Railroad Growth & Development in 1950

Posted on by October 2, 2022
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We’ve previously seen a 1958 edition of this booklet; today’s is from 1950. The Association of American Railroads apparently put out an updated version every year, or almost every year, between 1950 and 1960 or so.

Click image to download a 7.6-MB PDF of this 36-page booklet.

The text in the booklets remained about the same. The booklets also contained a series of maps showing the extent of railway lines by decade from 1830 to 1890 plus the year of (or the year before) the booklet. Continue reading →

Burlington U.S. Map in 1907

Posted on by October 2, 2022
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The great era of railroad construction was almost over when this map was published. The map shows the Burlington Route as being almost completely built out. The main additional construction was a line from Kirby (near Cody) through Wind River Canyon to Orin Junction, Wyoming, where it would meet the Colorado & Southern Railway, which the Burlington would buy in 1908.

Click image to download an 16.2-MB PDF of this brochure, which is from the David Rumsey map collection.

Other lines shown as planned or under construction are the Spokane, Portland & Seattle North Bank line from Pasco to Portland (the segment from Pasco to Spokane isn’t indicated); the Camas Prairie Railroad from Pasco, Washington into Idaho; and the Great Northern’s line from Great Falls to Laurel, Montana, where it would meet the Burlington’s lines from Denver and Kansas City. Continue reading →

Texas & Pacific 1903 Timetable

Posted on by October 2, 2022
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Texas & Pacific, the cover of this timetable asserts, was the “short line” from “New Orleans to all points in northern Texas, California, Colorado & the West.” That seems to be true in terms of miles: the Southern Pacific route from New Orleans to El Paso (according to this 1892 timetable) was more than 1,200 miles long, while the T&P route was 1,162.

Click image to download an 13.3-MB PDF of this timetable, which is from the David Rumsey map collection.

The T&P gave up this advantage by not running through trains from New Orleans to El Paso, instead requiring a change of trains, with a three-hour layover, in Fort Worth. The result was the T&P’s time from New Orleans to El Paso was an hour longer than Southern Pacific’s local train and five hours longer than the newly introduced Sunset Express. Plus, T&P passengers going west of El Paso would have to change to a Southern Pacific train there anyway. Continue reading →

St. Paul Road 1893 Timetable

Posted on by October 2, 2022
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Since 1885, the St. Paul Road had expanded in several states. It purchased the Milwaukee & Northern, giving it access to northern Wisconsin and Michigan’s upper peninsula. It built new branch lines in the Dakotas and Iowa. Most importantly, it extended its line from Ottumwa, Iowa to Kansas City and St. Joseph, Missouri.

Click image to download an 24.2-MB PDF of this timetable, which is from the David Rumsey map collection.

Unfortunately, its Chicago-Kansas City passenger trains weren’t very competitive considering its route was at least 60 miles longer than the Santa Fe’s. Its trains from Milwaukee to Kansas City were slightly more competitive.

The 1885 maps shows a planned line from Chamberlain, in eastern Dakota territory, to Rapid City and Deadwood. That line was still not built by 1893. The St. Paul Road would finally reach Rapid City in 1907, but by that time the Deadwood gold rush was over so Rapid City became the end of the line.

Like the 1885 timetable, this one comes with a helpful index of cities and towns. It also shows both east- and westbound trains.

Burlington 1893 Timetable

Posted on by October 2, 2022
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The Burlington Route made several expansions since the 1885 timetable presented here a month ago. Most importantly, it opened its own line from Chicago to the Twin Cities, ending its reliance on St. Paul Road tracks. In the West, it had new lines to Cheyenne, Sheridan, and the Black Hills.

Click image to download an 18.3-MB PDF of this timetable, which is from the David Rumsey map collection.

The map in today’s timetable shows that it planned to continue building north from Deadwood into Montana as well as a line to the town of Buffalo, Wyoming. Neither of these lines were built, although something called the Wyoming Railway built a short-lived line to Buffalo. Instead, the Burlington would extend its lines from Denver and Sheridan to Billings. Continue reading →

Southern Pacific 1892 Timetable

Posted on by October 2, 2022
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This is an update of the 1884 timetable shown here a month ago. At that time, I noted that the timetable was “peculiar” because it focused on connections with other railroads rather than displaying the Southern Pacific’s own timetables. The times of SP’s once-a-day, unnamed New Orleans-San Francisco train were shown but in a condensed format (only 16 intermediate stops) as part of the connections with eastern railroads.

