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30 -.1;tIS 1 THIS BRIEF HISTORY of the was prepared to meet the frequent requests sent to us by students, hobbyists and others who, for one reason or another, want information about the history and growth of our railroad. It is not intended to be complete, but rather to present only the more meaningful developments of a period that now extends well over a century. As we were preparing this history, it occurred to us that there are interesting parallels between the early days of railroad- ing and things which are happening today. The 1860's and 1870's were a period when small railroads were being consolidated into larger, more efficient systems—when new ideas and new methods were coming at a rapid pace—when railroads were in an ex- tended period of growth, change and im- provement. Many of these same things are happening in the 1960's, and will be happen- ing in the 1970's and other years ahead. The Milwaukee Road is a leader in these developments, whether in the past, present or coming years. We hope that this history will be both interesting and useful to you.

,/•Zsr—•; PRESIDENT VELVED,.14

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THE LOOK OF THE EARLY DAYS on the itlitwat,' (de of the crews, in this photo taken at Waukesht, ,ine between 1863-1874. new wood-burning lo- comotive, hurtling down five miles of newly-built track at 25 mph, pulling two open freight cars loaded with dignitaries and railroad officials, all holding their hats and hanging on for dear life—this marked the beginning of railroading in Wisconsin. This same test run also marked the beginning of what was to be- come the , Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad, known more informally as the Milwaukee Road. Today, this is one of our major railroads, stretching more than 10,000 miles as it reaches from Chicago and Indiana on the east to Omaha and Kansas City on the western end and to Seattle and Tacoma in the northwest. Today, the money represented in just one double-deck commuter coach (or two or three of the large new specialized freight cars) would equal the total capital involved in the original founding company when it built those first few miles of track. In reporting the history of this railroad, let's begin by sketching in the background so you can see why THE FIRST LOCOMOTIVE to run in Wisconsin is shown as it looked sometime after 1874, it came to be at the time it did, and when it was No. 71. Built in 1848, scrapped in 1883, it was a 4-4-0 with 60" drivers. why it was so important in the de- 2 THE ARRIVAL OF A TRAIN was a major event, as when this wood-burning 4 4 0 was at Kilbourn, Wis., in 1875. Kilbourn now is known as the Wisconsin Dells. THE MILWAUKEE STATION, (CENTER) huge, Ornate, with stately tower is shown as it looked in 1887, the year after it was opened. It was remodeled in 1943 and in 1953 before being torn down in 1966, after the opening of a new station in 1965. THE RAW, EMPTY LOOK OF THE PRAIRIES comes through in this view of New Eng- land, N. D., as it looked less than two years after the railroad reached there in 1910. Even so, about 11/2-million bushels of grain moved from there in the 1912 season.

