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The 400 Story
Chicago & North Western’s Premier Passenger Trains
Jim Scribbins
$29.95 paper
ISBN: 978-0-8166-5449-9
ISBN-10: 0-8166-5449-2
“400 miles in 400 minutes . . . the fastest train on the American continent.” -advertisement, December 1934
Three midwestern railroads introduced luxury passenger service in 1935, competing for Chicago–Twin Cities business and leisure travelers. Chicago and North Western’s modern, sleek, and fast rail line began with a conventional steam-powered train dubbed the “400” and named after its ambitious schedule: “400 miles in 400 minutes.” In 1939, it evolved into an even faster diesel-powered streamlined train, eventually expanding into a fleet of streamliners that served Wisconsin, Minnesota, and upper Michigan.
The 400 Story captures the excitement of this era, tracing the rise and fall of the premier passenger system that made “Twin Cities 400” a household term in the upper Midwest.
"The trains are extinct, but many details of the landscape they traversed still exist. In this book’s maps, descriptions, and photographs of the 400s at various points along their routes, it is easy to imagine the yellow and green streamliners still rolling across the Wisconsin countryside or easing into a crowded station." —Wisconsin Magazine of History
Jim Scribbins had a lifetime career at Milwaukee Road and is the author of The Hiawatha Story (Minnesota, 2006) and four other books about upper midwestern railroads. He lives in West Bend, Wisconsin.
232 pages | 341 b&w photos, 18 color photos| 11 x 8 1/2 | 2008
Fesler-Lampert Minnesota Heritage Book Series
Introduction
400 miles in 400 minutes
For a train of social rank, a splendidly appropriate titleYellow and green
Hot competition for Hiawathas and ZephyrsMinnesota 400 and kin
Multiple monickers: Minnesota, Dakota and Rochester 400’sFlambeau 400
The vacationer’s choice to Wisconsin’s resort countryPeninsula 400
From smelt specials to Upper Michigan’s last passenger trainKate Shelley 400
For Iowa, a train named for a heroineThe 400 fleet
The North Western knew how to run a corriderThe bilevel era
Gallery cars and head-end power revolutionize carbuildingProtesters and empty seats
Minnesota loses its 400’sLocomotives
Rolling stock
A 400 color samplerIndex