Hiawatha (passenger train)

The "Hiawathas" were named passenger trains operated by the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad (also known as the Milwaukee Road), and traveled from Chicago to the Twin Cities in Minnesota. The original train takes its name from The Song of Hiawatha by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. There are a number of Hiawatha-themed names within the city of Minneapolis, the terminus of the original train.

History

The first "Hiawatha" trains ran in 1935. By 1947, there were five routes carrying the "Hiawatha" name:

*The "Twin Cities Hiawatha" — the main line route From Chicago, Milwaukee to St. Paul and Minneapolis;
*The "North Woods Hiawatha" — a spur route off the Chicago-Minnesota main line leading from New Lisbon, Wisconsin to Minocqua, Wisconsin
*The "Chippewa-Hiawatha" — connected Chicago to Ontonagon in Michigan's Upper Peninsula via Milwaukee and Green Bay, Wisconsin.
*The "Midwest Hiawatha" — utilized the Milwaukee Road's mainline across Illinois and Iowa to Sioux Falls, South Dakota and Omaha, Nebraska (the train split into two parts in Manilla, Iowa).
*The "Olympian Hiawatha" — which traversed the Milwaukee mainline from Chicago-Twin Cities-Seattle/Tacoma.

Twin Cities Hiawatha

The Hiawatha inaugurated service between Chicago and the Twin Cities on May 29, 1935, on a regular, daily 6 hour sched­ule covering convert|410|mi|km. The first Milwaukee Road "Hiawathas" were streamlined lightweight trains designed to meet competition from the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad's (Burlington Route) "Twin Cities Zephyrs" and Chicago and North Western Railway's "Twin Cities 400". Unlike the diesel-powered "Zephyrs", the "Hiawatha" trains were pulled by steam locomotives, though the trains were by no means slow or old-fashioned. The four brand-new A locomotives had streamlining styled by Otto Kuhler, were oil-fired to reduce servicing time "en route", and were some of the fastest steam engines ever built, capable of powering their five-car train to in excess of convert|100|mph|abbr=on. The train's two sets of cars were also new and featured three coach cars, one parlor car ("Ishkoodah" or "Minnewawa") and one parlor-lounge-observation car ("Nokomis" or "Wenonah").

Like the Burlington "Pioneer Zephyr" and Union Pacific Railroad's M-10000 "City of Salina", spectators regularly lined the tracks to watch the streamlined "Hiawathas" and the Milwaukee Road train quickly became an icon of streamlining. Unlike the competition, the Hiawatha train was not articulated and could be changed in length, depending on service needed.

Due to its great economic success, in October 1936 the Milwaukee Road completely re-equipped the Twin Cities Hiawathas with a new ‘1937’ Hiawatha based roughly on the 1935 design It featured a baggage-‘Tip Top Tap’ car, coaches, a dining car, two parlor cars ("Iagoo", "Sahwa", "Shada", "Wawa"), and a new beavertail parlor-observation car ("Omeme", "Opeche").

In September 1938, the train was re-equipped again with the rib-sided ‘1939’ Hiawatha with its famous finned beaver-tail observation car was designed by noted industrial designer Otto Kuhler. In addition, with train lengths increasing to nine cars, the class A locomotives could no longer keep to the required schedule, and so were replaced with the new class F7 4-6-4 “Hudsons”.

From January 21, 1939 the Twin Cites Hiawatha was replaced by two trains — the "Morning Hiawatha" (trains 5 and 6), and the "Afternoon Hiawatha" (trains 100 and 101).

Two sets of passenger diesel locomotives were purchased in 1941: a back to back pair of Alco/GE DL-109 locomotives, the #14, and a back to back pair of EMD E-6, the #15. The Twin Cities Hiawatha was partially equipped in May 1942 with coaches, two diners, and two ‘Tip Top Tap’ cars which ran with the 1939 Beaver Tails and parlors. Older series of cars were modified with skirting to run with the newer consists. During the following War years, the trains were loaded out to 15 car consists, and one of the 1942 cars painted in patriotic red, white & blue proclaiming “Buy War Bonds.” The train was so full, that people had to sit on suitcases, or stand in aisles.

In 1947–1948 the Milwaukee Road again re-equipped its major passenger routes with new lightweight equipment.

Midwest Hiawatha

With the delivery of the 1938 trainsets, the original 1935 Hiawatha equipment was reassigned to the Chicago to Omaha/Sioux City route where it ran as the "Midwest Hiawatha".

