Baltimore & Ohio September 1951 Timetable

Posted on by June 16, 2024
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B&O operated a lot of passenger trains in the 1950s, but this timetable wanted travelers to know that eight of them were particularly “fine feature trains.” These were the New York-Chicago Capitol Limited, Washington-Chicago Columbian, New York-St. Louis National Limited, New York-St. Louis Diplomat, Baltimore-Detroit Ambassador, New York-Chicago Shenandoah, Cincinnati-Detroit Cincinnatian, and the New York-Washington Royal Blue.

Click image to download a 25.0-MB PDF of this 44-page timetable.

In 1951, all of these trains were Diesel-powered except the Cincinnatian. Five were streamliners but the Ambassador, Diplomat, and Shenandoah still carried some unstreamlined, heavyweight cars. For example, the Shenandoah included a 10 section, 2 compartment, one drawing room car, a configuration only found in heavyweight cars. Continue reading →

Baltimore & Ohio April 1951 Timetable

Posted on by June 16, 2024
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While New York Central and Pennsylvania railroads competed in sending through Pullmans in the New York-Los Angeles market, B&O alone had cars going from Washington to Los Angeles and other cities. B&O’s National Limited had a through car going on the Chief to Los Angeles. Moreover, that car continued on one of the San Diegans, possibly making it the only through car between the east coast and San Diego.

Click image to download a 26.0-MB PDF of this 44-page timetable.

B&O’s National Limited also had a through car going from Washington to Dallas and Fort Worth on Missouri Pacific’s Texas Eagle and another through car going to Dallas and San Antonio on the Frisco/MKT Texas Special. Another B&O train from Detroit to Cincinnati carried a through car that went over the L&N, CofG, and ACL to St. Petersburg, Florida. The least glamorous B&O through car went from Cincinnati to Louisville and continued to Memphis via the Illinois Central.

Pennsylvania August 1958 Timetable

Posted on by June 16, 2024
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Pennsylvania timetables lost another four pages in 1958. The keystone-emphasizing (back) cover shown below was a throwback to the 1920s, when printing costs or techniques didn’t allow for four-color pictures or other elaborate features.

Click image to download a 25.1-MB PDF of this 48-page timetable.

Also in 1958 the New York Central had downgraded the 20th Century Limited by including — gasp! — coaches on the train all the way between New York and Chicago. This allowed PRR to advertise on the front cover of this timetable that the Broadway Limited was “the finest way to go between New York [and] Chicago.” The ad also notes that PRR no longer charged an extra fare to ride the Broadway.

Pennsylvania September 1957 Timetable

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In 1955, Pennsylvania’s timetables shrank from 56 to 52 pages, which is the size of today’s timetable. It’s difficult to see what’s missing, as the tables have been reorganized and renumbered. A few branchline trains that were running in 1954 may have stopped in 1955.

Click image to download a 26.1-MB PDF of this 52-page timetable.

Although Grif Teller did calendars for PRR in 1957 and 1958, the railroad stopped using his paintings on its timetable covers after 1956. This probably an economy decision: along with Missouri Pacific, PRR was one of the only railroads to use four-color illustrations on its timetables. Indeed, to save money, the Grif Teller painting used on the March 1956 timetable was printed in black-and-white. Continue reading →

Pennsylvania Railroad December 1952 Timetable

Posted on by June 16, 2024
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New York is America’s largest city and many residents probably thought of the New York Central as “their” railroad as opposed to that other railroad run by people from Philadelphia. Yet Pennsylvania was the larger, more profitable railroad, and its postwar timetables were 56 pages long, as opposed to the Central’s 52. In addition to running interline trains to California and Texas, PRR also operated the Chicago-Louisville segment of the Southland and Southward to Florida.

Click image to download a 28.8-MB PDF of this 56-page timetable.

This timetable lists seven trains a day between New York and Chicago, all of which left their origins between noon and midnight. This counts the all-Pullman General and all-coach Trail Blazer as one train even though they are shown separately but on identical schedules, as clearly they were operated together the same way as the Pacemaker and Advance Commodore. Continue reading →

New York Central December 1954 Timetable

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At the end of 1954, New York Central’s timetable still filled 52 pages, the same as in 1946. But that doesn’t mean it was running as many trains as it did right after the war.

