The Overland Limited Through Cars

[Lindsay_K]

Hi there, I'm having a little trouble finding information on the through cars for The Overland Limited from 1900-1915. I have the Beebe book but cannot find specific consists information. Specifically, I am trying to find out whether the dining car would have been a through car from Chicago to San Francisco or if it would have changed throughout the journey. 

 

If not, what cars would have been through cars for this route? And is there a reference I can seek out for this? 

 

Thanks so much.

 

Thank you

[timz]

Suspect no one here knows whether each RR used its own diner. There are several 1900 -1909 Guides linked at naotc.org -- probably they all say the Overland had "dining car service" for the whole trip, but they don't say a single car went thru. Probably it didn't?

[rcdrye]

C&NW, UP and SP had a variety of through train agreements.  The Overland was one of the few trains that actually ran all the way from one terminal to the other with little if any change of equipment, except for locomotives.  Since the running time was between 64 and 72 hours during that period, eight or nine complete trains were used, probably with each of the three railroads supplying three each baggage cars and diners. The Club Buffet car and sleeper-observation were almost certainly run by Pullman, as were all of the sleepers.  Dining car crews were likely supplied by C&NW and SP since they ran through, with wages charged to the train and shared by all three railroads.

[SD70Dude]

I can't remember exactly which issue, but within the past few years Classic Trains had a photo of a C&NW diner carrying the markers on one of the through trains, somewhere in Wyoming I believe.

[Lindsay_K]

Thank you so much for this detailed response. So you are saying that the crew would have been the same for the duration of the trip? Would the conductor have been the same throughout the journey? 

 

I did not know that there were so many trains running this route at the time - I thought there were only two - the numbers 1 and 2. Were these additional trains numbered consecutively?

 

Finally, do you know where I could find this information for a reference?

 

Again, thank you very much. I really appreciate it.

[M636C]

There are useful details and  photographs in "Some Classic Trains" by Arthur Dubin from page 167. This book was a reprint of Trains Magazine articles, so there should be the same material in the complete DVD.

There are photos of a train of 1888 (less the dining car) and a number of photos of complete trains from around 1905, with many detailed photos of the cars used.

On page182 there is a 1916 photo of a five car train with each car identified.

Peter 

[Jones1945]

This pic was taken in 1915, not sure which month so have no idea which RR run the train. A very classy dining car and a very "pretty" face. 

Comfy and elegance, the observation car of the Overland Limited where you could really observe beautiful thing inside and outside the car.  

[CSSHEGEWISCH]

Lindsay_K

Thank you so much for this detailed response. So you are saying that the crew would have been the same for the duration of the trip? Would the conductor have been the same throughout the journey? 

Dining car crews and Pullman crews (Pullman Conductor and porters) probably worked from end to end but operating crews would have changed off at division points and other crew change points.