It was timed to provide connections to several western railroads that terminated in St. Louis, including the Frisco, the Santa Fe, Cotton Belt and Missouri Pacific, among others.

These buses were then ferried across the Hudson River to Manhattan, where they proceeded to various "stations" including the Vanderbilt Hotel, Wanamaker's, Columbus Circle, and Rockefeller Center, as well as Brooklyn.

Only Cincinnati, Ohio, represented a truly large city big enough between Washington and St. Louis that could add a significant amount of passenger traffic.

Major intermediate stops for this route's itinerary northwest of Maryland included Pittsburgh, Youngstown, Akron and Gary.

In the final years approaching the termination of B&O passenger service, the Capitol Limited was the only remaining Washington-Chicago B&O train.