The North Western Limited

Until it introduced the 400 in 1935, the North Western Limited was Chicago & North Western’s premiere train. Advertised in the 1920s with the uninspiring (by today’s standards) slogan of “As fine as any train can be,” the overnight train left Chicago at 6:30 pm and arrived in Minneapolis at 7:50 am. By 1939, the train had been speeded up so it could leave Chicago at 11 pm and get to Minneapolis at 8:50 am. The train continued as the overnight companion of the 400 until the former was discontinued in 1959.

Click image to download a 121-KB PDF of this stationery. Click here to download a 95-KB PDF of a matching envelope.

The texture of this stationery suggests it is very old. The slogan, “electric lighted,” indicates it is from the early 1900s, as the St. Paul Road (what we now call the Milwaukee Road) was a pioneer in electric lighting in the 1890s and the C&NW wouldn’t have been far behind.


Comments

The North Western Limited — 1 Comment

  1. There were a lot of businessmen in Chicago and Minneapolis who had business to conduct in either city before the rust belt malaise set in. Being able to occupy your sleeping car at 9:00, getting good and snockered in the lounge car until midnight, then passing out until the porter woke you at 8:00 wasn’t a bad way to live life. You’d then take the train back with an evening departure after a full day of business and repeat the process. Now Amtrak has one mid afternoon departure from Chicago that dumps you off in Minneapolis at 11:15 pm and a return that leaves about 6:30 am and doesn’t get you back until all the offices are closed. You have to sleep sometime, and I’d sure rather do it in a Pullman.
    Regards, Jim

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