GM&O Midnight Special

[081552]

Did anyone reading this post ride the GM&O Midnight Special between Chicago and St. Louis? I have a 1967 Official Guide and I'm trying to figure out how you go between St. Louis and Chicago in 7 1/2 hours other then going very slow.

 Martin

Altadena, CA 

[jimrice4449]

I don't have a 1967 Guide but one I have for 1950 shows a running time of about 7 1/2 hours.   The key is in the fact that the Pullmans may be occupied in Chicago at 945 PM and at St Louis until 800 AM.   Anybody taking a night train between Chi and StL isn't interested in speed but rather in comfort and I suppose the RR would take the opportunity of the leisurely schedule to take care of mail handling duties.

[bobontroy]

Yep, speed was not a factor for GM&O (or Wabash or IC either) on the Chicago-St Louis overnight trains.  The idea was to get you to bed by midnight and to the destination at a time in the morning so you could do business.  Most overnight trains in this corridor were businessman's trains.  Daytime trains were far different and high speed was the rule.

[daveklepper]

A slower ride would mean a smoother and quieter ride.   Never rode the train, but rode the GM&O day trains often.  And saw the departure of the Midnight Special.   The sleeper came off when Pullman went out of business, and the train when the mail contract was pulled.

[Texas Chief]

It may have stopped at every little whistle stop in between also.

Dick

Texas Chief

[KCSfan]

The 3 competing Chi - StL overnight trains; the GM&O's Midnight Special, the Wabash's  Midnight, and the IC's Night Diamond; all ran on virtually the same schedules. Both north and southbound they left close to 11:30 pm and arrived around 7:00 am. While all carried coaches, they were primaraily Pullman trains scheduled so that business travelers could have a leisurely breakfast upon arrival and still easily make a 9:00 am business engagement. Both the Midnight Special and the Night Diamond carried a Chi - Springfield sleeper in addiditon to the St. Louis cars. The Midnight also carried a sleeper between the Wabash's suburban St. Louis Delmar station and Chicago. Sleepers on all 3 trains could be occupied at 9:30 pm at their origins. In fact the 3 trains only made a couple of more stops than their much faster daytime counterparts but their leisurely cardings made for a comfortable sleep and convenient early morning arrival time.

Mark

[Bob-Fryml]

The G.M.& O.'s Midnight Special was the only regularly scheduled passenger train I ever saw that still had sleeping cars equipped with conventional sections well into the 1960s.  As a teenager I was stunned when I discovered that fact while the train was parked for loading at Chicago Union Station! 

I could almost imagine Tony Curtis, Marilyn Monroe, and Jack Lemon having a "Hot" party in any one of the upper sleeping quarters!

[CShaveRR]

I think "mail" is probably the operative word here--sacks loaded and unloaded at every good-sized city along the way--and considering that these included a state capital and a college town, you can bet they lingered a while at these points.

[daveklepper]

And it was the GM&O overnight that lasted longer than the two others because of the mail contract.

[KCSfan]

And it was the GM&O overnight that lasted longer than the two others because of the mail contract.

Mail was only one of the factors in play. There were 3 railroads (GM&O, Wabash and IC) competing for the overnight passenger business between Chi and StL. Trip times, arrivals and departures, and equipment were virtually the same on the trains of all 3 roads. The big problem was that each got a smaller portion as the size of the total passenger pie diminished after WW2. Despite its, 4 am departure the northbound GM&O Midnight Special picked up a goodly number of coach passengers at Bloomington and to a lesser extent at Pointiac. Many of these had early morning business appointments in Chicago while others were destined for a day of shopping or connections with the morning trains out of Chi to places like Minneapolis. Neither the IC or the Wabash had the advantage of a similiar source of passengers. In Chicagoland, Joliet on the GM&O was a convenient station stop for passengers from/to the west suburbs, while Homewood on the IC was convenient to the far south suburbs. The Wabash had the advantage of serving Decatur and a suburban St. Louis station (Delmar Blvd.) I think these route differences as much as anything else accounted for the popularity of the 3 different trains as well as their longevity.

Mark