Using steam locomotives and heavyweight cars, the Chicago & Northwestern introduced the 400 in 1935 to compete with the Burlington Twin Zephyrs on the Chicago-Twin Cities route. In 1939, it re-equipped the train with Diesels and streamlined cars. Click image … Continue reading
C&NW’s 1962 timetable showed the 400 leaving Chicago and Minneapolis at about 11 am and arriving at their opposite termini at about 7 pm, so there was time to serve both lunch and dinner in the diner. This 1964 dinner … Continue reading
Dated 1960, half of this menu offers a variety of alcoholic beverages and the other half has a much shorter selection of dinners. The menu doesn’t say so, but it obviously was used in the train’s cafe car rather than … Continue reading
These blotters from the Dale Hastin collection all relate to the C&NW 400, which was inaugurated on January 2, 1935. PDFs of the blotters are all around 300 to 400 KB in size. Dated 1936, this appears to be the … Continue reading
Chicago & North Western fully streamlined its 400 in 1939, but the postmark on this postcard showing the train crossing the Mississippi on the Stone Arch Bridge is dated 1949. The bridge itself was built by the Great Northern Railway, … Continue reading
A consulting firm named Coverdale and Colpitts (now part of URS) once did a variety of economic analyses for the rail industry. In 1935, the firm published a report on the Burlington Zephyrs, followed by reports in 1938, 1939, 1941, … Continue reading
The Burlington not only had to compete with the Union Pacific in the Chicago-Denver market, it had two other entrenched rivals in the Chicago-Twin Cities corridor. The routes of both of the other railroads, the Chicago & North Western and … Continue reading
