The Twin Cities 400, First and Most Famous of the North Western's 400s

The Chicago & North Western Railway didn’t get its name “Route of the 400s” for nothing! This famous slogan by the railroad described its fleet-footed regional passenger trains that were said to be able to reach their destinations in 400 minutes or less, thus the name 400 was born. The first train of the railroad’s famous passenger fleet was simply known as 400 but later changed to Twin Cities 400, a train that connected Chicago with Minneapolis. Other trains to come along in the fleet included the Dakota 400 (Chicago-Huron, South Dakota), Flambeau 400 (Chicago-Ashland, Wisconsin), and Peninsula 400 (Chicago-Ishpeming, Michigan).

Throughout much of the C&NW’s life it did two things; serve the Heartland and northern Great Lakes regions as well as ferry traffic to and from Chicago, particularly the Union Pacific, a close ally for years. The railroad’s final growth period came during the late 1950s when it acquired the Litchfield & Madison giving the CN&W entrance to St. Louis. Other acquisitions included the much larger roads of the Minneapolis & St. Louis in 1960 and Chicago Great Western Railway in 1968, totaling nearly 3,000 miles in additional trackage. While this swelled the railroad’s size to over 10,000 total rail miles it lost much of this in the 1970s when America’s breadbasket could no longer support so many railroads and thus the C&NW dumped many of these unprofitable lines.

The C&NW’s fleet of 400s were never famous trains known across the country, like perhaps the Broadway Limited or Super Chief. However, they were legendary in the local region they served, from Chicago to Wisconsin, Michigan, and the Dakotas. What transpired into the first, and perhaps most famous train in the 400 fleet, the Twin Cities 400, started out as simply the 400 in 1935.

The train was said to be able to travel between Chicago and Minneapolis (roughly a distance of 400 miles) in around 400 minutes, hence its name, and while this may be a bit of a stretch the train was very fast and proved to be quite successful, particularly for commuters. The train itself featured modest, but very classy and tasteful interior designs (including lounges and parlor cars) and when it was streamlined in 1939 in a handsome livery of bright yellow and green (a paint scheme that would become the trademark of the North Western) was renamed the Twin Cities 400.

While successful, the Twin Cities 400 served a region stiff in competition from other railroads, such as the Milwaukee Road’s Twin Cities Hiawatha, a very fast and famous train into itself. In the end, the Chicago & North Western Railway, never a large railroad anyway, decided to devote its resources elsewhere and threw in the towel to the Milwaukee discontinuing the Twin Cities 400 in 1963, only 28 years after it was inaugurated.

Today, while none of the original routes of the C&NW’s 400 fleet are used today you can still ride on much of the railroad’s commuter lines in the greater Chicago area, under the direction and management of Metra.

Also, for more reading about the C&NW you might want to consider Chicago & North Western Railway from Tom Murray. From another of MBI's "Railroad Color History" series the book gives an excellent general history of the 'North Western from its humble beginnings to purchase by Union Pacific in 1995, all the while stuffed full of colored photographs (typical of "Railroad Color History" publications). If you're interested in perhaps purchasing either (or both) of these books please visit the links below which will take you to ordering information through Amazon.com, the trusted online shopping network.