velopment of Wisconsin and much crop came to be the second largest of the midwest. in the nation, rising from a total of In the early 1800's, fur trading four million bushels in 1849 to mul- was about the only business done in tiply in volume seven times over the the region that now is Wisconsin, next seven years, then remaining until lead mining began to grow in fairly constant at 28 million bushels the southwestern part of the area, annually through 1860. not far from Galena, Ill. This cul- Lumbering also began to be- minated in a lead "rush" beginning come a significant industry, starting in 1825, which in turn brought in up in the 1830's along the Chippewa, a number of settlers. Black and St. Croix rivers. Before 1800, there were prob- But despite booming popula- ably only about 200 non-Indian tion, rapidly growing volume of residents of the Wisconsin region, crops, huge amounts of lead mined but lead mining was to bring popu- and increasing size of cities,territorial lation growth to some 3,200 in transportation was almost literally 1830 and then 11,000 by 1836. still in the Dark Ages. Shipping or It was in 1836 that the "Territory traveling was by lake or river routes, of Wiskonsan" was organized, in- over mud roads not much better cluding what now is Wisconsin, than forest trails, on a few plank Iowa, and part of the roads or military roads—and all of Dakotas. these were generally unusable dur- Population continued to grow, ing parts of the year. jumping to nearly 31,000 in 1840, The moving of freight was slow, to 44,000 in 1842, to more than irregular, very expensive and some- 155,000 in 1846, and then it more times hazardous under these condi- than doubled in the decade of the tions. Existing transportation fre- 1850's. quently couldn't handle the volume During this growth, lead min- of shipping. ing reached its peak in about 1847 During this time, the cities were and then began to decline. As lead beginning their growth, and begin- declined, agriculture took its place, ning to compete to see which would particularly wheat farming. have the largest share of industry, In that era, Wisconsin's wheat commerce, shipping and trade. It 3 was already clear that the city with only 23 miles of railroad track; it As Kilbourn and his associates who also were involved in the canal the best transportation would grow was to have 2,800 miles by 1840 looked over the need for better proposal, had been formed in 1836 fastest. The two earliest cities were and about 9,000 miles of track by transportation to serve a rapidly de- to propose a railroad, this being Prairie du Chien and Green Bay. 1850. veloping region, they first thought the one that eventually was built. Then Milwaukee began to boom, its One man aware of the interest in terms of building a canal between Kilbourn and his associates, population starting to grow from in railroads was Byron Kilbourn, Milwaukee and the Rock River. after dropping the idea of the canal, 1 835 onward, reaching about who was one of the three men who Some surveying was done and about then obtained a charter in 1847 that 10,000 people in 1845, and then virtually owned Milwaukee in the two miles of canal were dug before granted them rights to build a rail- almost unbelievably jumping from mid-1 830's. Kilbourn had settled the whole idea was abandoned. road over the 20 miles between 21,000 to 46,000 from 1850 to there in 1835 after having worked The earliest proposals to build Milwaukee and Waukesha. Later 1851. the preceding year in surveying the railroads in the territory came in the charter was amended so that the People had begun to think in territory. Earlier he had been an 1836, the year the territory was railroad could be extended to the terms of railroads even by the early engineer on some canal building organized. In its 12 years of exis- Mississippi River. On May 19, 1830's, despite the prominence of projects. Kilbourn, an important tence, the territorial government 1849, Kilbourn was elected presi- canal-building in that era, and even and well-educated man for that time, chartered several railroads, only one dent of the railroad company, which though the country's first locomotive was the son of an Ohio congressman of which was ever built. A com- had authorized capital of $100,000. had run a few years before, in 1825. and the son-in-law of John Fitch, mittee of Milwaukee citizens, in- It first was named the Milwaukee By 1830, the United States had an early inventor of the steamboat. cluding Kilbourn and some others & Waukesha Railroad Company, 4 THE OMAHA FREIGHT AND TICKET OFFICE (FAR LEFT) in an uncertain year—probably in the 1890's.

THE TICKET OFFICE (CENTER) gleams with varnished voodwork in an unknown, bygone year.

A NEW TRAIN IN TOWN drew crowds. ( Al LEIF! ) Here the OLYMPIAN is shown on its first trip, in Deer Lodge, Mont., on May 30, 1911, a time soon alter the Milwaukee's lines were extended to the Pacific North- west region.

