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Original Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Central Region Pittsburgh Division employee Time-Table No. 59, effective at 12:01 a.m. Eastern Standard Time on Sunday, September 26, 1948.
The timetable was found inside a heavily used cloth railroad-document pouch measuring approximately 11 by 9 inches. Also inside were a pencil and two removable brown cardboard stiffeners that helped support and protect the pouch’s contents.
The entire group is being offered together as found.
EMPLOYEE TIMETABLE
This is an internal railroad operating timetable rather than a public passenger timetable. It provided railroad employees with the schedules, station information, operating data and special instructions required for train movements over the Baltimore & Ohio’s Pittsburgh Division.
The cover carries the prominent safety messages:
“SAFETY ABOVE GET HURT”
The front identifies:
- Baltimore & Ohio Railroad
- Central Region
- Pittsburgh Division
- Time-Table No. 59
- Effective September 26, 1948
- C. T. Williams, Superintendent
ROUTES AND LOCATIONS
The timetable covers the Pittsburgh Division’s East and West Ends and includes routes, stations and operating points associated with such locations schedules include passenger and freight-train movements, train numbers, station mileages, operating times, average speeds and other information prepared for railroad employees.
DIVISION MAPS
The timetable contains illustrated maps for both ends of the Pittsburgh Division.
The East End map depicts the territory between Cumberland and Connellsville and includes Somerset, Meyersdale, Hyndman, Confluence, Johnstown and surrounding railroad lines.
The West End map depicts the territory extending from Connellsville through the Pittsburgh area and toward New Castle, Butler, Wheeling, Fairmont and related points.
The maps also identify railroad facilities with symbols for:
- Coaling stations
- Engine houses
- Track scales
- Turntables
- Water stations
- Wye tracks
Elevation profiles appear above the maps, illustrating the grades and mountainous terrain encountered along the division.
ADDITIONAL CONTENT
The timetable includes:
- Pittsburgh Division officials and operating personnel
- Company surgeons and hospitals
- Medical examining points
- Employee operating rules
- Passenger and freight schedules
- Eastward and westward train tables
- Station mileages
- Speed and operating information
- Division maps and elevation profiles
- Safety instructions and notices
CLOTH EMPLOYEE POUCH
The accompanying folding cloth pouch is approximately 11 by 9 inches and has interior compartments suitable for carrying railroad papers, timetables and related working material.
Two removable brown cardboard stiffeners were found inside the pouch. One is approximately full width, while the other is a narrower strip. These appear to have provided structure and protection to the contents.
The pouch is unmarked and heavily worn. It has been retained because it was found containing this timetable and pencil and provides useful context for how such operating documents could have been carried and protected by a railroad employee.
This group came from the same Baltimore & Ohio Railroad employee collection associated with John F. Shanholtz of Cumberland, Maryland. Other documents from the collection identify Shanholtz as a B&O employee.
Neither the pouch nor the timetable appears to bear his name, so the association is based on the provenance of the larger collection rather than a direct inscription on these particular pieces.
HISTORICAL INTEREST
Employee timetables were working documents issued for railroad operations and were not intended as public travel brochures. They were frequently carried, folded, marked, soiled and replaced when new schedules became effective.
The surviving pouch, internal supports and pencil give this group an occupational character that would be lost if the timetable were separated from the items in which it was found.
The September 1948 timetable documents Baltimore & Ohio operations during the postwar transition period when steam locomotives remained important while dieselization was expanding.
This group should appeal to collectors of Baltimore & Ohio Railroad memorabilia, employee timetables, Pittsburgh Division history, Cumberland railroad history, railroad maps, operating documents and railroad employee artifacts.
This listing includes one original 1948 timetable, one cloth carrying pouch, two brown cardboard stiffeners and one pencil, all shown in the photographs.
