Washingtonian (B&O)

The Washingtonian was one of two daily American named passenger trains operated by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O) during the 1940s–1950s between Baltimore, Maryland and Cleveland, Ohio, via Washington, D. C. and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Inaugurated on April 27, 1941, the Washingtonian was primarily a daytime train with a morning departure, in contrast to B&O's other train on the route, the Cleveland Night Express. Between Pittsburgh and Cleveland, the Washingtonian's cars left B&O rails and were coupled to the Steel King train of the Pittsburgh and Lake Erie Railroad (P&LE) to Youngstown, Ohio, where the Erie Railroad handled the train to Cleveland.

The Washingtonian was the venerable B&O's last passenger train to be powered by steam locomotives on its Washington, D. C. –Cumberland, Maryland mainline, not getting diesel locomotives until April, 1954. Two years later, it was replaced on October 27, 1956 by the faster and more economical Budd Rail Diesel Car (RDC)-equipped Daylight Speedliner between Baltimore and Pittsburgh, reducing operating expenses by half. The streamlined Daylight Speedliner's seven-hour schedule on B&O's Baltimore–Pittsburgh route also trimmed almost two hours travel time compared to the Washingtonian.

Schedule and equipment

The westbound Washingtonian, operating as Train # 21, left Baltimore at 9:00 a.m., arriving in Cleveland twelve hours later at 9:00 p.m. Eastbound, the Washingtonian was designated Train # 22. The train's consist was typically a pair of baggage/express cars, a Railway Post Office car, three air conditioned coaches, and a combination parlor-diner-lounge car. In the late 1940s, as many as six additional coaches were added on weekends to accommodate the throngs of East Coast-bound passengers boarding the train at the numerous Appalachian Mountain communities along the B&O's right-of-way.

In its final year of service, westbound Washingtonian Train # 21 operated on the following schedule (principal stops shown in blue, P&LE–Erie Steel King denoted in yellow):

City	Departure time
Baltimore, Md. (Mount Royal)	9:00 a.m.
Washington, D.C. (Union Station)	10:05 a.m.
Martinsburg, W. Va.	11:36 a.m.
Cumberland, Md.	1:15 p.m.
Connellsville, Pa.	4:11 p.m.
McKeesport, Pa.	5:12 p.m.
Pittsburgh, Pa. (P&LE Station)	6:05 p.m.
Youngstown, Ohio	7:35 p.m.
Cleveland, Ohio (Union Terminal)	9:00 p.m.
source: Official Guide of the Railways, February, 1956

References