America’s Largest Single-Unit Dining Cars

Posted on by February 13, 2024
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Although the fully streamlined Olympian Hiawatha would not be introduced until 1947, the Milwaukee Road introduced lightweight, streamlined cars to the Olympian eleven years earlier. These included some head-end cars, coaches, and the diners that are the subject of this brochure. Sleeping cars and the observation-lounge cars remained heavyweights.

Click image to download a 2.9-MB PDF of this brochure.

The new cars were built by Milwaukee Road’s own shops, necessitated by the fact that the company had once again gone bankrupt in 1935. Based on the early Hiawatha cars, the cars were innovative in many ways, particularly in their wheel sets designed by Milwaukee Road engineer Karl F. Nystrom. Someone who rode the Hiawathas once noted that the Milwaukee had the worst tracks in the Chicago-Minneapolis corridor, but its cars’ suspension systems were so good that it offered the most comfortable ride. As this brochure says, “roller bearings, rubber-mounted trucks, and careful insulation” made the cars “quiet and smooth riding.” Continue reading →

The New Olympian

Posted on by April 1, 2024
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This gorgeous booklet introduced an all-new Olympian in 1927. In March of that year, the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific (nicknamed the Milwaukee Road), had been organized to take over the bankrupt Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul (nicknamed the St. Paul railroad). The company didn’t formally emerge from bankruptcy until January, 1928, hence this booklet is still marked “Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul.”


Click image to download a 10.8-MB PDF of this 32-page booklet. Click here to download a 1.3-MB JPG of the cover. Click here to download a 34.1-MB uncompressed PDF of the booklet.

As if in preparation (but more likely a coincidence), the railroad had ordered all-new passenger equipment for the train from Pullman and began running it in August 1927. To stay technologically ahead of its competitors, the new Olympian was the first transcontinental train equipped with roller bearings. This was three years before Timken introduced the first roller-bearing steam locomotive. Continue reading →

Across the Continent in 1911

Posted on by February 13, 2024
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In conjunction with the introduction of the Olympian and Columbian in 1911, the Chicago, Milwaukee and Puget Sound Railway issued this gorgeous booklet filled with both sepia-toned and beautifully hand-colored pictures of a trip on the new rail line. The booklet was written by Isabelle Carpenter Kendall, and therein lies a tale.

Click image to download a 19.5-MB PDF of this 68-page booklet.

When Isabelle Kendall was born in about 1864, women weren’t expected to work after they got married. Her father was the St. Paul Railway’s general passenger agent, and she aspired to a career with the railroad, but he didn’t want to hire her, perhaps because he figured she would quit when she got married. So instead she went to work as a stenographer in one of the railroad’s freight offices in 1884. Continue reading →

Rock Island 1977 & 1978 Commuter Timetables

Posted on by February 13, 2024
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As noted yesterday, for most of the 1970s Rock Island still ran Chicago-Peoria and Chicago-Rock Island intercity trains. But it also ran commuter trains between Chicago and Joliet. Like most Chicago commuter railroads, Rock Island had adopted bi-level commuter cars, sometimes called gallery cars, in which the upper level seats looked down upon the center aisle of the lower level, thus allowing the conductor to collect tickets on both levels without climbing the stairs.

Click image to download an 1.9-MB PDF of this 2-page timetable.

Starting in 1974, these trains were subsidized by the Chicago Regional Transportation Authority (RTA) but were still operated by the Rock Island. RTA took over the commuter trains and ran them itself, under the name Metra, in 1983. Continue reading →

Rock Island 1967 & 1970 Timetables

Posted on by February 13, 2024
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Shockingly, by 1967 Rock Island’s timetable had shrunk to a four-panel brochure, each panel about 4″x9″, thus making it about the same size as the 1964 condensed timetable. This was probably the last timetable listing the Golden State, which would make its last run in April, 1968. Despite declining ridership, Rock Island-Southern Pacific still charged an extra fare for that train, which this timetable calls a “special service charge.”

Click image to download an 1.2-MB PDF of this 4-page timetable.

