Finally, Some New Schedules....

[ehbowen]

Rumors of my demise, while not groundless, are premature. I've finally got around to doing some more work on the web site, and I have three brand new schedules for your viewing pleasure:

The 1951 Super Chief

The March 1951 (Cotton Belt) Lone Star

and, the 1949-50 Florida Special

Enjoy!

 

[Swadian Hardcore]

Yay!

 

[greatcats]

I see that Flagstaff was not a stop for the Super Chief. Was this town considered not important at the time? It did stop at Seligman, a much smaller place, which is no longer a station stop.

 

[ehbowen]

Seligman was an operating stop for the 1951 Super Chief, not a passenger stop. I believe it was a division point for the Santa Fe, and that crews were changed there and possibly some vital supplies (like ice and water) replenished. If you wanted to visit the Grand Canyon or send your kid to Northern Arizona University (Flagstaff), Santa Fe would happily sell you a ticket on the Grand Canyon, the California Limited, or (with restrictions) the original Chief.

 

[greatcats]

Thanks for the informative reply.

 

[Swadian Hardcore]

What happened to the Navajo?

 

[ehbowen]

Santa Fe's Navajo was on the southern Transcon route (Amarillo/Belen) in May 1936 when the new Scout was introduced; shifted to the Raton Pass route along with the California Limited by September of 1938, and was gone from the time card by December of 1940. Sorry but I don't have the information to pin it down any more precisely than that.

 

[Swadian Hardcore]

What about the Scout? What happened to that one?

 

[ehbowen]

What about the Scout? What happened to that one?

Wikipedia says May 1948 but they're wrong; my December 1948 guide shows the train and if you look on the talk page some people report seeing it as late as 1950. Regardless, it was still (largely) a heavyweight train and once lightweight streamlined equipment filtered its way down to the secondary trains, its days were numbered. Basically the Grand Canyon picked up the slack for it as a secondary train once it (the GC) went to both a northern (Raton Pass) and southern (Belen Cutoff) section, while the 1954 San Francisco Chief picked up whatever first-class business there was on the Belen Cutoff route.

 

[Swadian Hardcore]

Did the Grand Canyon have streamlined equipment? Or the California Limited?

 

[ehbowen]

The Grand Canyon eventually picked up mostly streamlined equipment, albeit secondhand as premium trains were re-equipped. The California Limited, AFAIK, remained a heavyweight train to the end of its days, namely 1954 as it was pulled when the new, streamlined San Francisco Chief made its debut that year.

 

[Anderson]

I've wanted to ask...

I know there was passenger service to Virginia Beach at one point (I've seen photos of the trains and on some level I'm quite sad that the ex-NS line was picked for light rail service instead of being rehabbed for commuter service and/or Amtrak service to the oceanfront), but I have no idea how long ago this went away. Do you know where/when I might look?

 

[ehbowen]

I'm away from my timetables right now, but I just checked the Official Guide which Timetable World has on-line. It still shows Virginia Beach as being on an active line 17.1 miles from Norfolk, but for freight service only. In fact, the entire railroad (the original Norfolk Southern) was freight-only. That was August 1952, so you'd have to look before then.

 

[ehbowen]

And now I've had time to check but I'm no closer to an answer (re: Virginia Beach). Both the August 1944 and June 1947 timetables show a frequent service, but it is listed as "Rail-Bus Service". I'm not entirely sure if this means a coordinated rail and bus service a la the Santa Fe's Golden Gates (unlikely, since we're talking less than 18 miles), a bus which operated on the railroad as did Rio Grande Southern's "Galloping Goose" (again unlikely, as the timetable shows stops at bus terminals and hotels which would not likely be adjacent to a rail line), or, most likely, a standard highway motor bus which just happened to be operated by a railroad. I haven't done the digging, but I think it's likely you will have to go deep into the prewar depression years before you will find a true rail passenger service to Virginia Beach.

 

[railiner]

I believe Carolina Coach Company provide bus transfers. I am not sure if it was their regular schedules or a dedicated RR transfer without comparing the timetables...

 

[ehbowen]

I've been a busy boy....

New timetables since the last notice:

• The 1941 Morning Star, Cotton Belt service between St. Louis/Memphis and Dallas.
• The 1938 City of San Francisco...about time!
• The 1966 Grand Canyon, Santa Fe's red-headed stepchild between Chicago and Los Angeles.
• The 1971 Rio Grande Zephyr, remnant of the original California Zephyr.
  
• A major update to the 1971 City of Los Angeles page; it now includes all of the various sections which made it known as the "City of Everywhere."
  
• An update to the 1950 Sam Houston Zephyr page; it now includes the Twin Star Rocket service between Fort Worth and Houston as well as Burlington-Rock Islands local between Houston and Waxahachie.
• And, finally, a Missouri Pacific motor car local service which my grandmother used to ride, known informally as "The Chippy".

Enjoy!