Twin Cities 400

1934 had seen the introduction of lightweight streamlined trains in the United States. The railroads hoped these futuristic trains would stem the tide of customers turning away from train travel. The Chicago and North Western Railway had not invested in this new technology, but decided to upgrade track and motive power for higher speeds with heavyweight, steam-powered trains.

A test run was made on December 30, 1934, but the regular train started on January 2, 1935. Time dubbed the 400, "the fastest train scheduled on the American Continent, fastest in all the world on a stretch over 200 mi."[7] While the 400 implied "400 miles in 400 minutes", Chicago to St. Paul was 408.6 miles (657.6 km) in 420 minutes (7 hours), with the station stop at St. Paul and the last leg to Minneapolis taking another 30 minutes.[8] The 400s had priority over all other trains; the employee timetable specified that "Freight trains, transfer trains, and switch engines must clear the schedules of Nos. 400 and 401 [by] fifteen (15) minutes." Other 400 trains would receive similar instructions in later years, and the rule remained in effect for most of the Twin Cities 400's existence.[9]

On the first day the train reached 91 miles per hour (146 km/h).[7] On April 28 the schedule was shortened by 30 minutes to reach the mile-a-minute pace the line promised, and matching the 6½-hour pace of the newly introduced Milwaukee Road Hiawatha and the Burlington's Twin Cities Zephyr. This included a 75-minute schedule between Chicago and Milwaukee, averaging 68 mph (109 km/h) there and 63 mph (101 km/h) overall.[10] One day in late 1935 the 400 needed to make up time and reached 108 mph (174 km/h). Later, streamlined diesel trains were said to reach 112 mph (180 km/h).

C&NW renamed the first 400 to Twin Cities 400 in late 1941 as the C&NW prepared to rename almost all of its passenger trains as part of the 400 fleet, including the Flambeau 400, Minnesota 400, Peninsula 400, Shoreland 400, Valley 400 and the later Kate Shelley 400.

From 1950 to 1955 the train ran its shortest schedule, 6¼ hours between St. Paul and Chicago, an average of over 65 mph (105 km/h). In 1952 the railroad installed automatic train stop along the eastern half of the route from Chicago to Wyeville due to regulations from the Interstate Commerce Commission. This allowed the train to run at 95 to 100 mph (153 to 161 km/h) there, although the western part of the line did not get upgrades and was limited to 79 mph (127 km/h). The pace reverted to a 6½-hour schedule in 1955 and in 1960 to the 7-hour pace established in 1935. C&NW ceased running the Twin Cities 400 in 1963 and all intercity passenger service on C&NW ended with the formation of Amtrak in 1971. Today the only Twin Cities to Chicago train is the Amtrak Empire Builder, which takes more than eight hours on the former Milwaukee Road, now Canadian Pacific.

On July 30, 1959, the Twin Cities 400 left the rails between Knapp, Dunn County, Wisconsin and Menomonie, Wisconsin.[11] Fifty people were taken to area hospitals with injuries out of the 115 passengers.

The 400 was notable for fast trains of its day in that it originally ran with rebuilt or upgraded, rather than new equipment. This stood in stark comparison to the Milwaukee Road's Hiawatha and the Burlington Zephyrs, each of which first ran with brand new locomotives and cars. Each 400 train required two steam locomotives, which were swapped partway through the trip, primarily because some grease fittings on the train could not withstand the entire journey at high speed.

The steam locomotives were upgraded to feature a 45° lamp on top of the boiler just ahead of the smokestack. These lights were intended to announce the approach of the train and could be seen for a great distance in rural areas. In 1937, one locomotive was equipped with a prototype Mars light, the first ever put into use. The three-million-candela lamp had a gyrating reflector which traced a figure-8 pattern ahead of the engine.

C&NW updated the train in 1939 with two pairs of EMD E3A locomotives and lightweight streamlined passenger cars.[12] Two engines were required because the diesels didn't have as much power as the older steam locomotives. However, they were extremely reliable, with only one major breakdown in the first two years of service. These were followed by E6 locomotives in 1941, and E7s in 1947. E8s saw some service in the 1950s, though they were initially purchased for other routes.

The train originated at the Chicago and North Western Terminal (now the Ogilvie Transportation Center) on Madison Street in Chicago. It ran to Milwaukee on the lakefront commuter line and stopped at the Lake Front Depot on Wisconsin Avenue. It ran to Wyeville, Wisconsin where it followed the Omaha Road route to St. Paul. It stopped at the Saint Paul Union Depot, and then made the short run to the Minneapolis Great Northern Depot over the Stone Arch Bridge.

The Viking was another named C&NW passenger train that followed a different route, through Madison, Wisconsin, and made all the local station stops between Chicago and St. Paul. It took roughly 12 hours.

Along the routes of the Twin Cities 400 and its sister trains, there were a number of bars titled "400 Club", paying homage to the train and the social status.

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  Coach car, c. 1930s.
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  Parlor car, c. 1930s.
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  Lounge car, c. 1930s.
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  Coach car with stewardess, c. 1940s.
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  Parlor car, c. 1940s.
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  Lounge car with speedometer over the bar, c. 1940s.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Twin Cities 400.

• "Chicago and North Western: A Capsule History". Chicago and North Western Historical Society. Retrieved March 8, 2007.
• "The Twin Cities 400, First and Most Famous of the North Western's 400s". American-Rails.com. Retrieved April 1, 2009.
• Chicago And NorthWestern System [Time Table]. Rand McNally, March 14, 1948
• Scribbins, Jim (2008) [1982]. The 400 Story. Minneapolis, Minnesota: University of Minnesota Press. ISBN 978-0-8166-5449-9.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)