Forgive me if this is in the wrong forum or not appropriate for this forum but I am trying to find out information on train travel between Boston and Dallas in the fall of 1963 for a research paper.
What I am looking for is how much would it have cost, how long in would have taken and what would have been the routing to get there? I assume that there would have been different routes to get there though different city pairs. I would be mainly interested in the cheapest way.
Thank you,
Joe
There were probably several routes that could have been taken. the one I would have chosen would be New Haven to New York and the PRR Penn Texas to Dallas. This train would probably have had a couple Mopac cars from New York and would have been switched to the Mopac at St. Louis. A longer route would have PRR or NYC to Chicago and an ATSF train to Texas. It could also have been possible to route via the south somehow but I would be really speculating on that route. You would probably have left Boston midday arriving New York in time for a late afternoon departure on the PRR. Arriving St. Louis late afternoon the second day and arrival in Texas some time after lunch on the third day. Any period timetable can give you the fares for coach or better accomadations. Coach would definitely be the cheapest. I am guessing in the vicinity of $125.00 but someone else will have to confirm that number. I believe the NH, PRR, Mopac route would be about the most direct with the least number of railroad and car changes.
It is true, a Boston-Dallas route via New York (New Haven), St. Louis (Pennsylvania) to Dallas (MP-T&P) would probably be the fastest, but it would require changing stations in New York and two changes of train en route. There are a variety of routes. One involving only one change of train en route would be New York Central’s “New England States” from Boston to Chicago, then Santa Fe’s “Texas Chief” to Dallas. Baltimore and Ohio and Missouri Pacific periodically did offer through sleeping car or slumbercoach service between Baltimore/Washington and either Fort Worth or San Antonio, depending on the year.
I don’t have a 1963 timetables, but from October 29, 1961, the New York Central timetable indicates the coach fare from Boston to Chicago to be $43.50, and $29.33 on the Santa Fe between Chicago and Dallas. Roundtrip coach it was $76.68 on NYC Boston-Chicago, and $52.80 on Santa Fe between Chicago and Dallas. Sorry, I don’t have any MP timetable that gives fares, but the NYC-ATSF routing would probably be about the same. Since you asked for the “cheapest way,” these are coach fares…sleepers are more.
Sample itineraries are (from a March 1963 Official Guide):
NYC-ATSF (1 change of train)
Dp Boston 315 PM (ET) NYC train 27, the New England States
Ar Chicago 915 AM (CT) NYC train 27, the New England States
transfer from La Salle Street Station to Dearborn Station
Dp Chicago 600 PM (CT) ATSF train 15, the Texas Chief
Ar Dallas 155 PM+2 (CT) ATSF train 115, the Texas Chief (train 115 was a section of this train from Gainesville, TX to Dallas)
NYC-CRI&P (2 changes of trains)
Dp Boston 315 PM (ET) NYC train 27, the New England States
Ar Chicago 915 AM (CT) NYC train 27, the New England States
transfer could also be made at Englewood, IL, but both NYC and CRI&P used La Salle Street in C
We can go to the library and look up 1963 schedules, but dunno where you would go to find out the exact fare. A SFe or UP timetable might give fares from NY to California (i.e. more than just their own RR) but I doubt any RR’s public timetable would list a Boston-Dallas fare, and it’s certainly not in the Official Guide. Probably it was a bit less than the total of the Boston-Chicago and Chicago-Dallas fares, but we don’t even know that for sure.
Don’t forget to add Federal Tax-- probably 5% in 1963?
In 1964 I rode the Texas Chief from Houston to Chicago and then the New England States from Chicago to Boston. almost the reverse of what you wanted to do. Had roomettes on both trains, and used Parmelee transfer between trains in Chidago, included in the price of the ticket with no charge for lots of hand baggage. (Tips to porters and the Parmalee driver were not included, of course.)
The main section of the Texas Chief went through Fort Worth and not Dallas, and I am not certain the connection from Dallas at Gainsville was still operating at that time. Probably was. Both trains gave acceptable service, neither quite the Super Chief, and the Sante Fe equipment in better shape. Food was good on both trains.
My grandfather worked the N. Little Rock/Texarkanna section of the Texas Eagle (St. Louis to Little Rock to TexA to Dallas where split to Ft. Worth and West one way and Dallas to Houston or Austin the other. There was also a Ft. Worth to Dallas back connection. The Ft. Worth Terminal was run by Texas and Pacific back then, the Dallas Terminal (Union) was split between MP; Frisco/Katy; and Cotton Belt-SSW. Ft. Worth also had a smaller station which ATSF ran and Burlington - Denver/Ft.Worth shared trackage rights.
The Eagle series was probably the most direct as the same coaches were shared by the NYC, PRR, Nickle Plate (NY-ST.L?), and Mopac/T&P subsidiaries. Also, the PRR had a branch off the Crescent (I always get confused on time between the Southern Crescent and the forebearer Crescent Limited) which split at Atlanta and basically hit through several major cities now almost on the I-40 route. I want to say that the L&N may have been in there or GM&O shared trackage but can’t remember. East to West was generally cheaper the farther south you went but was also trickier with more stops and shared trackage rights, owners, etc.
Thank you everyone for all the great information. It has been very helpful.