A 15 page reprint of a C&O document that lists consist arrangements for all main and branch line trains, shows cars and destinations of cars system wide. Most railroads with significant passenger business issued consist books which described to operating employees exactly how each train was to be made up, starting with the type of car, its line designation (in the case of sleepers), and the terminal to and from which it operated. Special instructions also covered transfer of through cars, holding trains, for connections, etc.
These pages, taken from 1955-56, show all C&O trains operating on what was then termed the “Chesapeake District”. In that period the C&O was divided into two operating districts, one comprising the old C&O and another the “Northern District,” which comprised the lines from the former Pere Marquette Railway in Michigan, merged in 1947. These consist pages represent only the Chesapeake District trains.
New pages were issued as changes occurred, so that each book holder could keep his book updated to latest conditions. The latest date in this group of pages is February 9, 1956.
By the time most of the C&O’s branch line trains were gone and the mainline trains had been scaled back.
C&OHS Digital Archives
