 ThePioneer Limited crossing theShort Line Bridge in Minneapolis, 1910 | |
| Overview | |
|---|---|
| Status | Discontinued |
| First service | 1898; 127 years ago (1898) |
| Last service | September 7, 1970; 54 years ago (1970-09-07) |
| Former operator(s) | Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad |
| Route | |
| Termini | Chicago Minneapolis |
| Distance travelled | 421 miles (678 km) |
| Train number(s) | 1/4 |
ThePioneer Limited was aUnited Statesnamed passenger train running overnight on theChicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad (the "Milwaukee Road") betweenChicago, Illinois, andMinneapolis/St. Paul,Minnesota. The westbound train (to Minneapolis) was Milwaukee Road train No. 1 and the eastbound was No. 4.
The Milwaukee Road began trains No. 1 and No. 4 in 1872, the first through trains betweenChicago and theTwin Cities. ThePioneer Limited name first appeared in 1898, chosen in a public contest. It was among the nation's first named trains and the first named train on the Milwaukee Road.
The 1898 train was newly equipped with Barney & Smith sleeping cars, the carriages described in a period brochure as "...a veritableedition de luxe, bound in covers of yellow and gold." The train was re-equipped multiple times in subsequent years, the last wooden cars being replaced by steel ones in 1914.
During the train's early years thePioneer Limited had a number of "firsts": it had the first government railway mail contract in the region, the firstsleeping cars on the route, and was the region's first electrically lighted and steam-heated train. thePioneer Limited was also noted for its dining car service.
Streamlined, all-roomsleeping cars appeared on thePioneer Limited in 1948. With streamlining, the Milwaukee Road considered changing the name of the train toPioneer Hiawatha but deferred to passenger preferences to retain the older name. ThePioneer Limited was unusual in that its streamlined cars were home built in the Milwaukee Road's Milwaukee Menomonee valley shops. For various periods in thePioneer Limited's career the train employed Milwaukee Road sleeping cars and attendants rather than Pullman operated cars. After 1927 the train's sleeping cars were operated by the Pullman Company
As rail passenger traffic dwindled nationwide in the 1950s, the train was combined for a time with the Milwaukee Road'sColumbian passenger train, before theColumbian was discontinued. Travel by rail continued declining in the 1960s and revenues were further eroded by the ending of most federal mail contracts. The final runs of thePioneer Limited were on September 7, 1970.
For much of its life thePioneer Limited was one of three passenger trains that competed for overnight business on theChicago-Twin Cities run — the others were theBlack Hawk, operated by theChicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad, and theNorth Western Limited, operated by theChicago and North Western Railway. TheNorth Western Limited was discontinued on June 14, 1959, and the last runs of theBlack Hawk were on April 12, 1970. ThePioneer Limited was thus the last privately operated overnight passenger train on the route.
For a time in the 1970s and early 1980s,Amtrak operated overnight rail passenger service along the route of thePioneer Limited, as part of longer-distance routes fromChicago to eitherSeattle orDuluth. The last such trains departed on October 25, 1981, but the route still has a day train.
Passenger trains of theMilwaukee Road | ||
|---|---|---|
| Hiawathas |  | |
| Overland Route | ||
| Others | ||
| Suburban service | ||
| Rolling stock | ||