Railroad Timetables
As noted in our Railroad Maps page, under the Map tab, railroad maps are best used in conjunction with railroad timetables to best understand how fast travelers were able to move from place to place. These timetables can answer questions like:
- How much would a railroad trip cost?
- What stops would be made, along a railroad trip? How long would the train remain at the stop?
- How long would it take for the train to get from its starting location to its destination?
Please see below, for examples of railroad timetables that can be useful to your research. Make sure to review newspapers, guidebooks, and city directories to find these timetables.
The Penang-Singapore Express, F.M.S. Railways. NYPL Digital Collections IMAGE ID 1526259
Catalog Tips
When searching for railroad timetables in our Online Research Catalog, we recommend the following keyword or subject search:
- Railroad timetables [area of interest]
In addition, since not all materials will be indexed under "railroad lines" searching under
- guidebooks [place of interest] [railroads]
can provide additional resources that host this type of information.
Similar keyword searches can be utilized in other digital repositories, such as Hathi Trust.
As noted above, timetables are also often time found within periodicals. As such, check out our Timetables main tab, to see how you can locate periodicals through New York Public Library's databases.
A Selection of Railroad Timetables
- Disturnell's American & European railway and steamship guide; giving the arrangements an all the great lines of travel through the United States and Canada; across the Atlantic Ocean, and throughout central Europe. Also ... a ... description of the principal places in England, France, etc. 1851
- TPRD (Disturnell, J. Disturnell's American & European railway)
- Includes regional lines within the United States.
- Disturnell's American and European railway and steamship guide, giving the arrangements on all the great lines of travel through the United States and Canada, across the Atlantic ocean, and throughout central Europe. Also containing a brief description of the principal places in England, France, etc. 1853
- Available digitally via HathiTrust- Library of Congress/Harvard University
- Includes regional lines within the United States.
- Disturnell's American and European railway and steamship guide [electronic resource]. 1855
- Available digitally via HathiTrust- University of Alberta
- Includes regional lines within the United States.
- The international railway and steam navigation guide. 1871
- TPT-D (International railway and steam navigation guide) no. 83 (1871)
- "Containing the time tables of all Canadian railways, the principal railroads in the United States, maps of the principal lines, and inland steam navigation routes." [Description based on: no. 160 (Dec. 1877)].
- Overseas timetable = Indicateur outremer = Überseeischer Fahrplan = Horario ultramarino. 2005-2010
- JSL 00-6
- "Railway, road and shipping services for America, Africa, Asia, Australasia"--Cover.
- Railway and steamship guide, giving the railroad and steamboat arrangements ... on all the routes diverging from ... Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York and Boston; also, the ocean steamship arrangements ... 1865
- HE2727.D64
- Digitized version available via HathiTrust- Princeton University
- Includes regional lines within the United States.
- Thomas Cook world timetables. Overseas timetable. 1980-1999
- JSP 84-73
- Thomas Cook world timetables. Overseas timetable. 2000-2004
- JSL 00-6
- The ABC pathfinder and dial shippers' guide. 1890-1922
- TPRD+ (ABC pathfinder and dial shippers' guide) 1890-1922
- ABC the Pathfinder railway guide ... containing official railway, steamer and stage time-tables ... and a gazetter of New England. Published ... every month ... 1835-1933 (incomplete)
- TPR-D (ABC the Pathfinder railway guide) Library has: no. 100-828(Incomplete)
- Focus on New England
- Appletons' railway and steam navigation guide for the United States and the Canadas. 1856-1889
- TPR-D (Appletons' railway and steam navigation guide United States and Canadas)
- Doggett's United States railroad and ocean steam navigation guide [electronic resource]. 1847
- Full text online available from home with a valid library card and onsite at NYPL
- Includes steamboat lines within the United States.
- The Official guide of the railways and steam navigation lines of the United States, Porto Rico, Canada, Mexico and Cuba. 1881-1973
- Digitized versions courtesy of HathiTrust- University of Chicago and University of California
- The Official guide of the railways and steam navigation lines of the United States, Puerto Rico, Canada, Mexico and Cuba. 1868-1973.
- *ZAN-13064
- TPRD (Official guide of the railways)
- The Official railway guide. North American passenger travel edition. North America 1974-1995 rail
- JSP 72-237
- JSP 75-270
- Covers United States, Puerto Rico, Canada, Mexico and Cuba.
- Rand-McNally official railway guide and hand book. 1886, 1902
- Russell's railway guide and hotel directory. 1906-1908
- TPR-D (Russel's Railway Guide)
- Focus on U.S. Middle West.
- Includes information on bus travel.
- Tunis' new international rail road guide for the United States and Canadas ... 1859
- TPR-D (Tunis' new international rail road guide for the United States and Canadas) Library has: 1859, May 1859
- Bradshaw's British railways official guide and hotel directory. [1947]-1960
- TPND (Bradshaw's British railways official guide and hotel directory)
- Covers Great Britain and Ireland.
- Bradshaw's railroad companion : containing the times of departure, fares, &c. of the railways in England, and also hackney coach fares from the principal railway stations : illustrated with maps of the country through which the railways pass, and plans of London, Birmingham, Leeds, Liverpool, and Manchester. 1841
- Map Div. 21-321
- Bradshaw's railway guide for England, Wales & Scotland : With a map of the railways of Great Britain. 1845-1866
- VWIP (Bradshaw's railway guide for England, Wales & Scotland)
- Cooks continental timetable. 1960-1973
- M-10 4923
- Cook's continental time tables, and tourists' hand book; a cheap, concise, and simple guide to all the principal lines of railway, steamers, diligences, &c. ... on the continent of Europe, with especial reference to Cook's direct & circular tickets by all routes ... full directions as to passports, foreign currency, &c. 1873-1912
- TPL-D (Cook, Thomas & Son, Ltd. Cook's continental time tables, and tourists' hand book)
- Thomas Cook continental timetable. 1981-1987
- JSP 84-69
- Thomas Cook European timetable. 1988-2004
- JSP 88-135
- Thomas Cook international timetable, 1970-1988
- JSP 77-142
- European rail timetable = Europaïsches Kursbuch = Indicateur europeén. 2005-2013
- JSL 05-3
- The Australasian "A.B.C." guide; a traveller's guide to Australia and New Zealand. [1879]
- TPX (Australasian "A.B.C." guide)
- New Zealand Railways timetables of principal rail, road and ferry services, except suburban services at Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin. 1974, 1976
- JSP 77-276 v. 20-21 (1974, 1976)
- The Indian ABC and general railway guide [microform], containing the official time tables of all the railways in India, Burmah and Ceylon, steam boats and tonga daks, &c., and an epitomised descriptions of all the chief cities and places of interest, with railway station maps. 1888
- *Z BBH p.v. 10-14 Reel 3
- Kitaĭskai︠a︡ vostochnai︠a︡ zheli︠e︡znai︠a︡ doroga, 1903-1913 gg
- 385.951 T525
- Covers Russia and China.
- Communist China railroad passenger timetables, summer, 1960.
- HE3284 .C55 1960
- Quan guo tie lu lü ke lie che shi ge biao. [1973]
- Covers China.
- Quan guo tie lu lü ke lie che shi ge biao. 1979
- HE3284 .C48
- Covers China.