Peninsula 400

The Peninsula 400 was a daily express passenger train operated by the Chicago and North Western Railway between Chicago and Ishpeming, in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. It operated as a named consist from 1942 to 1969. It was one of the railroad's 400 passenger trains, whose name stemmed from the original '400-mile, 400-minute' express operated by the railroad between Chicago and Minneapolis–St. Paul.[1]

Peninsula 400
The Peninsula 400 in Sheboygan, Wisconsin in 1968.
Overview
StatusDiscontinued
LocaleIllinois, Wisconsin, Michigan
First service1942
Last service15 July 1969/30 April 1971
Former operator(s)Chicago and North Western Railway
Route
StartChicago, Illinois
EndIshpeming, Michigan
Distance travelled393.3 mi (633 km)
Service frequencyDaily
Train number(s)214, 209
On-board services
Seating arrangementsBi-level coaches
Catering facilitiesCoach-bar-lounge car, tap lounge car, dining car (1964)
Observation facilitiesParlor car
Technical
Track gauge4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge

History

Service began in 1942, and the Peninsula 400 quickly became a major hit, drawing more passengers than the far more prestigious Twin Cities 400 and commanding fourteen passenger cars when running south of Green Bay, Wisconsin. The train, numbered as 214–209 (depending on what direction it was going), was often pulled behind the North Western's lone ALCO DL-107 and an EMD E3 or E6. Unlike many of the other 400s, two engines were required due to the train's heavy patronage, which required lengthy consists.[2] In 1943, for instance, the train averaged 662 passengers on its northbound run and 468 when headed back south. In all, the Peninsula 400 carried 674,299 total passengers in under two years of service.[3]

By 1954, the railroad petitioned the Michigan Public Service Commission to abandon the Escanaba-Ishpeming portion of the route. The railroad claimed it lost $80,000 a year from continuing the train to Ishpeming—even peak service times. The service required an additional five passenger cars during the holiday season, eight years later, but could not sustain a yearly profit.[4] In October 1958 the Peninsula 400 received bilevel equipment including coaches, a lounge and a parlor car. This introduction marked the first time a North American passenger train used head end power (HEP) in preference to steam heat.[5] Around this time, the train was featured in the 1959 film Anatomy of a Murder in scenes captured at the Ishpeming train station.[6]

While the Commission did not allow the North Western to abandon the train in 1954, it reversed its position fifteen years later. As such, the Peninsula 400 made its last Chicago–Ishpeming run on July 15, 1969, and with it went the Chicago and Northwestern's "400" moniker.[7] An unnamed remnant continued to run between Chicago and Green Bay until the formation of Amtrak on May 1, 1971.[8] The Peninsula 400 remains the last regular passenger train to have serviced the Upper Peninsula; the area is now plied by intercity buses, and the nearest rail station for most UP residents is located hundreds of miles to the south in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.[9]

Endnotes
  1. The Chicago–Minneapolis-St. Paul route was actually 419 miles (674 km) long, while the Peninsula 400 ran for 392 miles (631 km). Michael E. Zega, "Map of the Month," Trains 64, no. 12 (December 2004): 71.
  2. Scribbins, "The 400," 47–48.
  3. "Decade of the Streamliners," Railway Age, 750.
  4. "Railroad Asks to Discontinue Streamliner," Owosso Argus-Press, 15 September 1954, 7; "Record Holiday Traffic Expected," Milwaukee Sentinel, 20 December 1962, 10.
  5. Scribbins, "The 400," 52.
  6. Keyser, Chicago & North Western In Color, 16.
  7. Scribbins, "The 400," 53.
  8. Craig Sanders, "Routes and Trains on the Eve of Amtrak," last modified Sept. 16 1996, accessed September 2, 2013. Archived 31 January 2013.
  9. McCommons, Waiting on a Train, 3.

References
  • "Decade of the Streamliners." Railway Age 116, no. 17 (22 April 1944): 747–54.
  • Keyser, Lloyd A. Chicago & North Western In Color. Vol. 3. Scotch Plains, NJ: Morning Sun Books, 2005. ISBN 978-1582481500.
  • McCommons, James. Waiting on a Train: The Embattled Future of Passenger Rail Service a Year Spent Riding Across America. White River Junction, VT: Chelsea Green Publishing, 2009. ISBN 1603580646.
  • Scribbins, Jim. "The 400." RailNews, no. 398 (March 1997).

Further reading
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