then in 1850 the name was changed a while when cash—not something city of Milwaukee had to issue bonds guests could take a trial ride over to the Milwaukee & Mississippi to trade—was needed for getting that were used in helping finance five miles of track reaching out from Railroad Company. iron rails. This problem seemed the railroad's cash needs. Milwaukee. One of the first problems was solved when the mayor of Milton About ten years later, the mort- Pulling the two open freight how to raise money in a region that stood up at a meeting, offered to gage idea was to kick back on the cars was a locomotive that had been Indians had given up title to only mortgage his farm to help raise cash, M&M and other railroads, because shipped in by lake boat. Built in about 10 years before. The direc- and then reportedly asked "are there when the roads failed and mortgages 1848 by the Norris Locomotive tors took in whatever they could for not one hundred men between Mil- on farms were foreclosed a great Works in Philadelphia, the first en- stock, and only sometimes was this waukee and Rock River that can anti-railroad bitterness developed gine was known successively as in money. Much of the stock was do the same? If so, here is your that was to last for decades, and Number One, Bob Ellis, Iowa and sold by bartering it for something money." that led to formation of farm organ- by the number 71 in the years be- that could be used to build the line. There were a hundred men, izations such as the Grange. fore it was finally scrapped. For example, stock might be given and more, but the problem wasn't Once the M&M had money in The railroad's line to Wau- in exchange for food, for some solved. Eastern money centers hand, construction went ahead and kesha was completed early in 1851, grading work, for putting up build- weren't much interested in loan the first rails were laid on Septem- and on February 25 came the first ings, for harness or a wagon, and security that was in the form of ber 12, 1850. By November of formal trip between Milwaukee and so on. mortgages on farms in a nearly un- that year, enough of the road was Waukesha. Construction was held up for developed region. Eventually the finished so that railroad officials and Of course, there was a great 5 amount of civic fuss and hoopla the line was completed through to equipment (including baggage and and in Milwaukee in 1839. He went when that first train ran, and when Prairie du Chien on the Mississippi express cars) and more than 550 to Wisconsin as the representative other first came to other River, the railroad's original destina- freight cars. Even so, it was weak of a Chicago banker, but soon took cities. Standard procedure was to tion. The first train entered that financially, going bankrupt in 1860. over the whole business, becoming have parades, civic banquets, city on April 15, 1857. The La Crosse & Milwaukee Milwaukee's leading banker. speeches by politicians, strongly Even as the Milwaukee & Mis- defaulted on its obligations in 1858 Mitchell was a part of virtually favorable stories and editorials in sissippi was growing, other things and 1859, also going bankrupt. every early day railroad formed in the local paper, cannon shooting, were happening, some not so favor- On January 18, 1861, the Mil- Wisconsin, whether acting openly dog barking and other such things. able. waukee & Mississippi was offered as a director or banker, or as an After all, it was a time when many For one thing, a number of for sale, with debt of close to $6 informal advisor. He was on the people saw a train for the first time other budding railroads were being million, in addition to which capital Milwaukee & Mississippi board in their lives. built in that part of Wisconsin. One stock amounted to about $3.5 mil- from 1849 to 1855 and again in of these was the La Crosse & Mil- Many of these things happened lion. Three days later the company 1858, had been a commissioner of on that 20-mile inaugural trip of waukee Railroad Company, char- was acquired for $7.5 million and the Milwaukee & Watertown, a the Milwaukee & Mississippi. Peo- tered by the state legislature in 1852 reorganized as the Milwaukee & director of the La Crosse & Mil- ple lined the tracks along the entire (Wisconsin became a state in 1848) Prairie du Chien Railway Com- waukee and trustee of the small route. and authorized to build between the pany. Milwaukee & Western railroad. two cities named. Things went so well that by The La Crosse & Milwaukee, Mitchell and his associates saw April 14 of 1851 the M&M had Byron Kilbourn, let go by the which had been going through com- the chance to build a large, unified begun operating two daily trains M&M directors, was president of plicated legal maneuvers and prob- system from the small railroads that between Milwaukee and Waukesha. the La Crosse & Milwaukee, which lems, lost Byron Kilbourn through had been broken by the panic, and was consolidated in 1854 with the This was quite a thing, in a time resignation in late 1857. After some they moved to gather up a number when a 20-mile trip was a hard day's Milwaukee, Fond du Lac & Green litigation that lasted for several of these lines. journey by horse and wagon. Bay Railroad Company, chartered years, the La Crosse was sold on Eventually there would be more Later in 1851, Kilbourn, who in 1853. The combined company May 5, 1863, to the newly formed than 200 corporate entities going to could be a