Description:
(Editor's Note: The following information on the Chicago and North Western Railroad's streamliner - the 400 - was written by Donald Walechka. Walechka, who lives in Wilson, is a railroad historian.)
Old Timers, who lived along the Chicago North Western (C&NW) tracks through Menominee, Delta and Marquette counties during the 1940s and 50s would, no doubt, stop what they were doing and watch the passing of the popular C&NW Upper Peninsula 400 as it made its daily trip south from lshpeming to Chicago. Its name, the 400, came from the fact that it made the approximate 400-mile run in about 400 minutes. The original train was put into service in the late 1930s and it served the traveling public faithfully through the 40s, 50s and into the mid-1960s. The original train, which was painted in the beautiful dark green and bright yellow Green Bay Packer colors, consisted of two engines, which were coupled back end to back end and pulled six coaches. There was the baggage car, several day coaches, a diner and a club car. The types of cars used varied from day to day as the ridership required. By the end of the 1950s, the traveling public had drifted toward the airlines and private cars to get from here to there. By 1963, the train was reduced to one engine and three cars. By the 1960s, the once majestic train had been reduced to what is shown in the photo. The railroad's final effort to keep the traveling public was to introduce bi-level cars shown in photo. The photo, taken near Stephenson, was likely taken in the train's final days and the train still rolled with pride.