The Bluebird, The Wabash Railroad's Regional Success

The Wabash Railroad is another of the many smaller Class I systems whose passenger operations are sometimes lost or forgotten about because of the surrounding larger competition who better marketed their trains with, usually, more/finer on board amenities. However, the Wabash had not only one well-known train but also one that was fairly successful, the Bluebird (which should not be confused with the Nickel Plate Road’s noted blue and white livery dubbed the “Bluebird”). While the train was one of the last streamliners unveiled to serve Chicago and St. Louis it proved to be one of the more successful, eventually operating nearly a half-dozen domes!

The Wabash Railroad never had an extensive passenger fleet although it did provide high-quality service with names like the Banner Blue Limited and Midnight Special. Most legendary, however, was the Wabash Cannon Ball, which operated between Detroit and St. Louis. The train's status was so popular with the general public that it survived right up until Amtrak in 1971 after the N&W attempted to discontinue it in the 1960s!

For a regional operation the Bluebird was a very stylish train that featured a striking livery of dark blue and gray in conjunction with the stainless steel of the Budd cars. The interior of the train was just as elegant and classy with various blues used throughout. While the Illinois Central is often credited with offering some of the finest passenger operations in the Midwest the Wabash actually did quite well competing against it between Chicago and St. Louis. The Bluebird made a round trip each day between the two cities and had a sister train, the Banner Blue, which carried out daytime services. According to the railroad's official 1950 timetable Trains #24 (northbound) and #21 (southbound) could make the run between the two cities in just over 5 hours carrying an average train speed around 55 mph. For more information regarding the Bluebird, its schedule, and consist please click here.

Interestingly, the Wabash’s trains outlived their owner. In 1964 the railroad became part of the Norfolk & Western, which, not known for extensive passenger operations itself was disinterested in continuing to run most of the Wabash’s trains. Most of the Wabash’s passenger equipment was used on other N&W trains although a semblance of the Bluebird remained on the scheduled timetable. In 1968 the train was cutback to Decatur, Illinois and renamed the City of Decatur. It remained on N&W's timetable until the end when Amtrak took over intercity passenger rail operations in 1971.

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