Nostalgia & History > B&O Freight schedule diagram 1965, B&O/C&O schedule 1971

I opened up a 1971 B&O/C&O freight schedule book and first found this fascinating item folder up in the inside cover. It is a diagram of all B&O symbol freights from April 9th, 1965. Seeing everything in a visual diagram is fascinating, and makes me wish there was something similar today. If there was, for CSX, the creator would have a full time job constantly updating it. In hopes that it might be readable I posted two closer views, one of Chicago/St. Louis - Cumberland, the other of Cumberland to Philly/NYC area. 

Edit: Here is a link to a high-res version.

https://i.imgur.com/wmdriIO.jpg



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 01/17/19 17:41 by inCHI.

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Next, the B&O and C&O freight schedules from 1971.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/16/19 19:11 by inCHI.

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And a quick look inside, showing all the trains that are listed. It is so strange to see every freight train has a name. Really makes it easy to know where they are going and in some cases what they haul!

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Great info.

Like the "via CRI&P" notation on some of the trains in the Chicsgo Terminal indicating they went the
passenger route.

Also interesting to note that in the stone age railroaders could comprehend a time zone change at Garrett
but the computer age can't accept it.

That Western image is hard to read at the sizes I can do on here so here is a closer crop of the Chicago trains.

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Am I reading that right? About 7 trains each way to Jersey City???

inCHI Wrote:
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> That Western image is hard to read at the sizes I
> can do on here so here is a closer crop of the
> Chicago trains.

Thank you

Looks like a railroad scheduled precisely.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/17/19 04:18 by Englewood.

Great source of information. I saw a lot of these trains, but didn't always know who was what in the pre scanner days.

Bill Rettberg
Bel Air, MD

CPR_4000 Wrote:
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> Am I reading that right? About 7 trains each way
> to Jersey City???

A slighly closer look. The Philly Sub was double track... but I think I heard it got CTC and single track in the early 60's?

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Thanks for this great post!  It's a shame you can't post at full res.
-Ted

Took me a few looks to figure out that dashed lines are eastbound trains and solid lines 
are westbound trains.  Seeing it in the large scan helped

I'll update a full res file somewhere and include a link, but I will have to wait until tonight.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/17/19 14:22 by inCHI.

Englewood Wrote:
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> Looks like a railroad scheduled precisely.

And the business world credits EHH with creating 'precision scheduled railroading'...

inCHI Wrote:
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> A slighly closer look. The Philly Sub was double
> track... but I think I heard it got CTC and single
> track in the early 60's?

...and the Chicago Subdivn. The project was supposed to be much more extensive, but it turned out that B&O, unlike many other railroads, discovered that the CTC salesmen lied when describing running more trains on less track and did something about it. It was a disaster. I was told by some who watched the debacle in action that the folks in management who convinced the folks in higher management that it was a good idea were jettisoned and the project stopped in its tracks (so to speak), which is why B&O still had a lot of towers even into recent times.

TAW

Englewood Wrote:
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>
> Looks like a railroad scheduled precisely.

Yeah, kind of like http://www.gaugemaster.com/media/wysiwyg/articles/guides/NGCH-2016.pdf

And yes, the trains (at least in my experience between Willard and Chicago) ran on those times. When I stuck out a lineup at the end of 2d trick, the last trains I listed, for late the next morning, were 4-5 crew changes away. Unless something went awry during the night, I could hit them to within an hour at Pine Jct. The big deviation was in merchandise traffic. Trains fit the railroad. When cars didn't fit the trains, there were more trains. Chicagoans, Westerners, and 97s often ran sections.

TAW

inCHI Wrote:
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> I opened up a 1971 B&O/C&O freight schedule book
> and first found this fascinating item folder up in
> the inside cover.

Thanks for the memories. The schedule book is the edition that I worked with. The diagram is from the previous edition, but the 1971 diagram was similar. I used it regularly when assigning power - engines due maintenance somewhere; what combination of trains would get them home just in time, etc. The control center didn't micromanage. The power bureau gave the Chiefs the what needs to be where when info. The Chiefs assigned power appropriately and told the power bureau what they did. The next shift at the power bureau then passed the word to the next shift of Chiefs, etc. I also used it on really light nights when consolidating trains was a reasonable thing to do. Once again, the control center didn't micromanage (until just before I left in 1972). The Chiefs would line up moves that worked for them. I talked regularly with the Akron Chief and on occasion with Cumberland and Baltimore. There was no computer. It was all done on paper, including giant power sheets in the power bureau. Moves were worked out by phone and backed up with a wire to all concerned. There was no such thing as building some sort of bizarre train that was convenient for you and dumping it on someone else. Just looking through the diagram brought back a lot of fine memories. Thanks for making the effort to copy and post.

TAW

rantoul Wrote:
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> For Chicago terminal, except for the trains
> labeled 'via CRIP', were these trains via B&OCT
> or was there another way for Robey Yard to reach
> Barr Yard?

Anything not shown via CRIP went via B&OCT / Barr. By 1970, however, it was hard to get passenger trains across the Rock on time, let alone freight trains. All the freight except the New York and Chicago jets went via Barr.

TAW

TAW Wrote:

 Trains fit
> the railroad. When cars didn't fit the trains,
> there were more trains. Chicagoans, Westerners,
> and 97s often ran sections.
 
What a great idea especially when it came time to originate or terminate the train within the yard!

ghemr Wrote:
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>
Did you notice the running times west of Garrett? That's what the trains ran back then. I'm sure that today's running times are nowhere close to that.

TAW

I edited the original post with a link to a high-res version, and am also pasting it here:

https://i.imgur.com/wmdriIO.jpg

I would be interested to know how the current times compare. If there was a Chicago area webcam showing CSX you could compare to Deshler and then look at the North Baltimore times on the schedule, perhaps.