Click image to download an 18.3-MB PDF of this brochure, which is from the David Rumsey map collection.

Today’s timetable rectifies this by using two panels to show the detailed timetable from New Orleans to San Francisco (though not the reverse), including roughly 300 intermediate stops. The timetable identifies the train as the “Sunset” Pacific Express, quotation marks in the original. The Sunset Limited, which made far fewer stops, would begin running in 1894.

A second train from New Orleans to San Antonio is also shown in the connecting-train schedules. These include connections with the Chesapeake & Ohio and Erie (which were also in the 1884 timetable) as well as the New York Central and Pennsylvania (which were not). The timetable also has several panels of steamship connections, but like the 1884 one doesn’t have a schedule for Southern Pacific’s own steamships between New Orleans and New York City, even though they are marked on the map.

C&NW 1892 Through Train Timetables

Posted on by April 29, 2024
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Unlike yesterday’s brochure, which was mostly text with only two panels of timetables, this one is mostly timetables with no supplementary text other than footnotes. One side has nine panels of timetables while the other has one timetable panel, one panel with condensed timetables, a list of agents, a map that fills four panels, and the two panel cover.

Click image to download a 7.0-MB PDF of this brochure, which is from the David Rumsey map collection.

All of the timetables are outbound from Chicago. These include trains to Omaha, the Twin Cities, the Dakotas, California, the Northwest, Michigan, the Black Hills, and Milwaukee. Continue reading →

Gulf Coast Sports & Winter Resorts

Posted on by October 2, 2022
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Biloxi, Mississippi; New Orleans; Mobile, Alabama; and Pensacola, Florida are familiar names among the Gulf Coast resort towns advertised in this brochure. But some are not so familiar, including De Funiak Springs, Florida; Evergreen, Alabama; Ocean Springs, Mississippi; and Harrogate, Tennessee.

Click image to download a 17.1-MB PDF of this brochure, which is from the David Rumsey map collection.

De Funiak (now spelled Defuniak) was named after a vice president of the Louisville & Nashville. It is home to a nearly circular, spring-fed lake that in 1890 was imagined to have some healing powers. Continue reading →

Boston & Maine 1888 Timetable

Posted on by October 2, 2022
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In 1879, Boston & Maine consisted of a line from Boston to Portland with one or two minor branch lines. By 1888, it had leased or acquired enough other railroads to become a New England powerhouse.

Click image to download a 12.0-MB PDF of this brochure, which is from the David Rumsey map collection.

First, it leased the Eastern Railroad, which had a competing line to Portland as well as lines to Conway, Saugus, Wakefield, Marblehead, and Rockport. Next, it leased the Worchester, Nashua & Portland, giving it a line from Portland to Worchester, Massachusetts. Then it leased the Boston & Lowell, giving it lines to central Massachusetts and northern New Hampshire. It also owned a large share of the Maine Central, which continued to operate as a separate but cooperative company. Continue reading →

Free Land in Central Dakota in 1888

Posted on by August 20, 2022
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The Black Hills gold rush was over by 1888, when Chicago & North Western issued this brochure about the Dakota territory (which would be made into states the following year). Instead of mentioning gold, the brochure focuses on the productivity of the land for growing wheat, oats, barley, rye and flax and the free government land that was still available in nine Dakota counties.

Click image to download a 13.2-MB PDF of this brochure, which is from the David Rumsey map collection.

The map on the back of the brochure shows that the C&NW had two lines into the middle of Dakota territory, one reaching Pierre, which would become the capital of South Dakota, and one reaching Gettysburg, a small town just south of what would become the North Dakota border. These lines went through several of the counties where free government land was still available.

The timetables in the brochure show two trains a day on the 781-mile trip from Chicago to Pierre. One left Chicago and 9 am and arrived in Pierre at 6 pm the following day for an average speed of 23-2/3 mph. The other was much slower, leaving at 9 pm but taking 44-1/2 hours for an average speed of 17-1/2 mph. Landseekers headed to Gettysburg could take the 9 am train out of Chicago, change trains in Tracy, Minnesota, and arrive at 7:45 pm, for an average speed over the 763-mile trip of 22 mph.

This brochure and map were printed by Rand McNally. It may be my imagination, but it appears to be a bit more hastily put together than other Rand McNally railroad maps. The biggest problem is that the map misspelled the Sisseton-Wahpeton Indian Reservation as Sisseton-Warpeton. (It is now known as the Lake Traverse Indian Reservation.)