The Chicago-Twin Cities corridor was served by a remarkable number of railroads. In addition to the St. Paul, North Western, and Burlington, the Wisconsin Central (later Soo Line), Minneapolis & St. Louis, Chicago Great Western, and Rock Island all attempted … Continue reading
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In 1862, the first steam locomotive in Minnesota arrived in St. Paul, then a bustling frontier town of about 12,000 people. But the locomotive didn’t arrive by rail. Thanks to St. Anthony Falls, which were 16 to 20 feet high, … Continue reading
In April, 1900, the fastest Burlington and Union Pacific Chicago-Denver trains were speeded up to about 27-1/2 hours. That was a big improvement over 1890, when the fastest trains were over 30 hours, and an even bigger improvement over 1882, … Continue reading
In 1905, the St. Paul Road (which is what people called the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul in the early 20th century) reported earnings of nearly $50 million against operating costs of $32 million, which made it one of the … Continue reading
The Great Northern punched its line through the Cascade Mountains to Seattle in January 1893, almost a decade after Northern Pacific and eight years after Union Pacific reached Portland. While NP didn’t name any of its trains or offer a … Continue reading
Northern Pacific’s land grant called for it to build from Lake Superior to Puget Sound. However, it was nearly financially exhausted when it reached Washington territory in 1883. There, it met with the Oregon Railway & Navigation Company, which went … Continue reading
Competition between Chicago and San Francisco was much less intense than in the Los Angeles corridor mainly because the Overland Route was by far the shortest route. In 1911, when Western Pacific began serving this corridor, the Overland Route was … Continue reading
In late 1905, a new competitor entered the market for premium Chicago-Los Angeles trains: the Los Angeles Limited. This route was made possible when the San Pedro, Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad completed its line between Salt Lake City … Continue reading
In late 1901, Rock Island completed a 264-mile extension from Liberal, Kansas to Santa Rosa, New Mexico. Its goal was to reach coal mines that were opening up in the territory, which wouldn’t become a state until 1912. To that … Continue reading
We’ve previously seen booklets for the 1900-1901, 1904-1905, and 1906-1907 winter seasons. The one here, for the 1908-1909 season, says it is the “Fourteenth Season.” That suggests that the train didn’t operate for three seasons between 1892 and 1904 (which … Continue reading