controversial, obstinate built a line to Horicon, 50 miles Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway make up the corporation that now and arrogant person, found himself from Milwaukee, completing this in Company. is the Milwaukee Road. In those in trouble with the company's board December of 1855, and the next Three men come into more early days, many were railroad com- and was removed from the presi- year extending it to Portage, about prominent view at this time. One panies that had systems of no more 95 miles from Milwaukee. dency, being replaced by John is Russell Sage, a New York finan- than 30, 40 or 50 miles of track. Catlin. Then came the financial panic cier who was to have many fingers Some were shorter; the Ripon and During the remaining part of of 1857, a time of trouble for indi- in many things during these years, Wolf River Railroad Co., had 9.56 1851, the main line was extended vidual people, for many businesses including fingers in many railroads. miles, the Pine River Valley & and for railroads. A number of rail- to Eagle and then in the fall of Associated with him were Alex- Stevens Point Rail Road Co. had 1852 to Milton, where it forked. roads were unable to survive, among ander Mitchell, president of the St. 16.22 miles between Lone Rock and From there, a subsidiary 'company them the Milwaukee & Mississippi Paul, and Sherburn S. Merrill, who, Richland Center, the Stillwater & and the La Crosse 8c Milwaukee. built a line from Milton to Janes- for years, was to be the general Hastings Railway had 2.00 miles— ville, completing this in January, This was true even though the manager in charge of operating the in other words, some had corporate 1853. M&M, by 1858, was rather a sub- Milwaukee & St. Paul. names nearly as long as their track- Also during 1853, the main stantial operation for the era, with Mitchell, a Scottish immigrant, age. Mitchell's basic structure came line was extended to Stoughton and, more than 260 miles of track, 43 had come to the U.S. as a young from the La Crosse & Milwaukee. early in 1854, to Madison. In 1857, locomotives, 46 units of passenger man, arriving in America in 1838 6 From that, he moved to arrange tonna, Minn., crossing the river, of one, which followed the Mississippi & Pacific was acquired, a line that a working agreement with the Mil- course, at Prairie du Chien. River from St. Paul to La Crosse, ran straight west from Chicago to waukee & Prairie du Chien (the By 1868, the Milwaukee & came with the acquisition of the Savanna. former Milwaukee & Mississippi) in St. Paul was a railroad with 825 St. Paul & Chicago Railway. Also By the end of 1880, the Mil- 1865. Then in 1866 Mitchell be- miles of track, 135 locomotives, in 1872, the M&StP completed and waukee had 3,775 miles of com- came a director of the Prairie du more than 130 units of passenger opened a line between Milwaukee pleted road (compared to only 1,412 Chien and the next year was elected equipment and more than 2,400 and Chicago. three years earlier) and had 425 its president, merging it with the freight cars. It was a big railroad By that time, Chicago clearly locomotives, 319 pieces of passen- La Crosse. for the era, but Mitchell and his was becoming a major city and, to ger equipment and more than_13,000 This also brought the McGregor associates were just beginning.* reflect this, the Milwaukee & St. freight cars. As nearly as we can Western under control of Mitchell *(As a note of historical interest Paul Railway in 1874 changed its confirm, it was in 1880 that the and Sage, because this line had been and curiosity, but not much signi- name to the Chicago, Milwaukee & company first adopted the familiar leased in 1865 by the Prairie du ficance, it was at this time, in 1869, St. Paul Railway Company. tilted rectangle trademark that is still Chien. that Mitchell served for a short while The railroad grew rapidly, used in a form similar to the orig- The McGregor Western was as president of both the Milwaukee either by construction of lines or inal. an important addition. It had one & St. Paul and of the Chicago & acquisition, as the 1870's passed. The Milwaukee's goals in the end in McGregor, Ia., just across North Western, a railroad growing In 1879, the company formally early 1880's were Kansas City, the Mississippi River from Prairie as fast in Illinois and southern Wis- acquired the Western Union rail- Fargo, and Omaha, destinations it du Chien, where the old M&M consin as the M&StP was elsewhere road, which had been under Mitch- reached within a few years. Once ended. The other end of the Mc- in the Wisconsin area.) ell's control since 1869. The West- these points were reached, the rail- Gregor reached nearly to Minne- In the 1870's the St. Paul built ern Union gave access to the Mis- road began to extend branch lines apolis-St. Paul, this line being fin- rapidly, once again with some help sissippi River by a route that went from the main lines, a process that ished under Milwaukee & St. Paul from a financial panic, the one that from Racine through Beloit to Sa- was to be repeated again and again management in 1867. The line from came in 1873. vanna, Ill. The company then over the years. Milwaukee to the Twin Cities went By 1872, the second line was reached Savanna from a different As the line spread through the by way of Cresco, Ia., and Owa- opened to the Twin Cities. This direction in 1880, when the Chicago midwest, the company began to be

