The ''Cincinnatian'' was a named passenger train operated by the

Baltimore and Ohio Railroad The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was the first common carrier railroad and the oldest railroad in the United States, with its first section opening in 1830. Merchants from Baltimore, which had benefited to some extent from the construction of ...

(B&O). The B&O inaugurated service on January 19, 1947, with service between

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

and

Cincinnati, Ohio Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

, carrying the number 75 westbound and 76 eastbound, essentially a truncated route of the ''

National Limited The ''National Limited'' was the premier train of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O) on its route between Jersey City, New Jersey and St. Louis, Missouri, with major station stops in Washington, D.C., and Cincinnati, Ohio. (Buses took passenge ...

'' which operated between Jersey City, New Jersey and St. Louis. This route was unsuccessful due to the thin population along the line, and the route was changed on June 25, 1950, from a Baltimore–Cincinnati daylight schedule to a

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

–

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

daylight schedule where it would remain until the creation of

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...

. On this new routing, originating from the New York Central's

Michigan Central Station Michigan Central Station (also known as Michigan Central Depot or MCS) is the historic former main intercity passenger rail station in Detroit, Michigan. Built for the Michigan Central Railroad, it replaced the original depot in downtown Detroit ...

, the train sets became successful almost from the beginning. This replaced the ''Great Lakes Limited,'' which southbound, ran from Detroit to Cincinnati. Passengers wishing to travel all the way to Louisville had to take an unnamed night train counterpart, #57. The northbound night train counterpart was #58.Baltimore & Ohio timetable, July 1948 http://streamlinermemories.info/Eastern/B&O48TT.pdf The 57/58 became named the '' Night Express'' in 1960. The ''Cincinnatian'' on this route used lots of mail cars, which contributed to the route's success.

History

The ''Cincinnatian'' is most famed for its original dedicated equipment, rebuilt in the B&O

Mount Clare Shops The Mount Clare Shops is the oldest railroad manufacturing complex in the United States, located in Baltimore, Maryland.United States National Park Service. Washington, DC. Historic American Engineering Record (HAER). "Baltimore and Ohio Railroad: ...

. The design work was done by

Olive Dennis Olive Wetzel Dennis (November 20, 1885 – November 5, 1957) was an engineer whose design innovations changed the nature of railway travel. Born in Thurlow, Pennsylvania, she grew up in Baltimore. Career She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from ...

, a pioneering

civil engineer A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering – the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructure while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing ...

employed by the railroad and appointed by

Daniel Willard Daniel Willard (January 28, 1861 – July 6, 1942) was an American railroad executive best known as the president of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O) from 1910 to 1941. He served on or headed several government railroad commissions in World ...

to special position in charge of such work for passenger service. Four P-7 "president" class

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

locomotives (5301-5304) were rebuilt and shrouded as class P-7d, with

roller bearing In mechanical engineering, a rolling-element bearing, also known as a rolling bearing, is a bearing which carries a load by placing rolling elements (such as balls or rollers) between two concentric, grooved rings called races. The relative m ...

s on all axles and larger six-axle tenders. Older heavyweight passenger cars were completely stripped and rebuilt as

streamliner A streamliner is a vehicle incorporating wikt:streamline, streamlining in a shape providing reduced air resistance. The term is applied to high-speed railway trainsets of the 1930s to 1950s, and to their successor "High-speed rail, bullet trai ...

s. The livery used the blue and gray scheme designed by

Otto Kuhler Otto August Kuhler (July 31, 1894 – August 5, 1977) was an American designer, one of the best known industrial designers of the American railroads. According to ''Trains'' magazine he streamstyled more locomotives and railroad cars than Cr ...

, which Dennis laid on the engine and tender in a pattern of horizontal stripes and angled lines. The train's stop in

Lima, Ohio Lima ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Allen County, Ohio, United States. The municipality is located in northwest Ohio along Interstate 75 in Ohio, Interstate 75 approximately north of Dayton, Ohio, Dayton, southwest of Toledo, Ohio, T ...

was at the

Pennsylvania Railroad The Pennsylvania Railroad (reporting mark PRR), legal name The Pennsylvania Railroad Company also known as the "Pennsy", was an American Class I railroad that was established in 1846 and headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was named ...

's Lima station, so passengers were able to transfer to the PRR's east-west trains there. By fall, 1966, the train switched over to the

Fort Street Union Depot The Fort Street Union Depot was a passenger train station located at the southwest corner of West Fort Street and Third Street in downtown Detroit, Michigan. It served the city from 1893 to 1971, then demolished in 1974. Today, the downtown campus ...

for its travel to and from Detroit. In 1970 and 1971, the ''Cincinnatian'' was the only B&O train on the Cincinnati-Detroit route. The trains no longer offered checked baggage, as passengers had to carry their own luggage on and off the coaches. Service ended on April 30, 1971. When

took over service on May 1, 1971, it did not continue operating any of B&O's remaining passenger routes.

Station list

Equipment

The original 1947 ''Cincinnatian'' consisted of rebuilt heavyweight cars: ;First consist * #1307 ''Eden Park'' baggage-crew's room-buffet-lounge * #3565 ''Indian Hill'' coach (60 seats) * #3572 ''Oakley'' coach (56 seats) * #3567 ''College Hill'' coach (60 seats) * #3304 ''Peebles Corner'' cafe-observation ;Second consist * #1308 ''Hyde Park'' baggage-crew's room-buffet-lounge * #3566 ''Winton Place'' coach (60 seats) * #3573 ''Norwood'' coach (56 seats) * #3568 ''Walnut Hills'' coach (60 seats) * #3305 ''Fountain Square'' cafe-observation There were stewardess' rooms in the ''Oakley'' and ''Norwood''. Two 52-seat coaches, the ''Avondale'' (#3574) and ''Price Hill'' (#3575), replaced the ''College Hill'' and ''Walnut Hill''.

Route

From Detroit to Toledo, the trains ran with trackage rights on the

Pere Marquette Railway The Pere Marquette Railway operated in the Great Lakes region of the United States and southern parts of Ontario in Canada. It had trackage in the states of Michigan, Ohio, Indiana and the Canadian province of Ontario. Its primary connections in ...

and the

Wabash Railroad The Wabash Railroad was a Class I railroad that operated in the mid-central United States. It served a large area, including track in the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, and Missouri and the province of Ontario. Its primary con ...

. From Toledo south, the tracks were Baltimore and Ohio owned. The route was straight south Toledo to Deshler (junction with B&O's Washington–Chicago main line), Lima, Piqua, Dayton, Hamilton, then Cincinnati.B&O 1950 Timetable

References

External links

* {{Authority control Passenger trains of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Named passenger trains of the United States Railway services introduced in 1947 Transportation in Ohio Passenger rail transportation in Cincinnati Passenger rail transportation in West Virginia Railway services discontinued in 1971