Today we have one more look at the Twin Cities corridor before GN, NP, and CB&Q merged (which took place March 2 1970). It is about the same as the previous couple of timetables.
Click image to download an 782-KB PDF of this timetable.
That means the Empire Builder, North Coast Limited, and Afternoon Zephyr operated as one train westbound (or northbound as the schedule puts it), except Fridays and Saturdays when the Zephyr left Chicago 3-2/3 hours later. The westbound Black Hawk, Mainstreeter, and Western Star were also operated together, although “together” is a stretch since no more than one car from the Mainstreeter and none from the Western Star were transferred to the Black Hawk. Eastbound, the premiere trains were operated with the Morning Zephyr, the Mainstreeter with the Afternoon Zephyr, and the Western Star with the Black Hawk.
I’ve now posted almost every system timetable issued by the Burlington between December 1947 and October 1969 along with a few Twin Cities or condensed timetables to fill in the gaps as well as Burlington Northern’s April 1970 timetable. Here is a table showing the dates that various trains were operated or combined with one another in the Chicago-Twin Cities corridor.
Between 1961 and 1965, the Empire Builder, Afternoon Zephyr, and North Coast Limited were separate trains in the summers but combined (EB/AZ Wb, EB/NCL Eb) in the off-season. At the risk of repetition, I’ve shown the dates of each change. Also keep in mind that in the last few years, calling the Western Star and Mainstreeter “trains” between St. Paul and Chicago is a stretch since few and eventually no cars from the Mainstreeter and Star actually went to Chicago.
| Date | Changes in Chicago-St. Paul Corridor Operations |
|---|---|
| 1946 | CB&Q has 6 trains a day in this corridor: AZ, BH, EB, MZ, NCL, mail train |
| 2/7/1947 | Oriental Limited added as 7th separate train |
| 5/30/1948 | NCL combined with BH, reducing trains to 6 |
| 9/26/1948 | OL combined with BH, NCL made separate train again |
| 6/3/1951 | WS replaces OL, still combined with BH |
| 11/16/1952 | NP adds Mainstreeter (MS), MS combined with BH Eb, MS & WS run as own trains Wb for 8 trains a day Wb and 7 Eb |
| 4/26/1953 | MS combined with BH in both directions for 7 trains a day each way |
| 9/27/1953 | Eb WS/BH, Wb MS/BH, still 7 trains a day each way |
| 9/26/1954 | WS & MS combined with BH in both directions, now 6 trains a day each way |
| 10/26/1958 | Mail train cut back to Chicago-Savanna leaving 5 a day to Twin Cities leaving 5 a day each way |
| 10/30/1960 | Eb WS combined with AZ, Eb MS still with BH, both with BH Wb |
| 4/30/1961 | Wb EB combined with AZ; Eb EB combined with NCL; EB loses obs; 4 a day each way |
| 6/1/1961 | EB & NCL separate trains again for summer, EB gets obs back; 5 a day each way |
| 9/27/1961 | Wb EB combined with AZ; Eb EB combined with NCL |
| 6/1/1962 | EB & NCL separate trains again for summer, EB gets obs back |
| 9/30/1962 | EB combined again with AZ Wb and NCL Eb, permanently loses obs |
| 6/1/1963 | EB, AZ, & NCL separate trains again for summer, EB doesn't get obs back |
| 9/29/1963 | EB combined again with AZ Wb and NCL Eb |
| 6/1/1964 | EB, AZ, & NCL separate trains |
| 9/27/1964 | EB combined again with AZ Wb and NCL Eb |
| 6/1/1965 | EB, AZ, & NCL separate trains |
| 9/20/1965 | EB combined again with AZ Wb and NCL Eb |
| 6/1/1966 | EB, AZ, & NCL separate trains |
| 9/15/1966 | EB combined again with AZ Wb and NCL Eb |
| 10/30/1966 | EB & NCL combined in both directions, BH, MS, & WS combined Wb, MS/BH & WS/AZ Eb |
| 10/29/1967 | EB & NCL combined w/ AZ Wb, w/ MZ Eb; NCL loses obs; MS no longer has cars going through to Chicago in off-season; 3 trains a day each way |
| 6/9/1968 | Wb AZ separate from EB & NCL on Fridays & Saturdays only |
| 10/27/1968 | Eb WS & MS trade places, WS now with BH and MS now with AZ; WS no longer has cars going through to Chicago in off-season |
| 4/28/1970 | First BN timetable, no major changes from CB&Q October 1968 |
AZ=Afternoon Zephyr, BH=Black Hawk, EB=Empire Builder, Eb=eastbound, MS=Mainstreeter, MZ=Morning Zephyr, NCL=North Coast Limited, NP=Northern Pacific, OL=Oriental Limited, Wb=westbound, and WS=Western Star.