Click image to download a 28.2-MB PDF of this 52-page timetable.

In 1946, New York Central’s timetable included 71 different tables showing the schedules for at least 136 different trains. By December 1954, the number of tables had declined to 53 listing about 114 different trains. Most of the missing trains were on branches such as Chicago-Harrisburg, Illinois, Pittsburgh-Youngstown, and Buffalo-Massena. However, a few overnight trains on major routes such as the New York-Chicago Mohawk and Water Level Limited had also disappeared.

New York Central April 1954 Timetable

Posted on by June 16, 2024
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With this timetable, New York Central reduced the 20th Century Limited‘s time from Chicago to New York to 15-1/2 hours, the fastest ever. The New York-to-Chicago time was 15-3/4 hours. The Chicago departure was moved from 3:30 to 4:00 pm, allowing the railroad to advertise that the train “leaves after business from Chicago” because 4:00 pm Standard time was 5:00 pm Daylight time, which was the time everyone but the railroads used. The railroad’s refusal to use Daylight time in its timetables must have confused many passengers, especially when in this case the Central used Daylight time in its advertising when it was convenient to do so.

Click image to download a 28.3-MB PDF of this 52-page timetable.

However, a phrase hidden in this ad hints at declining passenger patronage: “Step aboard” the 20th Century Limited, invites the ad, “at LaSalle Street Station any afternoon Sunday through Friday inclusive.” Saturday was excluded as with this timetable the Century became a six-day-a-week train. Elsewhere, the timetable notes that the train didn’t operate on major holidays such as Memorial Day, Independence Day, and Labor Day. When the Century did operate, the Commodore Vanderbilt ran 30 minutes before the Century, but on Saturdays and holidays the Vanderbilt operated on the Century‘s schedule. Continue reading →

New York Central June 1953 Timetable

Posted on by June 16, 2024
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In focusing on the coast-to-coast through-Pullman service over the last few days, I’ve neglected to mention the New York-Texas service that has generally been advertised on the third page of the timetables (though the page is numbered 1). New York Central’s Southwest Limited to St. Louis connected with Missouri Pacific and Frisco trains to various points in Texas.

Click image to download a 31.2-MB PDF of this 52-page timetable.

In Central’s April 1948 timetable, through cars on the Southwest Limited continued on Frisco’s Texas Special bound for Oklahoma City, Dallas, Fort Worth, and San Antonio. Two more cars went to Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston on Missouri Pacific’s Sunshine Special. Continue reading →

New York Central December 1951 Timetable

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Despite having potentially the fastest connections, Rock Island/Southern Pacific dropped out of the coast-to-coast through-car service by the end of 1951. In the Los Angeles market, that left the Santa Fe with the 20th Century/Chief connection and Union Pacific with New York Central trains connecting with the Los Angeles Limited.

Click image to download a 31.4-MB PDF of this 52-page timetable.

New York Central and Pennsylvania’s fastest trains could go from New York to Chicago in 15-1/2 hours. Santa Fe and Union Pacific’s fastest trains could go from Chicago to Los Angeles in 39-3/4 hours. Adding the two together (as the Pennsylvania did when it first proposed a coast-to-coast train in 1937) and it seems reasonable that coast-to-coast service could take under 57 hours — but not if the railroads used slower trains such as the Chief or Los Angeles Limited. Continue reading →

New York Central April 1951 Timetable

Posted on by June 16, 2024
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Page 2 of this and the other post-war New York Central timetables shown here recently advertise the coast-to-coast sleeping cars offered by the Central and connecting railroads. I’ve previously told the story of these cars, but the trains used for some of these through cars shifted over time.

Click image to download a 31.5-MB PDF of this 52-page timetable.

There were three routes from Chicago to Los Angeles. The premiere connection may have been between the 20th Century Limited and the Chief. This delivered the westbound through car to Los Angeles in 65-1/2 hours and the eastbound car to New York in just 65 hours, both faster than the Chicago-Los Angeles trains from the mid-1920s. Continue reading →