TEN-WHEELERS like this were commonly used for fast freight service in the yearv near the turn-of-the-century.

7 known for its introduction of im- Even with this ownership, the portant railroad innovations. It also Milwaukee managed to keep to it- started scheduling trains that, 10 self and to keep growing during the or 20 years later, would become era when huge corporations were famous "name" trains. being formed and consolidated, and •a,‘•ke' In 1887, the Milwaukee was the when great western railway systems Lynde st\s O• t first railroad to equip all of its pas- were being built. .0 0 9/4 senger cars for steam heating. The However, it couldn't keep to Bei iingharc i M •••- >-, 0 0 ,,sw11111,1,1*, e...1aapPorit Townsend ._ —. ti Port Everett 6 — C 1914 19 next year, it was the first railroad itself through the whole period. In 0 -I.. o ,A? ingales -a is. 0 _1( on "-% 0 , 0 — to operate electrically lighted trains the late 1890's, a fight developed. SEATTLE o o 0 o. ac• i •••• M M '''' west of Chicago, the first of these On one side were J. P. Morgan, the

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1881 Monticello 0- Luther her .,. a 11360 1871, 4a 1863 SYSTEM MAP • HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT 41,1887 No— i882 1872 1870 HiCA00 186?• 1867 1881 1877 18 -- 1866 Dewit 1903 NOTE: This schematic map shows when Ceolar various lines were constructed, acquired or •uncil Bluffs 1,9 ILLINOIS when trackage rights were gained over them. OMAHA ,Oriam9er. Rapids /8i/ bner Delmar Des Moines 1870 1884 190 *1'5 k• E. Mol ne GranvilleDepue f 00'5 1904' •197l 7;./. INDIANA 09Iesloy NEBRASKA McNabb 1906 Ob. ut ledge Crttumwa

NOT TO SCALE

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9 After much deliberation, the roads to make the extension. company's decision was made: go In a remarkable engineering northwest. On November 28, 1905, feat, about 2,300 miles of railroad the board of directors voted to build —built on a path going through five the line to Seattle and Tacoma. major mountain ranges, the Sad- Construction began less than dles, Belts, Rockies, Cascades and a year later, jumping off from both Bitter Roots—was built in only three ends and some in-between points years. in April, 1906. The route chosen, After construction started in then estimated to cost $60 million, 1906, the line was open for west- was to be 150 miles shorter than ward traffic to Harlowton, Mont., the combined NP/Burlington route by April of 1908, and then was and 80 miles shorter than the GN/ open for full passenger service over Burlington route. The Milwaukee's the entire route to Seattle by Au- route also was chosen so as to have gust, 1909. better grades than the competitive On May 28, 1911, the Mil- routes. However, it also was an waukee began operating its Colum- expensive route since the Milwaukee bian and Olympian passenger trains —given no land grants—had to between Chicago and the North- purchase land or buy smaller rail- west.

No. 941, (LEFT) a Prairie-type Kl-as, built in 1908 at our shops, was especially PRESIDENT WARREN G. HARDING and his wife paused at the Continental Divide used between Minneapolis and the Rockies. It had 63" driving wheels, 21308" on Jul. 2, 1923, while on the trip through the U.S. and to Alaska which ended cylinders, was nearly 69' long. At times, it carried the numbers 2093 and 5593. with his death a month after this picture. An electric passenger locomotive pulled his train through this electrified operation area. Electrified operation is used on No. 474, (RIGHT) an L2b Mikado built by Baldwin in 1923, was primarily a freight 656 miles of track, the largest such operation in the U.S. today. Electric freight engine; some were equipped for passenger use. It had 26x30" cylinders, 63" drive wheels, 80' overall length, was fitted with superheaters. Originally No. 8374. locomotives of this general type are still in use.

10 During the four years from construct an electrified operation in trifled section between Seattle and progress in its operations, some dark 1906 through 1910, the Milwaukee the Northwest. Black River was constructed and financial clouds were beginning to Road grew from 7,000 to nearly Contracts were made for elec- went into operation on July 5, 1927. appear. 10,000 route miles, because of the tric power in 1912, and in 1914 One interesting aspect of this One reason was the westward extension and because of the branch work was begun on 440 miles of operation is that electric locomotives extension and the following elec- feeder lines that either were built or electrification between Harlowton, are equipped with regenerative trification. Instead of meeting orig- acquired. Mont., and Avery, Ida. On Novem- braking. This means that when the inal estimates of either $45 million It wasn't long before the rail- ber 30, 1915, the road's first elec- electric motors are reversed for or $60 million, the extension—in- road found that steam operation in trically hauled train ran from Three braking, they become generators of cluding the $22 million electrifica- the mountains was difficult for sev- Forks to Deer Lodge in Montana, electricity, so that about 12 per cent tion cost—actually totaled about eral reasons, one being temperatures over 112 miles of track. of the power used by the trains is $257 million, at least four times the that could go as low as 40 degrees The early stages of electrified recovered during braking. Some of original estimate. below zero. operation proved so successful that these first locomotives are still in As a result, the company's debt Keeping in mind that water- in 1917 it was decided to go ahead use today, proving their durability and annual interest had soared. power for generating electricity was with electrification between Othello and efficiency. The Milwaukee's The company's funded debt abundant in the Northwest, and that and Tacoma in Washington. The 656 miles of electrified operation had actually been decreasing in the large supplies of copper for electric first test run on that track was on is the largest such operation in the years up to and through construc- wire were available at Anaconda, November 11, 1919, and formal U. S. tion of the expansion. Debt of $127 Mont., the Milwaukee's board first operation began in March, 1920. However, not for the first or last million in 1899 had shrunk to only studied, then approved, plans to Considerably later, a 10-mile elec- time while the company was making $115 million in 1909, the year con-

