Re: CPR passenger service to Seattle
- From: "soolinehistory" <destorzek@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: cpsig@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 17 Nov 2010 19:27:47 -0000
--- In cpsig@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, "crip1978" <vic@...> wrote:
Soo Line con't running psgr svc to and from Chicago (Grand Central Sta) at
least into 1962 -- trains 3-4 Chicago - Stevens Pt; trains 5-6 Stevens Pt -
St Paul; trains 9-10 N of St Paul, 13-14 of St Paul. No thru svc. Although
connxns at Stevens Pt with The Laker were pretty good, those at St Paul were
12 hrs in all directions, making some wish the inbound trains was 10-11 hrs
late! May 1962 ORG.
VRP
Vic,
I'll say connections were good at Stevens Point; they were the same train.
The Soo's passenger trains underwent a general renumbering in the early
sixties; what had been 3 & 4, the Soo-Dominion / summertime Mountaineer became
13 & 14 to match the Canadian connection; this left the numbers 3 & 4 open, and
they were assigned to the Laker, which had been 17 & 18. 109 & 110, the
Winnipeger became 9 & 10. 1 & 2, the Chicago - Stevens Point day local, 5 & 6,
the Minneapolis connection to the Laker, and 7 & 8, the train to the Soo
remained the same.
3-5 ran combined Chicago to Owen, WI, somewhat west of Stevens Point, where it
split; one unit, the mail & express car, and a coach or two went to Minneapolis
as 5, the other two units and the rest of the train continued to Duluth as 3.
The return side was 4-6, which combined at Owen.
The Soo had a lot of competition between Chicago and the Twin Cities; The
Northwesterm, Milwaukee Road, and Burlington all went there too, and all three
were not only shorter, but double tracked, so after WWI, the Soo stopped
trying, and ran what was basically an accommodation service in that market. The
Soo was more competitive Chicago - Duluth, and that is where the Laker ran.
Since the Soo wasn't really expecting anyone to make connections at St. Paul,
they didn't worry about it.
The west end trains, the Soo-Dominion and the Winnipeger, made decent
connections in St. Paul Union Station with the other roads that went to
Chicago, who offered trains that would be in Chicago HOURS before anything the
Soo offered. This was, after all, the route of the "400"; the C&NW claimed 400
miles in 400 minutes, about 6 1/2 hours. The Soo's 4-6 took 12 hours to make
the same trip. This problem was recognized early on; when the Mountaineer was
inaugurated to capture the vacation trade to western Canada, it only ran to
Chicago over the leased Wisconsin Central the first year (1929) thereafter the
through cars to Chicago went on the C&NW under contract. After 1949, IIRC, the
Chicago connection was dropped, and the train originated in the Twin Cities.
The Chicago-Duluth Laker service was dropped in 1966; the Twin Cities-Winnipeg
service in 1967.
Dennis Storzek
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