Twin Cities 400

400 Twin Cities 400
A preserved C&NW commuter train at the Illinois Railway Museum. Trains of similar consists were used on the Peninsula 400 and Flambeau 400 up the eastern side of Wisconsin.
Overview
Type	Express train
System	Chicago and North Western Railway
Status	Ceased operation
Locale	Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois
Termini	Minneapolis, Minnesota Chicago, Illinois
Train number(s)	400, 401
Operation
Opened	January 2, 1935
Closed	July 23, 1963
Owner	Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis and Omaha Railway (Minneapolis–Wyeville), Chicago and North Western Railway (Wyeville–Chicago) (track)
Operator(s)	Chicago and North Western Railway
Technical
Track gauge	4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) Standard gauge
Operating speed	Over 112 mph (180 km/h) max 63 mph (101 km/h) average (1950–1955)
Route map Legend 406.7 Minneapolis Mississippi River 396.1 Saint Paul St. Croix River (MN/WI border) 310.6 Eau Claire 238.9 Wyeville Wisconsin River (Castle Rock Lake) 209.5 Adams 148 South Beaver Dam 85 Milwaukee (C&NW Lakefront) 61.9 Racine Wisconsin/Illinois border 12 Evanston 0 Chicago (C&NW Terminal)

The 400 (later named the Twin Cities 400) was a named passenger train operated by the Chicago and North Western Railway between Chicago and Saint Paul, with a final stop in Minneapolis. The train took its name from the schedule of 400 miles between the cities in 400 minutes, and was also a nod to "The Four Hundred Club", a term coined by Ward McAllister to refer to the social elite of New York City in the late 19th century. It was an express train with limited stops between Chicago and the Twin Cities. The line operated from 1935 to 1963, and spawned a number of other "400" trains.

Background

1934 had seen the introduction of the first lightweight, streamlined trains in the United States. The railroads who developed them hoped these futuristic trains would stem the tide of customers turning away from train travel to cars and air travel. However, the Chicago and North Western Railway had not invested in this new technology, but determined that they could upgrade track and motive power to achieve higher speeds and still make an impact with their heavyweight, steam-powered equipment.

C&NW made their first upgrades in 1934 along the 85-mile (137 km) line between Chicago and Milwaukee, Wisconsin, introducing the 90-minute Pacemaker service to compete with the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific Railroad (Milwaukee Road) which introduced a similar train. Attention then turned to running faster trains to Saint Paul: The Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad ran a Zephyr demonstration train between Chicago and the Twin Cities that summer with the intent to run regular service the next year, and the Milwaukee Road introduced similar plans.

While C&NW's existing Chicago to St. Paul Viking train went through Madison, taking about 12 hours, the railroad focused on upgrading a more rural northern route which turned west from Milwaukee. The railroad also worked on upgrading its locomotives and passenger cars. A set of C&NW Class E-2 4-6-2 Pacific locomotives originally built by American-Schenectady in 1923 were converted to run on oil rather than coal and had other upgrades made to help them run at high speed, becoming Class E-2-a engines. The passenger cars were primarily modified to include air conditioning, though they also received improved suspension components to ensure a smoother ride.

Service history

An initial test run was made on December 30, 1934, but the first regular-service train started running on January 2, 1935. At its inception, Time dubbed the 400, "the fastest train scheduled on the American Continent, fastest in all the world on a stretch over 200 mi." While the 400 name was meant to imply "400 miles in 400 minutes", the actual distance and time was somewhat larger. The distance between Chicago and St. Paul was 408.6 miles (657.6 km), and the initial schedule was 420 minutes (7 hours), with the additional distance to Minneapolis taking another 30 minutes for a total of 450. However, continuing upgrades would reduce both running time and distance. The railroad timetables also gave the special instruction, "Nos. 400 and 401 are superior to all trains. 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.

On the first day of service, the train reached a peak speed of 91 miles per hour (146 km/h). On April 28, the schedule was shortened by 30 minutes to truly 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) on that link, and a 63 mph (101 km/h) pace overall. In late 1935, there was an instance where the 400 needed to make up time, and reached more than 108 mph (174 km/h). Eventually, streamlined diesel trains would reach at least 112 mph (180 km/h) along the route.

C&NW eventually renamed the first 400 to the 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. In 1952, the railroad installed automatic train stop systems 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 160 km/h) on those segments, although the western part of the line did not get upgrades and was restricted to 79 mph (127 km/h). The pace slackened back to a 6½-hour schedule in 1955, then in 1960 fell back to the original 7-hour pace established at the beginning of service 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 service is the Amtrak Empire Builder, which takes more than 8 hours.

Equipment

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. 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.

Route

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 Lakefront station on Wisconsin Avenue. It ran to Wyeville, Wisconsin where it followed the Omaha Road route to St. Paul. It terminated at Saint Paul Union Depot, with a 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 slightly different route through Madison, Wisconsin, and made all the local station stops between Chicago and St. Paul. It took roughly 12 hours.

Name

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.

• 

  Coach car, circa 1930s.

• 

  Parlor car, circa 1930s.

• 

  Lounge car, circa 1930s.

• 

  Coach car with stewardess, circa 1940s.

• 

  Parlor car, circa 1940s.

• 

  Lounge car with speedometer over the bar, circa 1940s.

References

• "Chicago and North Western: A Capsule History". Chicago and North Western Historical Society. http://www.cnwhs.org/ch_cnw.htm. Retrieved March 8, 2007. 
• "The Twin Cities 400, First and Most Famous of the North Western's 400s". American-Rails.com. http://www.american-rails.com/twin-cities-400.html. Retrieved April 1, 2009. 
• Chicago And NorthWestern System [Time Table]. Rand McNally, March 14, 1948