THE FAMOUS as it looked in 1927, when it was given com- THE "NEW" PIONEER LIMITED club car is set for tea time in 1927. The other pletely new. rollerbearing steel cars that included Pullmans, a diner club car and new cars were equally plush in design. Many ideas in design and styling were observation-lounge car. The outside color scheme was orange and maroon, in- tried out on this extensively ree quipped train. cluding the paint on the locomotive. struction was finished. But then it began to shoot up- ward. Debt was $115 million in 1909, $147 million in 1910, $192 million in 1911, $227 million in 1912, $299 million in 1913 and $331 million in 1914. By 1920, debt was more than $400 million, or nearly four times what it had been in 1910. Annual interest payments had risen propor- tionally, with these amounting to nearly $20 million a year by 1920, A No. 6124 and other F3 "Pacific locomotives were real work horses over the years, combining speed with hauling power. in a time when the company's in- come and revenues were somewhat V No. 6402, an F6 "Baltic," set a world's speed record in 1934 pulling a five-car train between Chicago-Milwaukee. Built uneven. in 1930 by Baldwin, it had 79" drivers, 26x28" cylinders, was 94' long. Top speed on the run was 103 mph; average speed setting record over 61-mile distance was 92.62 mph; and for the full 85-mile trip, the average cpeed was 76.07 mph. Another problem of the time was the return of the company from Federal control. The government had taken over the Milwaukee and other railroads during World War and operated them at capacity, with maintenance deferred, so that the property was somewhat depleted when company management again was in control. This Federal con- trol lasted slightly more than two years, from December of 1917 through March, 1920. Other factors contributed to the financial weakening. One was that two weak, deficit-ridden rail- roads were acquired, the Chicago, Terre Haute & Southeastern being taken over in May, 1921, and the Chicago, Milwaukee & Gary Rail- No. 100 way in January, 1922. The Terre Haute was a 360-mile road with good connections with eastern rail- •,,TrgmnIONOMMOOPE''''"'"'""" roads and with access to Indiana ISM -- • .313 coal fields; the Gary basically was a 95-mile road bypassing Chicago. 12 With this trackage also came On March 31, 1927, the Chi- nearly 820 million in debt in the cago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pa- case of the Terre Haute, and the cific Railroad Company was or- Milwaukee had to take over interest ganized to acquire the property of and principal on debt of the Gary, the previous company, which it this being about $3 million. In bought that November in an auction hindsight, it is clear that the Mil- held in Butte, Mont. waukee hardly needed more debt at After Interstate Commerce that time. Commission approval of the cor- Still other things played a part. porate transfer, the reorganized com- The automobile and truck began to pany took possession of the former's (callismvIrgitivrtl. f-Iff16.00 make inroads on the railroad's pas- property at midnight, January 13, senger and freight volumes as early 1928. Elected president was Henry as the 1920's. For example, the A. Scandrett, a former Union Pacific Milwaukee's total of passengers car- vice president. ried annually dropped from 16 mil- The company hoped that re- lion in 1920 to only 6.7 million organization would leave it finan- No. 1, the original 1935 , was the No. 1602 was one of the early diesels that passengers in 1930. This industry- cially strong enough to survive. first newly-built . Class "A" the Milwaukee began acquiring before wide decline has continued until 4-4-4 "Atlantic" burned oil, had top speed World War II: shown here in June, 1941. However, the Depression of the 30's of 120, had 84" drivers and 88' overall today, of course, leading to the dis- followed on the heels of reorganiza- length. appearance of many passenger tion. trains, including some very famous In the darkest days of the De- THE moves ELECTRO-MOTIVE DIESEL was one of the ones. pression, the Milwaukee made one through 16-Mile Canyon in Montana's Belt first streamline diesels acquired for pas- Mountains in 1950, powered by Fairbanks- senger use; delivered in Sept., 1941. Still another thing was the open- of its best-known steps—introduc- Morse locomotives. ing of the Panama Canal in 1914, tion of the famous 100-mile-an-hour which diverted long-haul traffic the Hiawatha trains. Milwaukee had hoped to attract to The company had been ex- its lines. perimenting with high speed pas- The Milwaukee began to en- senger trains for some time. One counter annual deficits beginning in important speed test was on July 1921 (from that year through 1940, 20, 1934, involving a five-car steel the railroad was to have only three train with roller bearing cars. Pull- years of deficit-free operation, an- ing it was locomotive 6402, a four- nual deficits in those years reaching year old engine regularly used on the

as high as 820 million). In 1924, Chicago-Milwaukee run. ---7,7111_11)Aklittt110114 some sizeable debt came due and, On that day, the special train signmEMONIE with the weak state of the railroad's left Chicago's Union Station, gath- finances, this could neither be paid ered speed, was hitting 87 miles an nor financed. Only one answer was hour by Morton Grove, reached up possible: bankruptcy. It came, by to 90 and then 92 at Northbrook, vote of the board of directors, on then 97 and 100 mph. A little later, March 17, 1925. the train was clocked at 103 mph 13 "LITTLE JOE" ELECTRICS pull freight through Eagle Nest tunnel in the Belt range. Units originally built for Russia instead were acquired by the Milwaukee in 1950.

