Twenty-five years ago today (Nov. 14, 1971) the fledgling National
Railroad Passenger Corp. issued the first timetable it could call its own. That
TT featured on the cover the Amtrak pointless arrow logo, a drawing of a
two passenger car trucks and a drawing of the front of a locomotive with the
Amtrak logo on it.
Amtrak had issued TTs on May 1 and July 12th, both were merely using
existing railroad materials. The Nov. 14th TT was Amtrak designed.
The timetable had a combination of traditional railroad-style
timetables and airline-style "quick reference" schedules.
The first press run of the TT had some glaring errors. Detroit was
spelled Detriot in the quick reference schedules. The schedule for the Empire
Builder placed Fargo, N.D. in Indiana. The Silver Star was shown as
operating northward from New York's Grand Central Station to Albany. And the TT
failed to show the Broadway Limited's Washington section.
But perhaps most notable was the fact that this TT carried Amtrak's
first numbering scheme. Here are the numbers of Amtrak trains effective
11-14-71. Note that some of these names and numbers continue today.
1/2 Sunset Limited New Orleans-Los Angeles
3/4 Super Chief/El Capitan Chicago-Los Angeles
5/6 City of San Francisco Chicago-Oakland (tri-weekly)
Denver Zephyr Chicago-Denver (daily)
7/8 Empire Builder Chicago-Seattle
9/10 North Coast Hiawatha Chicago-Spokane (Seattle)
(combined with 7/8 Seattle-Spokane)
11-12/13-14 Coast Starlight/Daylight San Diego-Seattle (tri-weekly)
12/13 Coast Daylight San Diego-Oakland
15/16 Texas Chief Chicago-Houston
30/31 National Limited New York/Washington-Kansas City
(combined with 40/41 New York-Harrisburg;
Washington-Harrisburg)
40/41 Broadway Limited New York/Washington-Kansas City
42/43 Keystone New York-Pittsburgh
50 George Washington Chicago to Boston/Newport News
51 James Whitcomb Riley Newport News/Boston to Chicago
52/53 Floridian Chicago-Miami/St. Petersburg
58/59 Panama Limited Chicago-New Orleans
60/61 Lake Shore Chicago-New York
70/71 New York-Buffalo
72/73 " " "
74/75 " " "
81/82 Silver Star New York-Miami/St. Petersburg
83/84 Silver Meteor New York-Miami
85/87 Champion New York-St. Petersburg
100/101 Metroliner New York-Washington
102/103 " " " "
104/105 " " " "
106/107 " " " "
108/109 " " " "
110/111 " " " "
112/113 " " " "
114/115 " " " "
116/117 " " " "
118/119 " " " "
120 Metroliner (Morning Executive) " " "
123 " " " New Haven to Washington
124 Metroliner (Evening Executive Washington to New Haven
125 Metroliner New York to Washington
126 Metroliner (Evening Executive) Washington to New Haven
(Sunday only)
127 Metroliner New York to Philadelphia
(Saturday only)
130 Free State Washington to New York
131 Congressional New York to Washington
132 Nightcap Washington to New York
(Sunday only)
133 Free State New York to Washington
135 Nightcap New York to Washington
(Sunday only)
140 Bay State Washington to Boston
141 Connecticut Yankee Springfield to New York
142/143 Charter Oak Washington-Springfield
144 Connecticut Yankee Washington to Springfield
145 Bay State Boston to Washington
150/151 Yankee Clipper (turbo) New York-Boston
160/161 East Wind New York-Boston
162/163 Narragansett New York-Boston
165 Patriot Boston to New York
170 Bunker Hill Washington to Boston
171/172 Southern Crescent Washington and Boston
173/174 Colonial Washington-Boston
175 Senator Boston to Washington
176 Patriot Washington to Boston
177 Merchants Limited Boston to Washington
178 Senator Washington to Boston
180 Merchants Limited Philadelphia to Boston
181 Valley Forge Boston to Philadelphia
182 Philadelphia to New York
195/196 Mount Rainer Seattle-Portland
198/199 Puget Sound Seattle-Portland
200/201 New York-Philadelphia
202 Philadelphia to New York
204 " "
206/207 New York-Philadelphia
211/212 Philadelphia to New York
213 New York to Philadelphia
218/219 New York-Philadelphia
220/221 " "
223 New York to Philadelphia
225 " "
227 " "
231 " "
234/235 New York-Philadelphia
254 Philadelphia to New York
256 Philadelphia to New York
263 New York to Philadelphia
272 Philadelphia to New York
280 Philadelphia to New York
282 Philadelphia to New York
298 Philadelphia to New York
301 Prairie State Chicago to St. Louis
302/303 Abraham Lincoln Chicago-St. Louis
304 Prairie State St. Louis to Chicago
320 Prarie State Milwaukee to Chicago
(through to St. Louis)
321/322 Chicago-Milwaukee
323 Abraham Lincoln Chicago to Milwaukee
(through from St. Louis)
324/325 Chicago-Milwaukee
326 Abraham Lincoln Milwaukee-Chicago
(through to St. Louis)
329 Prairie State Chicago to Milwaukee
(through from St. Louis)
347/348 Illinois Zephyr Chicago-West Quincy
360/361 Wolverine Chicago-Detroit
362/363 St. Clair Chicago-Detroit
390 Illini Champaign to Chicago
(Friday only)
391/392 Shawnee Chicago-Carbondale
393 Illini Chicago to Champaign
(Friday only)
394/395 Campus Chicago-Champaign
(Friday/Sunday only)
400/401 Hartford-New Haven
402/403 Springfield-New Haven
404/405 Springfield-New Haven
406/407 Springfield-New Haven
408/409 Hartford-New Haven
410 New Haven to Springfield
(Friday/Saturday only)
600/601 Philadelphia-Harrisburg
602-603 " "
604/605 " "
606/607 " "
608/609 " "
610/611 " "
612/613 " "
614/615 " "
616/617 " "
640/641 West Virginian Washington-Parkersburg
642/643 " " " "
(Saturday/Sunday only)
680/681 New York-Albany/Rensselaer
682/683 " "
684/685 " "
686/687 " "
775/776 San Diegan Los Angeles-San Diego
777/778 " " " "
NOTE: Amtrak's 11-14-71 TT did not show train numbers for sections of trains,
i.e. the Washington section of the Broadway Limited/National Limited; the
Florida trains or the Newport News section of the James Whitcomb Riley/George
Washington.
craig sanders
