw Rockette, an RDC between Memphis and Amarillo, was off the timetable. Trains #39 & 40, once called the Imperial, now only went as far east as Kansas City, where Chicago passengers had to transfer to trains #15 & 16, once called the Kansas City Rocket, and then change trains again in Des Moines to #5 & 6, still called the Des Moines Rocket.

Here’s another condensed timetable that, like the one from 1958, manages to compress four of the 20 pages of the standard timetable into just two pages, and leaves most everything else out. This one removes some white space from the 1958 edition to squeeze in a schedule of trains from Minneapolis to Los Angeles. Rock Island offered through cars from Minneapolis to L.A. that transferred between the Twin Star Rocket and Golden State, but didn’t bother to include the schedule in 1958.

Click image to download an 1.8-MB PDF of this 2-page timetable.

Missing from both the 1958 and 1962 condensed timetables was Rock Island’s passenger service to Sioux Falls, South Dakota. This consisted of a mixed train from Cedar Rapids Yard to Estherville, Iowa, connecting with another mixed train from Estherville to Sioux Falls. Since the latter train went through a corner of Minnesota, Rock Island would have needed permission from three different states to discontinue it, so kept it running with a minimum of service. Continue reading →

As with yesterday’s timetable, this one has no major changes but it does have some minor tinkering in the schedules. Fifteen minutes have been added to the schedule of train #9, the southbound Corn Belt Rocket, between Minneapolis and Omaha. The northbound schedule of the same train was unchanged.

Click image to download an 13.0-MB PDF of this 20-page timetable.

Ten minutes were added to the schedule of the southbound Zephyr Rocket and 25 minutes to the northbound train between Minneapolis and St. Louis. All of the addition was on the Burlington portion of the route. Continue reading →

The schedules on this timetable are pretty similar to those on the April 1958 edition with the exception of the disappearance of trains 11 & 12. While there must be some minor changes, the only major change I can find is the paper it is printed on.

Click image to download an 12.1-MB PDF of this 20-page timetable.

The 1958 and earlier timetables were printed on white paper that, while thin, was fairly good quality. This 1959 timetable is printed on a lower-quality newsprint and has severely yellowed. Many other railroads used similar newsprint in the 1950s, including Northern Pacific, Southern Pacific, and Union Pacific, while Missouri Pacific and Great Northern used a higher-quality paper that was also heavier. The downgrade in the quality of paper in this Rock Island timetable is one more attempt to save money in the face of declining ridership.