Pages from history--the Summer, 1937 Rock Island Timetable
The summer of 1937 saw a new era on the horizon for Rock Island Lines passenger
service. Most trains were still powered by steam, with gas-powered motorcars
on some branchline trains. The first, TA-hauled Rockets would arrive
later in the summer.
This document is an effort to preserve and share a small part
of that summer through the pages of the Rock Island's Summer 1937 passenger
timetable.
NOTE: These are large GIF files--50k to 150k each.
We wanted to provide as much quality as possible, and make it possible
to read the fine print common to railroad timetables. Some Web browsers
may choke on very large graphic files--you may wish to download these and
view them offline. They print nicely on laser and inkjet printers.
Pages From the Summer, 1937 timetable. . .
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Front cover
-- with artists' renditions of both modern steam and diesel locomotives
(the TA's).
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Back cover --
announcing through sleeper service between Chicago and Oakland-San Francisco
via the CRI&P's Rocky Mountain Limited, the Rio Grande's Moffat Tunnel
(then only 10 years old), and the Southern Pacific. Also announcing new
through sleepers between Denver and Atlanta, via Kansas City, the Frisco
to Birmingham, and the Southern to Atlanta.
Inside pages. . .
-
Page 2 and page 3 -- Your friendly Rock Island passenger and freight representatives,
waiting to serve you. . .
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Page 4 and page
5 -- Index of stations.
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Page 6 and page
7 -- Equipment lists for RI through passenger trains.
-
Page 8 and page
9 -- Condensed schedules for the Golden State Route -- the "Golden
State Limited", "Californian", and "Apache"
-
Page 10, page
11, and page 12
-- Condensed schedules for most other RI main line routes: Chicago-Colorado,
Twin Cities-Texas, and even through service to Mexico City. . .
-
Page 13 -- Three-quarters
of this page is an ad for service to the Chicago "Charter Jubilee" of 1937,
including a good map of downtown Chicago. The remaining quarter is an ad
for the "Rockets" -- "Coming Soon!"
-
Page 14 and page
15 -- Detailed schedules for Chicago-Colorado service.
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Page 16 and page
17 -- Detailed schedules for the Golden State Route (Chicago-California).
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Page 20 and page
21 -- Twin Cities-Texas service.
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Page 22 and page
23 -- St. Louis and Kansas City to Colorado.
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Page 24 and page
25 -- The "Choctaw Route" -- Memphis to Tucumcari, NM, and Arkansas
and Louisiana local service.
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Page 26 -- Table
8: Service from Chicago to Minneapolis via Cedar Rapids, and from St. Louis
to Minneapolis via Burlington and CR. Table 9: Chicago to Sioux Falls,
SD.
-
Page 27 -- Illinois
and Iowa lines, including Chicago commuter service, Peoria trains, and
Iowa branchline runs.
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Page 28 -- Iowa,
Minnesota and South Dakota lines.
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Page 29 -- Missouri,
Kansas and Nebraska lines.
-
Page 30 -- Oklahoma
lines.
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Page 31 -- Arkansas
and Texas lines.
-
Page 32 -- "General
Information" - The fine print.
-
Page 33 -- "Pullman
Sleeping Car Rates of Fare".
A Word from Our Sponsor. . .
Two Rock Island house ads, reflecting the Art Deco influence of the Thirties.
. .
Miscellaneous. . .
-
System Map --
A portion of the system map from the 1937 timetable, pages 18 and 19. All
RI lines are shown; there is some damage in the original.
-
Football Specials
-- Not exactly 1937, but rather, another passenger-related item. This promotes
the Rock Island's special service from Des Moines to Iowa City, for Iowa
Hawkeye football games in 1966.
Comments, corrections, and additions
are always welcome!
Disclaimer: As far as we know, the images shown here
are in the public domain. The scans, however, are copyright © 1997-1998,
RITS. Please feel free to download and save these images for personal use.
Publication in any form other than RITS publications is not permitted without
prior permission.
Page revised Thursday, May 28, 1997.
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