In 1923 the Baltimore & Ohio's Capitol Limited started its travels between Baltimore, Washington, D.C., and Chicago. Two years later the B&O's National Limited linked the nations capital to St. Louis. Almost at once the two lines became household names, famous for the outstanding service and cuisine offered in their Pullman sleepers and renowned dining cars. This authoritative, illustrated history takes readers back to the B&O's glory years, with a wealth of images, route information, details of the trains passenger motive power, and the inside story on the frugal railroads means of streamlining its equipment with innovative and aesthetically striking results. Against a backdrop of dozens of black-and-white archival images and period color photos depicting uniforms, dinnerware, stations, period ads and route maps, and interior views of passenger cars, award-winning rail author Joe Welsh discusses how B&O passenger operations led to the demise of at least one of its rival Pennsylvania Railroads passenger trains; and how, ultimately, market forces did in the B&O's passenger trains as well. Here is the whole story, with the National Limited's failure under Amtrak's auspices--and the 1981 rebirth of the Capitol Limited as one of Amtrak's most popular trains, keeping a legend alive.

Formed in 1980 as a holding company for the Chessie and Seaboard Systems and several other eastern railroads, CSX in 1986 merged these several companies into CSX Transportation, staking its claim as one of the nation's dominant merger roads. This illustrated history provides a background of CSX's 25 years on the American railroad scene, describing how the company came to swallow several legendary regional lines and merger roads. The book also examines CSX hardware, facilities, and operations on more than 20,000 miles of trackage throughout the eastern half of the United States, from 1980 through today. Included is an explanation of the 1999 agreement by which CSX and Norfolk Southern purchased and effectively split the operations of their northern rival Conrail. Marvelous color photography, of course, depicts CSX diesel-electric powered freight operations in eastern and Midwestern U.S. urban centers and rural areas.

Subtitled: The Route of the National Limited. Detailed histories of each train, tables and charts showing car origins, and destinations, information of mail and express, coach and Pullman passengers, timetables, stations, cars and more of the NY-Baltimore-Washington-St. Louis route where the Capitol Limited was the flagship train. Sftbd., 8 1/2x 11, 114 pgs., 208 b&w ill.