A stately parade of Burlington streamliners left Chicago each day in 1956 for the Twin Cities. At 8:45 am, the Morning Zephyr departed Union Station with the goal of arriving in St. Paul in just 6-1/4 hours, for an average speed of 68 miles per hour. The train averaged nearly 82 miles per hour over the 113 miles between East Dubuque and LaCrosse despite making an intervening stop in Prairie du Chien.

Click image to download a 2.0-MB PDF of this timetable.

Next was the North Coast Limited, leaving at 11:30 am and taking a half hour longer to St. Paul than the Zephyr. At 2:00 pm, the Empire Builder departed; though leaving two-and-one-half hours after its Northern Pacific rival, it was scheduled to arrive in Seattle 10 minutes sooner. At 4:15 pm the Afternoon Zephyr left Chicago on a schedule matching that of its morning counterpart. Continue reading →

This timetable makes a curious change in format. As mentioned yesterday, previous timetables had devoted page 6 to condensed schedules for the California Zephyr and the Kansas City-Billings train. In all, the earlier timetables had 6-1/2 pages of condensed schedules, with the remaining half page used for an ad.

Click image to download a 21.5-MB PDF of this 36-page timetable.

Today’s timetable rearranges the condensed schedules so that the Kansas City-Billings train is on page 9. This moves the other schedules around, losing the half-page ad. That left all of page 6 for the California Zephyr condensed schedule, which allowed for larger type but also a lot of white space on that page. Continue reading →

Burlington’s complete system timetable for May 1955 (which will be presented here tomorrow) was 36 pages long, but this condensed version manages to fit in schedules for more than 30 trains into just four pages. The timetable also lists equipment for those trains.

Click image to download a 2.7-MB PDF of this timetable.

Unlike the condensed timetable, the system timetable included a station index, condensed timetables, connections, fares, a list of Burlington agents, and “general information.” The system timetable also had six pages of “branch line trains,” some of which were mixed trains, buses, or freight-only routes. Finally, the system timetable had a large centerfold map while the map on this one is too small at 3-1/2″x1-3/4″ to be really useful. Except for those traveling on one of the branch lines, people who needed a map, or prospective passengers who desperately wanted to know rail fares, this condensed schedule would be sufficient for most intercity travelers who did not plan to leave the Burlington’s service area.

Today’s timetable has the same Chicago-Twin Cities arrangement as yesterday’s. In short, the westbound Western Star preceded the combined Mainstreeter/Black Hawk out of Chicago by 10 minutes, while the eastbound Mainstreeter followed the combined Western Star/Black Hawk out of St. Paul by 15 minutes.

Click image to download a 21.4-MB PDF of this 36-page timetable.

This setup seemed to create a quandary for the Burlington. According to John Strauss’ Great Northern Pictorial Volume 4, the Western Star‘s dining and cafe cars went through to Chicago. But his Northern Pacific Pictorial Volume 5 says the Mainstreeter‘s dining car only went as far east as St. Paul, which meant Burlington had to supply a diner on the westbound train to serve breakfast. That diner had to get back to Chicago somehow. Did the eastbound train carry both Burlington and Great Northern diners? Continue reading →

For this timetable, the Mainstreeter was combined with the Black Hawk in both directions while the Western Star ran 30 minutes ahead of the two westbound and 10 minutes ahead eastbound. This means Burlington was running seven trains in each direction between Chicago and the Twin Cities.

Click image to download a 23.0-MB PDF of this 36-page timetable.

It makes sense that the Western Star might deserve its own schedule as it was a superior train to the Mainstreeter in every way and thus probably attracted more passengers. At least when it started, the Mainstreeter had streamlined coaches but was otherwise mostly a heavyweight (meaning older) train, while the Star was fully streamlined. Among other things, this meant the Western Star‘s lounges and diner were much brighter and cheerier than those on the Mainstreeter. Indeed, in 1953 the Western Star‘s cafe-lounge and diner were brighter and cheerier than those on the North Coast Limited. Continue reading →