History
See also: Hiawatha (passenger train)The Hiawatha inaugurated service between Chicago and the Twin Cities on May 29, 1935, on a daily 7 hour schedule for 420 miles (680 km). (In April 1935 the fastest Milwaukee train Chicago to Minneapolis took 10 hr 30 min.) The first 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 Hiawathas were pulled by steam locomotives, though the trains were not slow or old-fashioned. The four new class A locomotives had streamlining 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 at more than 100 mph (160 km/h). Patronage was good and the consist grew from five cars to as many as nine.
Like the Burlington Pioneer Zephyr and Union Pacific Railroad's M-10000 City of Salina, spectators lined the track to watch the Hiawatha. Unlike the competition, the Hiawatha train was not articulated and could carry an extra car or two if needed.
In October 1936 the Milwaukee Road re-equipped the Twin Cities Hiawathas with a new ‘1937’ Hiawatha based roughly on the 1935 design. It had 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, designed by noted industrial designer Otto Kuhler. With train length increasing to nine cars, the class A locomotives could no longer keep to the schedule and were replaced with the new class F7 4-6-4 “Hudsons”.
Read more about this topic: Twin Cities Hiawatha
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