Northwoods Hiawatha

Another train, The Northwoods Hiawatha, ran with older cars from earlier series also. This was a spur route off the Chicago-Minnesota main line leading from New Lisbon, Wisconsin to Minocqua, Wisconsin

Olympian Hiawatha

A new long distance "Hiawatha" the "Olympian Hiawatha" from Chicago to the Pacific Northwest was inaugurated in 1947. The sleeper cars and Skytop sleepers were not delivered until late 1948 and early 1949, so the train ran with Pullman heavyweights on the rear end, until delivery of the new cars. The train was designed by famous designer Brooks Stevens of Milwaukee. Six "Creek"-series 8-bedroom Skytop lounge-sleepers were created, which had more windows and a more bulbus rear end than their "Rapids"-series parlor Skytop counterparts on the "Morning Hiawatha" and "Afternoon Hiawatha". This train ceased operations on May 22, 1961, and the surplus equipment was sold to Canadian National Railways. One car, #15 "Coffee Creek" from the "Olympian Hiawatha" is undergoing restoration. (http://www.coffeecreek.info/)

Morning Hiawatha and Afternoon Hiawatha

In 1948, the new "Morning Hiawatha" and "Afternoon Hiawatha" was inaugurated with new diesel-powered trains designed by industrial designer Brooks Stevens. The new trains included new the distinctive Skytop parlor observation cars. These four cars contained a drawing room, swivelling parlor seats and at the rear there was a lounge area with a large expanse of glass windows. Skytop car #186 "Cedar Rapids" has been beautifully restored and it is owned by a Minneapolis-based organization that operates the Milwaukee Road 261 steam locomotive. The trains made their debut on May 29, 1948, on the thirteenth anniversary of the first Hiawatha.

In 1952, the Milwaukee Road took delivery of ten ‘Super Dome’ cars. Six were assigned to the "Olympian Hiawatha", and two each to the "Morning" and "Afternoon Hiawathas".

The "Morning Hiawatha" (trains 5 and 6) and "Afternoon Hiawatha" (trains 3 and 2) continued to operate between Chicago and Minneapolis until the latter train was discontinued on January 23, 1970. During this period both trains operated with a consist including coaches, a Super Dome lounge car, dining car (sometimes a Tip Top Tap car), "Valley"-series parlor cars, and the distinctive "Skytop lounge" observation car. Starting in 1955, with the Milwaukee Road handling the Union Pacific “Cities” trains between Chicago and Omaha, passenger equipment was painted in the Union Pacific armour yellow and harbor mist grey with red scotchlite striping. The rest of the fleet was painted this way, except for the heavyweight commuter cars in Chicago. The last runs of the "Morning Hiawatha" were on April 30, 1971, immediately prior to Amtrak.

Amtrak

From June 5, 1971, until October 1, 1979, there was a service known as "North Coast Hiawatha" that ran from Chicago, Illinois, to Seattle, Washington. At present, the "Hiawatha" is the name of an 85-mile (137 km) train route operated by Amtrak on the western shore of Lake Michigan.

Today, the Hiawatha still lives on with Chicago-Milwaukee Amtrak "Hiawatha Service." [ [http://www.amtrak.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=Amtrak/am2Route/Vertical_Route_Page&cid=1081256321481&c=am2Route&ssid=133 Amtrak Hiawatha Service] ] The Amtrak Empire Builder traverses the original route of the Twin Cities Hiawatha also between Chicago-Minneapolis-St. Paul on the former Milwaukee Road, now Canadian Pacific tracks. Running past the Saint Paul Union Depot on the Short Line, there is a crew change and route change at the Midway Amtrak Station, and the Empire Builder continues on BNSF trackage to Spokane.

References

Bibliography

*

ee also

*Route of The Hiawatha mountain bike trail.
*Hiawatha (Amtrak)

External links

* [http://wx4.org/to/foam/big_rr/milw/vintage/ads.html 1945 "Hiawatha" advertisement]
* [http://www.mam.org/exhibitions/_sites/brooks/photos.asp?id=24 Olympian Hiawatha Sky Top observation car, designed by Brooks Stevens in 1947]
* [http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=Cph7KwNMon8 Milwaukee Road "Hiawathas" in 1938]
* [http://mrha.com/ The Milwaukee Road Historical Association]