Sioux (train)

The Sioux was a named passenger train of the Milwaukee Road that operated between Chicago, Madison, Wisconsin, and Rapid City, South Dakota, via Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin and northern Iowa. The train, #11, westbound, and #22, eastbound, operated coaches, dining cars and sleeping cars through most of its history.

The Sioux[1]
Distance Station 0 Chicago Union Station 17 mi (27 km) Glenview 50 mi (80 km) Fox Lake Illinois/Wisconsin border 74 mi (119 km) Walworth 89 mi (143 km) Avalon 99 mi (159 km) Janesville 107 mi (172 km) Milton Junction 115 mi (185 km) Edgerton 124 mi (200 km) Stoughton 133 mi (214 km) McFarland 140 mi (230 km) Madison 237 mi (381 km) Prairie du Chien Mississippi River Wisconsin/Iowa border 239 mi (385 km) Marquette Iowa/South Dakota border 534 mi (859 km) Canton 613 mi (987 km) Mitchell 755 mi (1,215 km) Murdo Central/Mountain Time 899 mi (1,447 km) Rapid City

In the latter years of the 1950s, the Sioux operated a non-stop service between Chicago's Union Station and Madison, Wisconsin. On that route the train included a dining car serving breakfast, and a first-class parlor car. West of Madison the train carried a sleeping car and coaches. West of Madison it also operated as a mail train, making frequent stops. The train crossed the Mississippi River on the Pile–Pontoon Railroad Bridge.

On October 1, 1951, the train was cut back to a Chicago to Canton, South Dakota, service with prepaid taxi connections to nearby Sioux Falls. In 1960 the train was further cut back to a Chicago to Madison coach service.[2] The train ceased operation on May 1, 1971, when Amtrak assumed responsibility for providing a national rail service.