One of the "modern" 4-4-2's built in 1935 to pull the streamlined Hiawathas. They made the 410 mile trip from Chicago to St. Paul in 390 minutes. Northern #208 at Deerfield, Illinois with a long freight in 1949.
390 minutes to go 410 miles? That's HAULIN'!!! I love that first shot, BTW. Wrong forum, but is that why CNW called their trains the "400's"?
Russell, more very nice photos. You have so many on here I can't respond to all of them, but I sure like em all. Hemi, that's the way it was back then. My New York Central ran from New York City to Chicago (not sure of the mileage) in 16 hours, or 960 minutes, with a few stops.
Love that A Class photo. Unfortunately, the last person to ever run one of these, passed away in the past couple of years. He'd love seeing this view! Boxcab E50
That is a 6:30 minute timing from Chicago to St Paul. They later improved it to 6:15. The C&NW and CB&Q also improved their times. The CB&Q and Milwaukee looked at 6:00 flat timing, but dropped the idea when the C&NW could not match it. The '400' did mean 400 miles in 400 minutes. The C&NW route was 408 miles, and the CB&Q route was 430 miles. The CB&Q always seem to have the fastest timings as they had to run more miles(430) in the same overall time. At one time the Morning Zephyr 'averaged' 68 mph for the run. Then the government limited passenger train speed to 79 mph if there was no cab signalling. The Aurora - St Paul section was a mix of CTC and Double Track ABS. The Milwaukee had cab signalling on most of their route, and was allowed 90 mph for the passenger trains after the government ruling. The C&NW trains went slower as the track suffered, and the 'Twin Cities 400' was cancelled in about 1963, as well as 'Rochester 400' between Chicago and Mankato, MN. The CB&Q Zephyr's were combined with the Empire Builder/North Coast Limited in the 60's, and the Afternoon Hiawatha made it's final run in 1970(the original Hi). The Morning Hiawatha lasted until Amtrak. The current Amtrak Empire Builder uses the Milwaukee route(now CP Rail) between Chicago and St Paul, though it runs a little bit slower! Jim Bernier
Jim, a big welcome to Trainboard! Glad to have someone else who remembers big steam and the way passenger service ran back then. Keep posting the history that you were witness to.
from my research, I seem to remember, rather dis-hearteningly, that all the original 4-4-2's were destroyed..please someone tell me it ain't so 101...my baby [ December 25, 2005, 08:12 AM: Message edited by: Cthetrains ]
