• NYC Passenger Service: St. Louis-Cincinnati 1944

  • Discussion relating to the NYC and subsidiaries, up to 1968. Visit the NYCS Historical Society for more information.
Discussion relating to the NYC and subsidiaries, up to 1968. Visit the NYCS Historical Society for more information.

Moderator: Otto Vondrak

  by coalmine
 
Something I was going to post on the NYC forum two incarnations ago; never got to it until now.

St. Louis and Cincinnati

Train 446-410 was an overnight run from St. Louis to Cincinnati. It departed St. Louis at 1132 pm, Indianapolis at 420 am. as train 410 and arrived in Cincinnati at 755 am. Train 446 was the “Cleveland-Cincinnati Night Special.” It carried a 14 section St. Louis-Indianapolis sleeper, a 10 section/2 bedroom/1 compartment car for Cincinnati and a 10 section St. Louis-Cleveland Pullman. There was a diner and coaches from St. Louis to Cincinnati and St. Louis to Cleveland. Train 434-410, was another overnight run. It departed St. Louis at 930 pm and ran with 410 from Indianapolis to Cincinnati.

NYC 418-408 left St. Louis at 12 noon Indianapolis at 600 pm, and arrived in Cincinnati at 920 pm. 418 was the “Cleveland Express.” It carried an 8 section-drawing room-2 compartment car from St. Louis to Washington, DC. This car ran in train 408 from Indianapolis and was handed to the C&O’s train 4 at Cincinnati. It also carried a diner and coaches from St. Louis to Cincinnati and St. Louis to Cleveland. Train 408, the “Queen City Special,” carried a Chicago-Phoebus (Ft. Monroe) 12 section/drawing room Pullman, which went east from Cincinnati on C&O train 46-148. It also carried a diner.

Train 12-416 departed St. Louis at 925am Indianapolis at 215 pm, and had a 540 pm arrival at Cincinnati. Train 12 was the “Southwestern Limited.” It had a St. Louis - New York section, and another section that carried a St. Louis - Phoebus car (10 section/drawing room/compartment car) which it handed to C&O train 42 at Cincinnati. It had a diner and coaches from St. Louis to Cleveland and St. Louis to Cincinnati.

Similar service operated from Cincinnati to St. Louis.

Train 415-23 departed Cincinnati at 915 am. Indianapolis at 1040 am, and arrived in St. Louis at 432 pm. Train 23 was the “Missourian” It handled a 10 section/ drawing room/compartment Pullman from Phoebus to St. Louis. This came from C&O train 41 at Cincinnati and NYC 415 at Indianapolis. It carried a diner and coached between Cincinnati and Cleveland and Cincinnati and St. Louis.

Train 405-407 was the was the “Sycamore” and the “Cleveland-St. Louis Special.” 405 carried a diner and coach from Cincinnati to Chicago. Train 407 carried an 8 section/5 double bedroom New York-St. Louis Pullman This car traveled in train 59, the “Iroquois,” from New York to Cleveland where it was handed off to train 407. 407 had a diner and coaches from Cleveland to St. Louis. It also picked up a Detroit-St. Louis coach from train 303, the “Ponce de Leon,” at Bellfontaine. Train 405-407 departed Cincinnati at 330 pm, Indianapolis at 540 pm and reached St. Louis at 1110 pm.

Train 443-431 was an overnight run from Cincinnati to St. Louis. It left the Queen City at 1010pm, Indianapolis at 1230 am and arrived in St. Louis at 710 am. 443 was the “Chicago Night Express,” and 431 was the “St. Louis Special.” 443 operated between Cincinnati and Indianapolis every day except Monday when it ran between Indianapolis and Chicago. It carried an 8 section/drawing room/ 2 compartment Pullman from Cincinnati to St. Louis and except on Sunday a 10 section/2 drawing room Pullman from Cincinnati to Chicago. Coach service was available from Cincinnati to Chicago (except on Sunday) and every day between Cincinnati and Indianapolis. 431 handled a Cleveland-St. Louis car (10 section) and (except on Saturday) an 8 section/drawing room/2 compartment sleeper from Cincinnati to St. Louis. A 12 section/drawing room car from Indianapolis to St. Louis via the PRR was also listed in the consist. This car departed Indianapolis at 1120 pm and arrived in St. Louis at 545 am.

437-427 rounded out the schedule. 437 was the “Royal Palm,” and 427 was the “Gateway.” The “Gateway” had two Buffalo-St. Louis cars which it received from train 83 at Cleveland; one was a 6 double bedroom buffet, and the other was a 12 section drawing room car. There was also a 14 section Cleveland-St. Louis sleeper, and a 10 section 2 double bedroom compartment car from Cincinnati to St. Louis which joined the consist at Indianapolis.

work safe

  by CarterB
 
In the 'glory days' there must have been a tremendous amount of 'set out' sleepers in Indianapolis. I wonder what the 'high point' in number of set-outs was?
  by lbagg91833
 
Interestingly the CCC&STL RWY advertised thru service to locations in the SOUTH, and various other points in 1895, and designated the SLEEPERS CHANGE points. Away from my library enroute to the NYCSHS meeting, but will post data on return. LARRY BAGGERLY

  by Alloy
 
Thanks, that's interesting stuff, coalmine. I don't remember the figures, but 1944 had to be the "high tide" of passenger service, since anything associated with automobiles was being rationed during the war. There were also troop trains--I don't know whether they were counted as part of overall revenue service, or tallied separately.
Alloy
  by coalmine
 
In reply to Alloy's post.

ICC reports from the period show 1943-44 to be the high point. NYC handled war freight east and west (lots of the eastbound for Overlord). They also handled hordes of east and westbound passenger traffic as we know.

I may be wrong here and will defer to others, but Mains (troop trains) were not, IIRC, counted in passenger totals. Even so, ton miles/train miles were MOST impressive. If folks are interested, I can provide additional data so you can get a feel as to what was happening. BTW, it's interesting to see the amount of diesel power that was already on the property.

BTW, similar traffic picture applied to the "road which can't be mentioned here" (LOL), and to the Nickel Plate.

work safe