First Jenks timetable?

[David Boeschen]

I picked up a copy of the MP system timetable of 9/24/61. It’s plain paper, only six pages, with only the buzzsaw on the cover printed in red.

Was this the first public timetable of the Jenks era?

RG7

[David Boeschen]

Looked at this one more closely, and along with the date is the notation “No. 1”.

There are only the summary of each train’s equipment, the timetables proper, and a couple of MP ads and a Hertz ad. No pictures of Pullman rooms, no schedules of fares, no freight train schedules. Instead of a centerfold system map, just a simplified one on the front cover.

RG7

[Bill Pollard]

There were actually two versions of the September 24, 1961 No. 1 timetable, but yes, this date is the first Jenks timetable. The last full system timetable with the multi-color Eagle cover was issued December 4, 1960, shortly before DBJ assumed the presidency on February 1, 1961.

The “full” September 1961 timetable has a brown cover, a full size map inside, two pages of fares, a station index, and almost two pages of traffic representatives. This one is 12 pages, staple bound. The “condensed” September 1961 timetable has a white cover, with inside pages numbered 3-4-5-6-7, corresponding to the same pages in the full timetable. I did not see any changes in times or text which would suggest that one was a later revision of the first. It would be interesting to see the instructions to the passenger department from the executive office telling them to trim the timetable production cost. At the time, it must have looked like a drastic downgrade from the colorful Eagle timetable, which was one of the most attractive in the nation. Looking at the Jenks timetable today, compared to Amtrak’s pitiful service across MP territory, it would be viewed much more favorably.

Bill Pollard

[attachment=0:ftbf8u1o]MP_9-24-1961_full-w.jpg[/attachment:ftbf8u1o] [attachment=1:ftbf8u1o]MP_9-24-1961_cond-w.jpg[/attachment:ftbf8u1o]

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