Trains 5 & 6, once called the Des Moines Rocket, had been cut back to Rock Island. Yesterday’s timetable still had two trains a day between Chicago and Omaha, 7 & 8, the Corn Husker, and 9 & 10, the Corn Belt Rocket. This timetable cut that back to one unnamed train a day each way, but perhaps to share the credit the trains are numbered 7 & 10. Continue reading →

Rock Island October 1966 Timetable

Posted on by February 13, 2024
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In 1965, Rock Island drastically changed the format of its timetables. Instead of the usual 8″x9″, the pages of the new timetables were 4″x9″. With 12 pages, they had the same amount of space as six pages of the older style. I’ve seen fall 1964 timetables in the old style and spring 1965 timetables in the new style so I’m confident the change was made then.

Click image to download an 3.4-MB PDF of this 12-page timetable.

Among the changes from yesterday’s 1964 timetable, trains 21 & 22, once called the Cherokee, continued to serve between Memphis and Tucumcari but carried nothing but chair cars. Actually, that may have been true in yesterday’s condensed timetable, but it didn’t include an equipment listing. Continue reading →

Rock Island October 1964 Condensed Timetable

Posted on by February 13, 2024
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Even Rock Island’s condensed timetables were shrinking in the mid-1960s. Where the 1962 condensed timetable shown here a couple of days ago consisted of three 4″ wide panels (the equivalent, counting both sides, of 3 pages of a regular timetable), this one just has two such panels (equal to 2 pages of a standard timetable).

Click image to download an 1.1-MB PDF of this 4-page timetable.

Not surprisingly, there were several changes since the timetable presented yesterday. The Choctaw Rockette, an RDC between Memphis and Amarillo, was off the timetable. Trains #39 & 40, once called the Imperial, now only went as far east as Kansas City, where Chicago passengers had to transfer to trains #15 & 16, once called the Kansas City Rocket, and then change trains again in Des Moines to #5 & 6, still called the Des Moines Rocket.

Rock Island April 1963 Timetable

Posted on by February 13, 2024
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This 20-page timetable not only has a two-page centerfold map, it has two full-page ads. It fit the ads in by cutting the list of ticket agents from two pages to one and cutting the list of rail fares from three pages to two. It also cut the schedules for the Golden State route from two pages to one, making room for a page showing connections with eastern train at Chicago.

Click image to download an 12.4-MB PDF of this 20-page timetable.

As I noted yesterday, the mixed trains to Sioux Falls are absent from this timetable. Also gone was the Kansas City Rocket. There were still unnamed trains #15 & 16 between Minneapolis and Kansas City, which connected with a train to/from Wichita, but no longer connected with trains to/from Fort Worth. Continue reading →

Rock Island April 1962 Condensed Timetable

Posted on by February 13, 2024
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Here’s another condensed timetable that, like the one from 1958, manages to compress four of the 20 pages of the standard timetable into just two pages, and leaves most everything else out. This one removes some white space from the 1958 edition to squeeze in a schedule of trains from Minneapolis to Los Angeles. Rock Island offered through cars from Minneapolis to L.A. that transferred between the Twin Star Rocket and Golden State, but didn’t bother to include the schedule in 1958.

Click image to download an 1.8-MB PDF of this 2-page timetable.

Missing from both the 1958 and 1962 condensed timetables was Rock Island’s passenger service to Sioux Falls, South Dakota. This consisted of a mixed train from Cedar Rapids Yard to Estherville, Iowa, connecting with another mixed train from Estherville to Sioux Falls. Since the latter train went through a corner of Minnesota, Rock Island would have needed permission from three different states to discontinue it, so kept it running with a minimum of service. Continue reading →

Rock Island October 1961 Timetable

Posted on by February 13, 2024
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A number of changes were made in the 18 months between yesterday’s timetable and today’s. The most obvious is that the one-page map on page 5, which is where it was located since the timetables were cut to 20 pages in 1957, was once again turned into a two-page centerfold map. This was accomplished by eliminating a few small ads and combining some of the timetables to one fewer page.

Click image to download an 12.3-MB PDF of this 20-page timetable.

At least one train disappeared. Trains #1 & 2, the unnamed trains between Chicago and Des Moines, have disappeared from this timetable. Meanwhile, train 2’s schedule, which arrived in Chicago at an inconvenient 4:30 am, has been taken by the Des Moines Rocket, which previously was a daylight train. I can’t imagine that Des Moines passengers appreciated that. Continue reading →