at Oakwood, Wis. This run estab- time, a 100-mile-an-hour train was lished a new world's sustained speed really something. The Hiawathas record for passenger train travel, were talked about all over the coun- averaging 92.62 miles an hour for a try and the world. Long after their distance of 61.4 miles between Edge- introduction, the Hiawathas had brook, Ill., and Oakwood, Wis. daily audiences of people who lined Average speed for the full 85.7-mile the tracks to watch the orange, Chicago-Milwaukee trip was 76.07 maroon and silver flash mph. past. As this test was underway, the Other Hiawathas were to come. Milwaukee was planning and then The first Hiawathas were so suc- building the completely new cars, cessful that service was expanded with the company's own design in January, 1939 into a Morning ideas, that were to be used in the Hiawatha and an Afternoon Hia- Hiawathas. In September of that watha. The was year, the Milwaukee placed orders put in operation on December 11, with the American Locomotive 1940, operating between Chicago Company (Alco) for locomotives to and Omaha, City and Sioux be built at that company's Schenec- Falls. In 1947 came the Olympian tady shops. Hiawathas, t h e Chicago - Seattle Following trial runs and tests, service. Hiawatha service began on May 29, To give you an idea of the 1935, on a regular 61/2 hour sched- success of the first Hiawathas, on ule covering 410 miles, Chicago- August 31, 1935, a Hiawatha train St. Paul. The Hiawatha routinely carried 1,632 revenue passengers on made the 85-mile Chicago-Milwau- one trip. In that month, 25,000 kee run in 75 minutes, attaining the people rode the Hiawathas. permitted 100 mph speeds at points Despite this patronage and en route. other favorable developments on the Looking back, it may be bard operating side of the railroad, finan- for younger people to realize how cial troubles continued to pile up. much attention these new stream- In June of 1935, the Milwaukee lined trains received both nationally again filed a bankruptcy petition and internationally. In an age of and then was operated under a trus- supersonic jets and of rockets, 100 teeship, not coming out of bank- mph may not seem like much. But ruptcy through reorganization until in the 30's, when propellor-driven December 1, 1945. planes were still being developed During the early 40's, the Mil- and when 60-miles-an-hour seemed waukee Road—and other railroads pretty fast speed in autos of that —did an awesome job of moving 14 troops, materials and supplies for 50's brought not disaster, but a de- candy, even though these were years offices in Chicago; a $I million "one World War H. After the war came cline. This was true in general of when the nation's overall freight spot" car repair facility was opened the relative prosperity of a postwar the entire railroad industry, not just traffic volume was growing strongly. at the Bensenville freight yard; period. the Milwaukee. Then the Milwaukee—and other transport of motor vehicles on multi- In 1950, the Milwaukee cele- Several related reasons were be- railroads—began to fight back. level rack cars began to be im- brated its centennial, dating its his- hind the decline. One was that rail- New ideas in service, equip- portant new traffic; and talks got tory to that first train that ran in roads, completely regulated and ment innovations, fleets of new underway with the Chicago and Wisconsin in 1850. completely unsubsidized, were com- freight cars and locomotives, and North Western about a proposed Not long afterward, the com- peting with modes of transportation other new things were brought to consolidation. pany embarked on a program of that were mostly unregulated and the Milwaukee. In 1961—the Milwaukee's sub- rebuilding freight yards into new, that received direct or indirect sub- Here are some of the more urban operations in Chicago were completely modern gravity-type sidies from government funds. This notable developments, given on a largely modernized with double- freight classification yards, where competition grew in almost direct year-to-year basis: deck, air conditioned commuter most switching is done by a com- ratio to the rising level of Federal In 1958—the Milwaukee began coaches; more tri-level freight cars bination of hump and retarders. The spending on airways, waterways and its piggyback operations. went into service for carrying motor Airline Yard in Milwaukee was highways. For example, in a period In 1959—it installed the Car- vehicles; and data processing opera- opened in 1952, the huge Bensen- when Federal waterway spending in- scope car tracing system, designed tions began at Fullerton Avenue. ville yard west of Chicago was re- creased by four times, the ton-mile to supply up-to-the-minute informa- In 1962—the railroad expanded built in 1953 and the St. Paul yard volume of barge lines also quad- tion on freight car movements. use of VHF radio for communica- opened in 1956. rupled. In 1960—work began on in- tions between dispatchers, station In 1955, the Milwaukee began It should be recognized, too, stallation of a computer facility at agents and train personnel; expanded operating the famous "Cities" trains that the railroad industry had some the Fullerton Avenue accounting its automatic dialing system for the over Milwaukee trackage between other built-in problems that had Chicago and Omaha, in an opera- largely been ignored during the post- tion reminiscent of such famous— war prosperity. This was shown in THE 3,600 H.P. SD-45, made by EMD is typical of the huge, versatile, powerful new locomotives acquired in recent years. Specially designed for high speed over but by then vanished trains—as the the railroad industry's share of total long hauls, they ,-Ire used primarily between Chicago-Pm-417- and others. The intercity freight traffic, which fell "Cities" are the City of Los An- from nearly 70% in 1944 to only geles, City of San Francisco, City 41% in 1962. of Denver, and the The passenger traffic decline coach train, the . continued in the 40's and 50's, pri- It also was in 1955 that the marily because of the inroads of Milwaukee ran its last regularly automobile travel, partly because of scheduled steam locomotive, al- the airplane. The family car's share though the final steam run wasn't to of intercity passenger travel rose be made until March 16, 1957, since from a wartime low of 58% in 1944 a few steam locomotives were kept to about 90% in 1962. for standby service after 1955. From the late 50's to 1961, Again, the Milwaukee was to railroad industry employment was find that property improvements and cut by one-third, industry net in- progress came side-by-side with come fell by 58% and the industry's financial problems—although the freight revenues dropped signifi- 15 An aerial view of the ,nodern retarder yard at St Paul, Minn.

