Historic lack of New York-Chicago day trains

[railiner]

That example makes me wonder....were there any other similar "stillborn" trains that were proposed, but never ran in that era? And that at least made it into the timetable?

Hiawatha extension to Fond du Lac, WI, I believe was in the same timetable.

I'm also told that splitting the LSL into separate NYP and BOS trains (all the way from Chicago) made it as far as being in Arrow with passengers ticketed before being pulled (don't know what year that was, though).

I want to say there was at least one more, but there were also a few very-short-lived trains in that period that I could just be confusing it with one of them.

You are correct...they did show an extension of one Hiawatha train from Milwaukee to Fond du Lac....that one I beleive never ran...if it did, it's another route that I missed....

 

[railiner]

Thru train and thru sleeper aren't the same to the financially challenged.

Okay, fair enough....

In the case of the "River Cities", there was also a coach (sometimes a dome!), from Kansas City to New Orleans ..

 

[Hotblack Desiato]

You are correct...they did show an extension of one Hiawatha train from Milwaukee to Fond du Lac....that one I beleive never ran...if it did, it's another route that I missed....

The FDL extension never ran. However, there was a brief Hiawatha extension that did run in the late 1990s. When I-94 was being rebuilt, they extended a train or two during commute times (I actually don’t know the schedule) west along the Builder route to a western suburban community (I want to say Oconomowoc, but really don’t remember). Sorry for veering off topic, but the thought of Hiawatha extensions reminded me of it just now. Unlike other trains in this discussion, this one actually ran but I’m pretty sure never made it into a timetable.

 

[Eric S]

You are correct...they did show an extension of one Hiawatha train from Milwaukee to Fond du Lac....that one I beleive never ran...if it did, it's another route that I missed....

The FDL extension never ran. However, there was a brief Hiawatha extension that did run in the late 1990s. When I-94 was being rebuilt, they extended a train or two during commute times (I actually don’t know the schedule) west along the Builder route to a western suburban community (I want to say Oconomowoc, but really don’t remember). Sorry for veering off topic, but the thought of Hiawatha extensions reminded me of it just now. Unlike other trains in this discussion, this one actually ran but I’m pretty sure never made it into a timetable.

I'm not positive, but I want to say it ran to beyond Oconomowoc to Watertown.

 

[cirdan]

Listening to the classic Steve Goodman/Arlo Guthrie song "City of New Orleans" got me thinking. As I'm sure you know, when it was inaugurated in 1947, the song's namesake, despite its run of more than 900 miles, operated on a daytime schedule, departing at 8 AM and arriving just before midnight, a run of about 16 hours. I can assume the train appealed to budget travelers.

Not sure if that would really appeal to budget travellers, seeing they would have to check into a hotel immediately on arrival (unless it is New Orleans locals we are talking about, who could go home). The whole point of sleeper trains is that you can save on a hotel and still have all day at destination. Long daytime trains are more attractive to people doing intermediate stops and not wanting to detrain at silly o'clock.