How did Patrick and Agnes get from Des Moines to New York? Here’s a possible scenario.
Agnes Gooch, Patrick’s "faithful nanny", received a telegram on
Thursday, November 15, 1928, that
Patrick’s father had died, and that she would soon receive a letter with instructions. The letter arrived on
Monday, November 19, with instructions to take Patrick to his Auntie Mame’s residence in New York. They already had plans for Thanksgiving Day, November
29, in Des Moines, so they decided to leave on Friday, November 30.
They boarded the Rocky Mountain Limited on the Rock Island Line (the Chicago,
Rock Island and Pacific RR) in Des Moines at
7:00 a.m. on Friday, November 30. The train originated in Colorado Springs the
previous evening. They arrived in Chicago at La Salle Street Station at 4:15 p.m.
After having dinner in the station, they boarded a New York Central train, # 80:
The Maumee, which left Chicago La Salle Station at 9:00 p.m..
As this was an overnight train, Patrick slept in the upper berth, and Agnes in
the lower. They had to change trains at Buffalo or Cleveland, but their car was
switched, to #20, the Cayuga. They arrived at New York’s Grand Central Terminal at 9:20 p.m. on
Saturday, December 1.
After retrieving their luggage, they walked to 3 Beekman Place, a little less that a mile, where Miss Mame Dennis was having an affair (a party).
(Or they could have taken a taxi.)
Des Moines to Chicago is 503 miles, and Chicago to New York is 961 miles, for a total of 1464 miles. The trip took 38 hours 20 minutes, including the 4 hour 45 minute layover in Chicago. So their total travel time was 33 hours 35 minutes.
After 1937, travel times were much faster, after the introduction of the streamliners. If they had taken the trip in 1939, they would leave Des Moines on the Des Moines Rocket at 7:15 a.m., arriving in Chicago at 1:30 p.m. Then they could take the 20th Century Limited, "The World’s Finest Train", which left at 4:00 p.m., and arrived Grand Central Terminal at 8:00 a.m. the next morning. Or they could take the Commodore Vanderbilt, which left at 3:00 p.m. but (probably) arrived at 11:00 a.m.
Today Amtrak runs all intercity passenger trains in the United States, so if you want to take a train trip from Des Moines to New York, you would have to catch the eastbound California Zephyr at Osceola, Iowa, 39 miles south of Des Moines. The Zephyr departs Osceola 8:20 a.m., arriving Chicago’s Union Station 3:30 p.m. You would have dinner in Chicago. Then you would board the Lake Shore Limited, departing at 8:30 p.m., arriving New York’s Penn Station 6:25 p.m. the next day. Since Penn Station is on the other side of town, you would take a taxi or bus to get to Beekman Place.