company's own phone lines; and in- used to lift the trailers on or off stalled the first hot box detectors, flatcars; and the Milwaukee became used to detect overheated freight car the first railroad to have complete journals and protect against derail- hot box detector protection on ments or other problems. Chicago-Omaha and Chicago-Twin In 1963—the Milwaukee in- Cities routes. augurated the XL Special and In 1965—A new, contempo- Thunderhawk freights, the fastest rary-design passenger station was between Chicago and the Pacific opened in Milwaukee, Wis.; stock- Northwest, running on schedules holders voted approval of the con- that cut a full day off previous solidation plan. schedules; began its first unit train In 1966—the Milwaukee in- operation carrying coal from mines to an Indiana power generating augurated the first all-piggyback train to operate between Chicago plant; installed the first link of a and the Twin Cities; on June 6, filed microwave relay communications an application for consolidation system; began a major freight car with the North Western. rebuilding program; ordered 22 more commuter cars to complete In 1967—a 360 computer sys- modernization of the suburban fleet; tem was installed at Carscope, giv- and stepped up acquisition of new, ing virtually instantaneous access to larger and sometimes specialized information on freight car location, freight cars, adding also to the loco- later the 360 was equipped with the motive fleet. first video display units to be used In 1964—came initial agree- by a midwest railroad; a second, ment with the North Western on larger gantry crane was put into use consolidation terms; the first grain at Piggyback Park; a Piggy Packer, unit trains were operated, moving a four-wheel drive vehicle with two between the Twin Cities and Duluth- lifting arms for handling trailers, Superior in the Upper Midwest to was also installed at Piggyback Park, Buffalo, N. Y.; a gantry crane was being the first such handling unit installed at the again-expanded Pig- to be used by a midwestern-based gyback Park facility in Bensenville. railroad.

GANTRY CRANES take 90 seconds or less to lift trailers on or off flatcars at the huge Piggyback Park at Bensenville, Ill., just west of Chicago. Two cranes are in use there. Piggy Packers also handle trailers there and at St. Paul.

16 AMONG OTHER RECENT ADVANCES in Milwaukee Road operations are the BILRETI use of computers (above), special 100-ton covered hopper cars especially S NULL TACOMA SPOKANE suited for grain carrying, and a suburban commuter fleet that has been CHEAT FALLS completely modernized. RUIN IMISTOWN MILES CITY FARGO

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