Boston to Chicago 1886

My Grandfather immigrated from Norway to the US in 1886 and arrived at the port of Boston. He was heading for Minnesota. In looking at the maps in the "Atlas of North American Railroads," it looks like the most logical line for him to take would have been the New York Central as far as Chicago. And then connect with the Burlington to Minneapolis. Does that sound reasonable?

My second question has to do with the route. The map indicates two possible routes - one via Clevealand and Toledo, and one through Ontario and Detroit. Which would have been the logical route in 1886?

I am sorry to say that I never had the opportunity to ride the New York Central - I am from ot west in Oregon - but my brother had a Lionel 027 gage electric train set powered by a Hudson 4-6-4 locomtive that we enjoyed very much when we were kids. It would have been a thrill to have seen the real locomotive in action!

gopher56

HI
This information is from a reprint of the 1893 Official Railway Guide in June 1893 , OK here is your answer .
He would of left Boston, Mass on the Boston & Albany RR on train number 15, The Boston to Chicago Special at 10:30 AM the train consisted of a Buffet, Smoking &Sleeping cars, & Library . Boston to Chicago via Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railway . The train would connect to Train # 17 The South Western Limited at Albany, New York , this train # 17 for Indianapolis and St. Louis , Dining cars added to train Boston to Utica , and Toledo to Chicago .

The train would arrive Chicago the following day at 2:30 pm . Pat

I doubt the gopher's grandfather had very choice accomodations out of Boston. The Boston & Albany piers were the primary docking location for Trans Atlantic steamers in Boston and immigrants were loaded onto trains right at the dock. However, he probably rode in an immigrant coach which was a more lowly accomodation than a regular coach. If the immigrant party was large enough, a special train was probably operated. No matter what a person's nationality, the major immigrant shipping lines were English, Cunard and White Star and German, Hamburg-America and North German Lloyd. Despite romantic notions in some movies, immigrants were relegated to steerage, lots of single men bunked like in basic training, some single women off somewhere else, and families elsewhere. Up until White Star improved facilities in the early 1870s, immigrants brought there own bedding, cooking utensils, stoves, etc. White Star provided straw mattresses, burned upon arrival on our shores, and real kitchen and dining areas. So, most of the type of folks making their way to our shores 125 years ago did not find their way into the interior of the new land in Pullman (or Wagner Palace) or coach on their first train ride here.,,,,unless they happened to be a member of a royal family going into exile.

I was able to check the February 1886 Official Guide, and in line with edbear's post above, the New York Central & Hudson River showed a "South Shore Emigrant Train" leaving New York at 8.25 pm daily except Sun., and Albany at 4.40 am. Connection from Boston could be made by leaving at 9.00 am and changing at Springfield, arriving at 11.41 am and leaving at 3.05 pm (although emigrant coaches might have gone through), arriving in Albany at 7.00 pm to wait there until 4.40 for the emigrant train, which arrived in Buffalo at 6.15 pm Eastern Time. The Lake Shore & Michigan Southern schedule doesn't mention emigrant accommodation, but there was a train leaving at 11.55 pm Central Time, which although grandly titled "Special Chicago Express" stopped practically everywhere, operating via Sandusky and the Air Line (it skipped Colehour but made South Chicago, Grand Crossing, and Englewood), arriving in Chicago at 8.00 pm the next evening.

The Burlington did not begin through service from Chicago to Minneapolis until Oct. 24, 1886, so chances are the grandfather used either the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul via Milwaukee, Portage, LaCrosse, and Winona, or the Chicago & North Western via Madison, Elroy, and Eau Claire. Each had two trains daily; the slower one on the St. Paul left Chicago at 11.30 am and arrived in Minneapolis at 7.15 am the next morning, and the slower one on the C&NW left Chicago at 11.30 am and arrived in Minneapolis also at 7.15 am the next morning. It's probably a tossup which he would have used, and might depend on the through ticket that was provided in Boston. However, as edbear pointed out above, it would have been pretty grim.

Thanks, Pat, edbear, and ExCon90. Your responses were very helpful. Yes, I am sure that my grandfather’s trip from Norway to Minnesota was not a picnic. But being a cotter’s third-born son, his expectations would also have been pretty grim had he remained in Norway. This was well before the discovery of hydroelectric power and the North Sea oil transformed Norway into the prosperous country it is today.

From what you have posted, I think I can almost put together an hour-by-hour schedule of his most likely route. But there are a couple of points that still puzzle me.

You said the Official Guide had the train from Boston “…arriving in Albany at 7.00 pm to wait there until 4.40 for the emigrant train, which arrived in Buffalo at 6.15 pm Eastern Time.” Does that mean he would have waited at Albany from 7:00 pm until 4:40 am the next day to catch the emigrant train from New York, which then arrived in Buffalo at 6:15 pm? In other words, would he have spent the night in Albany?

I assume being on “south shore” trains, the leg from Buffalo to Chicago must have gone via Cleveland and Toledo.

Regarding the leg from Chicago to Minneapolis, it appears that both the Milwaukee and CNW trains had exactly the same schedule – 11:30 am to 7:15 am the next day. Is that correct?

Arriving in Chicago at 8:00 pm and leaving at 11:30 the next morning means another overnight stay. I assume then that, probably not having funds for hotel accommodations, he would have spent the night at the train stations in Albany and Chicago. Would that have been possible?

I appreciated edbear’s comments on the emigrant trains, which really helps put the picture of his journey together.

Gopher56

Gopher,

Yes, he would have spent the night in Albany; however, it occurred to me after posting that the Boston & Albany might have operated an emigrant train from Boston to Albany timed to connect with the NYC&HR and avoid an overnight stay. It wouldn't necessarily have been shown in a public timetable; even the NYC&HR didn't show theirs in a train column -- they crammed in a narrative statement sideways alongside the timetable. They also showed a "North Shore Emigrant Train" at around the same time which operated from New York to Suspension Bridge, presumably for a connection through Canada.

Both trains arrived in Minneapolis at 7.15, but one of the departure times may be a typo. I won't be able to check that Guide again until next Wednesday.

At that time in history major stations sometimes set aside an area of the station for emigrants to "crash" while awaiting a connection. They almost certainly did not mix with ordinary passengers.

Gopher, I rechecked the Guide, and both railroads actually do show departing at 11.30 am and arriving at 7.15 am. They used different stations in both Chicago and Minneapolis, and may have been keeping a competitive eye on each other's schedules. Also, on the other question, there is a historical exhibit in the former Reading Terminal headhouse in Philadelphia, now part of the Convention Center, and in the exhibit are photocopies of two memos from August 1894 (the terminal opened in 1893); one from the Claim Agent to the 1st Vice President complaining that emigrants were mingling with first-class passengers and constituted a nuisance; the second memo, dated two days later, from the Superintendent, Reading Terminal, advised that a room had been identified "near the gentlemen's closets" which could be fitted up with wooden benches for the use of emigrants to keep them segregated from other passengers. I think that was a typical practice of the time.