1961 NYC New York Central Railroad passenger train timetable (October)

The New York Central Railroad (NYC) was one of the dominant transportation companies in American railroad lore. It served most of the Northeast and large portions of the Mid-west, with tracks also into Canada. States in the NYC system include New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, West Virginia, Michigan, Missouri, and Massachusetts; it also ran into the provinces of Quebec and Ontario. Its primary routes were to connect New York City with Boston in the east and with Chicago and St. Louis in the west, but it also had trackage to other major cities including Detroit, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Buffalo, Pittsburgh and Indianapolis.

The NYC competed directly with the Pennsylvania Railroad in many markets, and other smaller lines also provided stiff competition. After World War II, the NYC began to see costs increase and revenues decline, caused in some part by its commuter services in the Northeast and labor costs. In an effort to survive, the NYC merged in 1968 with the Pennsylvania Railroad to form the Penn Central; this did not solve financial and operating problems, and in 1976 the Penn Central and other eastern lines were taken into the government-owned Conrail system. Conrail was broken up in 1998, and the NYC's surviving trackage is now mostly owned and operated by Norfolk Southern and CSX.

For auction is a passenger train timetable from the NYC dated October 29, 1961. It lists all passenger runs on the NYC. Included are schedules between the following cities: (a) New York/Boston-Buffalo-Cleveland-Toledo-Chicago; (b) New York/Boston-Buffalo-Detroit-Chicago; (c) New York/Boston-Toronto; (d) New York-Montreal; (e) New York-Buffalo-Hamilton-Toronto; (f) New York/Boston-Columbus-Dayton-Cincinnati; (g) New York/Boston-Indianapolis-St. Louis; (h) Chicago-Indianapolis-Cincinnati-Washington-Norfolk; (i) Chicago-Toronto; (j) Detroit-Toledo-Cleveland; (k) Cincinnati-Cleveland-Hamilton-Toronto; and (l) Detroit-Saginaw-Bay City-Mackinaw City  . Listings are by run number, with arrival/departure times for stations served. There are equipment manifests for the primary trains, a fare schedule for coach and Pullman services, and some great period railroad advertising.

This timetable measures appx 9x4 inches unopened, opens to appx 9x8 inches, and contains 22 pages. It is printed on medium-weight semi-glossy paperstock.

This is a true NYC collector's item.