I have been looking about for a daily arrivals and departures at Cincinatti for maybe 1948 or thereabouts. I can cobble something together from available timetables but it would be a lot easier and I would be less likely that I’d miss services if I could just see everything in one.
I appreciate there’s a list of named services on Wikipedia but I am thinking there must’ve been more.
I’ve looked under the usual stones but does anyone have any pointers?
If you can find a copy of the Official Guide for that particular period, your task might be a bit easier. There were also a lot of unnamed locals operating during that era, too.
I am interested in this topic, so please let me give it a try!
PRR:
NYCRR:
B&O:
C&O:
L&N:
B&O also had through trains - The National Limited, The Diplomat and the Metropolitan Special. There were several numbered trains that operated from Detroit through CUT to Louisville. I believe there was also a local that operated over the secondary lines between Cincinnati and Pittsburgh.
C&O ‘might’ have had a train operating between Cincinnati & Chicago - a maid of all work local.
From the February 1948 Official Guide:
Cincinnati Union Terminal hosted these railroads for passenger service:
Baltimore & Ohio
Chesapeake & Ohio
New York Central System
Louisville & Nashville
Norfolk & Western
Pennsylvania
Southern Railway System (CNO&TP)
It also hosted the Erie at its Freight House.
B&O: National Limited, Diplomat, Cincinnatian, unnamed 11/12 from Baltimore/Washington, 33/34, Washington Express from Pittsburgh, four numbered trains to Louisville, three to Detroit. The Cincinnatian name was soon moved to one of the Detroit trains.
C&O: FFV, George Washington, Sportsman from Washington. 19/20 Hammond IN (Chicago via Erie)
NYCS: Royal Palm, Ponce de Leon, Florida Sunbeam, six pairs of numbered trains to Cleveland, Ohio State Limited, Cincinnati Special, Carolina Special, plus various locals
L&N: Azalean, Humming Bird, Pan American, 3/4, 7/8. 17/18,29/30 to Winchester.
N&W: Cavalier, Pocahantas, Powhatan Arrow, 23/24
PRR: Cincinnati Limited, 213,267,227,202,206,222. From Chicago: Southland, Union, Cincinnati Daylight Express, Cincinnati Night Express
Southern: Royal Palm, Ponce de Leon, Florida Sunbeam, Carolina Special, Skyland Special
These are mostly from the condensed schedules. Many of the trains carried Pullmans that ended up on connecting trains, or which made across-the-platform connections for other destinations. I’m sure I missed a couple but the list illustrates how many trains called there on a given day.
Thanks everyone forthese great tips. Embarrassingly I’d never heard of the Official Guide and found a scanned one from 1945 on streamliner schedules. Amazing amount of detail. Thanks for outlining those from 1948 redrye.
I’ve long pondered where’d have been the place to see so many of the locomotives and trains I like best and Cincinnatti must be the place. In one day sandwiches and flask in hand I could have seen A Niagara, a P7d, an F-19 and a N&W J, but by the look of things so, so much more. The mind boggles 
Thanks again!
From its 1947 inception until early in 1950, The Cincinnatian operated the Baltimore-Cincinnati route. In 1950 it was switched to the Detroit-Cincinnati route. The streamlined P7d’s could handle additional cars on the Detroit route. On the Baltimore route the schedule limited the train to 5 cars.
The Cincinnatian was also supposed to be competition for C&O’s Chessie, which never started…
N&W established the “Powhatan Arrow” for the same reason. Both were money-losers but B&O re-routed the “Cincinnatian” since Detroit-Cincy had better potential and N&W could afford to eat the losses from the “Powhatan Arrow”.
I really do have to make a table of this stuff.
In 1949 the Cincinnatian and the Powattan Arrow would have been lined up for departure at the same time as the George Washington arrived. That would have been sight to behold.
More research needed.
Representation of the Westbound trip
Thanks BaltACD it’s a great simulation isn’t it?
I’m lucky enough to have a Key Imports Cincinnattian which is definitely the pride of the fleet. More than that it currently has pride of place on the living room mantle. Not sure my wife is as fond of it as I am though, or the dusting exclusion zone ;D. That was one of the things that drew my curiosity to CUT.
I seem to have come through on the Cardinal in 1988 but at that point in my life knew nothing about Cincinnati at all
There’s great footagr of the Cincinnatian here as well as EM-1s and a streamlined C&O 4-6 4
I have watched that video several times. A great testament to the train and its time.
I do wish someone with some B&O geographical knowledge had edited the footage together in geographical order. The opening scene appears to be a engine at Grafton before or after the engine change.
The routine operation of the Cincinnatian had a engine change at Grafton in both directions. There were four streamlined Cincinnatian engines. The routine operations kept three of the four busy on a daily basis. The spare, I believe, was kept around Baltimore and it is highly likely that the four were routinely rotated through the daily operations, with a different ‘spare’ being in Baltimore each day.
Mt. Royal station that is pictured before the early morning Westbound departure, is now operated by the Maryland Institute of Art.
Yes I took that first scene to be the engine change at Grafton too. Mein Gott changed days there alright! And not for the best.
Mount Royal. That’s a good tip. I’ll look that up I was trying to figure that one out.
What about the big cement plant do you know where that is?
But yes what a period piece…
Thank you so much for posting this awesome video. Those 12-wheel rebuilt heavyweight betterment cars of B&O are very elegant; beautiful livery and streamlining, probably ride like a Pullman sleeper as well.
Remember that B&O got into ‘real’ lightweight streamlined trains very early. They did not ride satisfactorily and were sent (with the boxcab power) to the Alton.
By 1947 B&O had a good evolved sense of what “their” competition in that hottest of developing late-Forties markets – from somewhere to Cincinnati – ought to involve.
Bet the food was among the best, too. Makes me hungry just thinking
My Grandfather would have ensured that!
I have read something about that along the lines that their president didn’t think much of the ride quality of the early lighweights and so set about the betterment programme so that the best of both worlds were incorporated and not for the reason of miserliness as some imply.
This is the best site fot the Cincinnatian I have found. The interior renderings are fabulous. What I find fascinating is that all the features of a big daytime top notch streamliner are there but in minature.
So he was a chef with the B&O?
He ran the whole damn department!