This timetable is pretty similar to the one from May 1955. I count 16 named trains (if the Morning Zephyr and Afternoon Zephyr are counted as two different trains) and at least 16 unnamed trains.

Click image to download a 2.6-MB PDF of this timetable.

Counting the number of unnamed trains is difficult partly because Burlington sometimes used the same numbers for two different trains. The second #1, #3, and #7 is explained by the fact that one of each was on the Colorado & Southern/Fort Worth & Denver, which were operated as separate companies but included in the timetable. There was also a third #1, a mail train from St. Louis to Minneapolis that intersected with the first #1 ten hours apart at Burlington.

There were two train 15s, one of which went from St. Louis to Minneapolis and the other from Chicago to Omaha. They also crossed at Burlington but just ten minutes apart, which must have sometimes caused confusion.

There were two train #21s and two #23s, one set of which was the Twin Zephyrs and the other from Kansas City to Omaha. Two train 31s would not be mixed up as one was the Empire Builder and the other was a coach-only train between Alliance and Casper.

Finally, there were two #41s and #43s with little chance of a mix up, as one pair went from Kansas City to Alliance (with one going on to Billings) and the other from Hannibal to Burlington (with one starting in St. Louis). This is just looking at the odd-numbered trains; I didn’t count the number of duplicate even-numbered trains.

Finally, there was at least one train, #32 from Omaha to Burlington, that didn’t have an odd-numbered counterpart. Does that mean there were 16-1/2 unnamed trains? Or does a one-way train count as the 17th train?

We’ve already seen the May 1956 system timetable that corresponds to this condensed table. Looking at it, I found four motor cars (such as this one), 24 scheduled mixed trains, 26 unscheduled mixed trains that were listed with the note to “consult agent for details,” and two Colorado & Southern trains a day between Denver and Pueblo, which joined two Rio Grande and two Santa Fe trains on that route. Otherwise, all the trains in this condensed timetable seemed to also be in the system one.