Peninsula 400


The Peninsula 400 was a daily express passenger train operated by the Chicago and North Western Railway between Chicago and Ishpeming, in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. It operated as a named consist from 1942 to 1969. It was one of the railroad's 400 passenger trains, whose name stemmed from the original '400-mile, 400-minute' express operated by the railroad between Chicago and Minneapolis–St. Paul.

History

Service began in 1942, and the Peninsula 400 quickly became a major hit, drawing more passengers than the far more prestigious Twin Cities 400 and commanding fourteen passenger cars when running south of Green Bay, Wisconsin. The train, numbered as 214–209, was often pulled behind the North Western's lone ALCO DL-107 and an EMD E3 or E6. Unlike many of the other 400s, two engines were required due to the train's heavy patronage, which required lengthy consists. In 1943, for instance, the train averaged 662 passengers on its northbound run and 468 when headed back south. In all, the Peninsula 400 carried 674,299 total passengers in under two years of service.
By 1954, however, the railroad petitioned the Michigan Public Service Commission to abandon the Escanaba-Ishpeming portion of the route. They claimed that they were losing $80,000 a year from continuing the train to Ishpeming—even peak service times, e.g. when the service required an additional five passenger cars during the holiday season eight years later, were not enough to sustain a yearly profit. In October 1958 the Peninsula 400 received bilevel equipment including coaches, a lounge and a parlor car. This introduction marked the first time a North American passenger train used head end power in preference to steam heat. "The Peninsula 400" can be seen in the 1959 film Anatomy of a Murder in scenes filmed at the Ishpeming, Michigan train station.
While the Commission did not allow the North Western to abandon the train in 1954, they changed their minds roughly fifteen years later. As such, it made its last Chicago–Ishpeming run on 15 July 1969, and with it went the Chicago and Northwestern's "400" moniker. An unnamed remnant continued to run between Chicago and Green Bay until the formation of Amtrak on May 1, 1971. The Peninsula 400 is still the last regular passenger train to have serviced the Upper Peninsula; the area is now plied by intercity buses, and the nearest rail station for the region served by the train is located hundreds of miles to the south in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Gallery

Endnotes