Baltimore & Ohio's Capitol Limited and National Limited

Book excerpt: In 1923 the Baltimore & Ohio's Capitol Limited started its travels between Baltimore, Washington, D.C., and Chicago. Two years later the B&O's National Limited linked the nations capital to St. Louis. Almost at once the two lines became household names, famous for the outstanding service and cuisine offered in their Pullman sleepers and renowned dining cars. This authoritative, illustrated history takes readers back to the B&O's glory years, with a wealth of images, route information, details of the trains passenger motive power, and the inside story on the frugal railroads means of streamlining its equipment with innovative and aesthetically striking results. Against a backdrop of dozens of black-and-white archival images and period color photos depicting uniforms, dinnerware, stations, period ads and route maps, and interior views of passenger cars, award-winning rail author Joe Welsh discusses how B&O passenger operations led to the demise of at least one of its rival Pennsylvania Railroads passenger trains; and how, ultimately, market forces did in the B&O's passenger trains as well. Here is the whole story, with the National Limited's failure under Amtrak's auspices--and the 1981 rebirth of the Capitol Limited as one of Amtrak's most popular trains, keeping a legend alive.