On this page, I've added scans of some vintage railroad timetables (about 25 so far), many of which I've had in my collection since the 1960's when they weren't really that old. These are all in pdf format, and they will open in a new window with your pdf viewer (Acrobat or other). Some of these are quite large in size, so I would suggest not trying to view these if your are not on a DSL or cable connection. One of the largest, for example, is the 1953 New York Central timetable, which is 14.5 megabytes and 52 pages long. I started with my favorite region (northeast USA), and continued from there. Most of these were chosen for their "interest" or "noteworthiness", but this collection is far from a representation of the entire US. I have added most of the ones I have from the 1950's, and balanced out the collection with some from the mid and late 60's. All are pre-Amtrak. I do have a complete set of the last individual railroad timetables from around 1971 (pre-Amtrak), and a good set of commuter timetables (especially for routes like the Erie-Lackawanna), but none of these are currently included here. I tried to make a good representation for most of the US, but you can see my bias for the Northeast. If you wish to gain knowledge about the extent of passenger service for all of the US at any given time, I would suggest looking for old copies of the "Official Guide", which can often be found on E-Bay reasonably. If you email me with a request and I happen to have it, I will gladly post additional timetables here. Also, if you are a fan of a particular line and I do not have a timetable for it, I can scan the pages for the line from my Official Guide collection. I have Official Guides from 1926, 1940, 1949, 1959, and 1967.
You should be able to zoom in so that the detail print on each page is visible, if not you may save a copy for later viewing on your pdf viewer.
This is a short timetable printed on pulp paper.
This is a short timetable for a limited portion of their service.
By this time, their timetable was very limited and just a few pages.
By this time, SP was no longer a fan of passenger service, and the timetable was just a pulp-paper brochure.
Though this timetable is fairly large, it was printed on very yellowed pulp stock.
This is actually a "museum reprint" from May 1973, not an original.
One feature is the great coverage of the Sacramento Northern electrified service.
The WP held the SN as a subsidiary at the time, and still had plans for interurban expansions.