In the 1930s and 1940s, the 20th Century Limited and Broadway Limited were distinctive for only picking up and dropping off passengers in New York and Chicago (including one suburban station in each city). Passengers with intermediate origins or destinations … Continue reading
The 20th Century Limited may have been “the most famous train in the world,” but Pennsylvania’s Broadway Limited was physically equal to it in every possible way. So it is no surprise that the Pennsylvania reequipped its flagship train in … Continue reading
The New York Central liked to say that its New York-Chicago 20th Century Limited was the most famous train in the world. To commemorate the 1948 edition of that train, the railroad put out what has to be the creepiest … Continue reading
I’ve been covering post-war streamliners lately, but here is what I think is a pre-war brochure for a pre-war train. Inaugurated in May, 1941, the Tennessean was a Southern Railway train between Washington and Memphis that also used Norfolk & … Continue reading
The Great Northern inaugurated the streamlined Red River between St. Paul and Grand Forks on June 25, 1950–one week after the Internationals began service. The single train made one round-trip per day on the 320-mile route (supplementing the Empire Builder, … Continue reading
In addition to its transcontinental Empire Builder, the Great Northern Railway operated local passenger trains in Minnesota, North Dakota, Montana, and Washington. In June, 1950, the railway replaced its heavyweight International, which connected Seattle with Vancouver, BC, with two five-car … Continue reading
In April, 1948, the Santa Fe introduced the Texas Chief, which connected Chicago with Houston and Galveston via Ft. Worth. Passengers to Dallas had to take a bus from Ft. Worth. The train took 25 hours to get from Chicago … Continue reading
On October 30, 1955, the Union Pacific abruptly shifted its passenger trains from the Chicago & North Western to the Milwaukee Road for the portion of the trip between Omaha and Chicago. According to Rank & Kratville’s heavy tome on … Continue reading
The Pere Marquette and Empire Builder may have been the first brand-new streamliners after the war, but the Union Pacific already had streamliners throughout its system. Without buying any new equipment, it (with the help of partners Southern Pacific and … Continue reading
When the Great Northern introduced the 1947 Empire Builder with much fanfare, General Motors helped with its own orange-and-green brochure advertising the locomotives used on the train. “On America’s crack trains, together with newly developed streamlined passenger cars,” the GM … Continue reading
