NYC Passenger Train Consist book

Did NYC issue a "Passenger Train Train Consist" book in the 1960 and is it possible to get any copies?

Did NYC issue a "Passenger Train Train Consist" book in the 1960 and is it possible to get any copies?

Well, are you asking about information released to the public ? The public timetables had lists of equipment the public could expect on the "Name Trains", dinner, lounge, number of sleepers, sleeper destinations. etc. Equipment in lesser trains did not get a mention in the Public Timetable.

And there was always a disclaimer; "We reserve the right to substitute equipment as operating needs may require", aka "We promised you a fancy dining car, but it's broken so we managed to find an operating grill car instead".

You can find those at RR shows, Ebay, etc.

And the specific cars varied quite a bit depending on seasonal demand, cars in the shop, etc.

The "Big Name" trains (20th Century, ESE, etc) had pretty stable consists from month to month with cars in the shop being replaced with an "equivalent" car. Have read that the 1948 PS Lounge Observation Bedroom cars (Sandy Creek and Hickory Creek) for the 20th Century where NEVER used on other trains. Maybe true for the double kitchen dinner cars painted for the 20th Century.

Last run of the 20th century had a Budd built Lounge Observation Bedroom on the hind end because the 1948 PS Lounge Observation Bedroom cars was OOS.

Note. after 1959 the only train carrying an Observation car was the 20th Century Limited, all other OBS cars where OOS / Sold, even the ESE cars (Theodore and Franklin Roosevelt)

If you are looking for detailed records of the cars used on each and every train on any given day I think you are out of luck. There where probably temporary records at the major stations telling the yard crews what cars are to be switched into each train as the train was made up. I would bet those went in the trash bin each day.

Cheers, Kevin.

One problem I always had with the public timetables was that as far as I can recall the only information about meals was the words "Dining Service" with no mention of type of car or whether it was present for the entire trip.

Kevin's recollections are entirely consistent with my own.

I HAD a consist book, circa 1963, which unfortunately was lost when my garage was being cleaned out.
It showed mail and express boxcars to/from the West Side terminal in Manhattan, NY that were ferried to/from Harmon where they are added to the diesels that were put on Steel Fleet trains, such as #15, the Ohio State Limited.
From reading this book you could tell how many coaches were normal on each train (back in this time extra coaches to meet demand were frequently added). the designations of sleeping/parlor car lines, and which trains had RPOs and/or working baggage cars. Wish I could find it.
Andy

See here (pages 14-16);

https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.p ... pdf&page=4

Note:

"TRAINS NOT SHOWN CARRY COACHES ONLY"

And the little "diamond" character at the top of each train in the timetables indicated "NCB" = No Checked Baggage.

In addition for trains that handled Checked Baggage some Stations (smaller locales) did not handle baggage. So a train could be NCB and a station serving trains with Checked Baggage could also be NCB.

The availability of RPO's on trains does not appear to be listed / documented in the public timetables.