Northern Pacific introduced the Mainstreeter on November 16, 1952. Some web sites say it was the 15th, but I’m inclined to think the 16th is correct as that coincides with the beginning date of this timetable, which is the first Burlington timetable to include that train.

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

It is also the first Burlington timetable to list the Western Star as operating separately from the Black Hawk. In fact, both the Western Star and the Mainstreeter are separate from the Black Hawk in an eastbound direction, though the Mainstreeter is combined with Black Hawk westbound. That means Burlington has eight different eastbound trains and seven westbound, up from six in each direction earlier in 1952.

This is also the date the North Coast Limited was speeded up. It still took 1-1/2 hours longer to get from Chicago to Seattle than the Empire Builder, but that’s a huge improvement over the 13-1/2 hour disadvantage it had before. NP adjusted this schedule by moving its Chicago departure time from 11 pm to 11:30 am, allowing the train to maintain a morning arrival in Seattle and Portland.

From Burlington’s point of view, the rescheduled North Coast Limited filled in the gap of a mid- to late-morning departure from Chicago while it took away a late evening departure. The railroad may have split the Western Star from the Black Hawk since the expected increase in traffic on that train may have been too much for the size of trains it wanted to run.