City of Portland

This article is about the passenger train City of Portland. For cities around the world, see Portland.

"Drumhead" logos such as this often adorned the ends of the observation cars on the City of Portland.

The City of Portland was a named passenger train operated by the Union Pacific Railroad and Chicago and North Western Railway between Chicago, Illinois, and Portland, Oregon. It started in June 1935, using the refurbished M-10001 streamliner trainset; with only one set of equipment the train left each of its terminals five times a month (or six, for the first few months). It was the first of the Chicago-to-Coast streamliners, and its 39 hour 45 minute schedule became the standard. The M-10001 was withdrawn in 1939 and replaced with another articulated trainset-- but still just one. The train was the first of the 40-hour Coast streamliners to run daily, in February 1947. In 1955 the Milwaukee Road assumed the service, replacing the Chicago and North Western between Chicago and Omaha; from January 1959 until 1967 the train ran via Denver. The train was discontinued May 1, 1971, with the inception of Amtrak. The route roughly follows the trail of the defunct Amtrak route, the Pioneer.

In addition to baggage, coach, and sleeping cars, during the mid-1950s the City of Portland added a dome coach, dome observation lounge and dome dining car to each consist. The dome dining cars were unique to Union Pacific and were only operated on this train and the City of Los Angeles. The dome cars were particularly popular as the train traveled along the scenic Columbia River, outside of Portland.

Service between Chicago and Portland is now provided by Amtrak's Empire Builder.

See also

• Passenger train service on the Chicago and North Western Railway
• Passenger train service on the Union Pacific Railroad

External links

• Passenger trains operating on the eve of Amtrak