The Midwest Hiawatha connected Chicago with Sioux City, Iowa and Sioux Falls, South Dakota, with a few cars diverging at Manilla, Iowa to got to Omaha. It began operating in December, 1940, with hand-me-down equipment from the Twin Cities Hiawatha. When the latter train was reequipped in 1948, the Midwest Hiawatha was “improved” by receiving the equipment from the 1939 Twin Cities train, including its large-windowed observation car.
Click image to download a 4.6-MB PDF of this brochure from Bill Hough’s collection.
The Midwest Hiawatha continued to operate until October, 1955, when the Milwaukee Road took over the operation of Union Pacific’s City and Challenger trains from Chicago to Omaha. These trains negated the need for a Hiawatha to Omaha, while Sioux City/Sioux Falls were served with a few cars that were merged into or separated from the Challenger in Manilla.