C&NW's Kate Shelley 400

[NW_611]

Anyone got an idea of an early consist for the Kate Shelley 400? I have an idea, based on an article I saw about pike-sized trains, what the late consists might've looked like, but that wasn't the era I was looking for.

 Thanks!

[cnwfan51]

Accorrding to the book the 400 Story by Jim Scibbins the Kate Shelley was Orginnally routed from Chicago to Boone from October 1955 to August 1956  From August 1956 it was cut back to Cedar Rapids Iowa   This ran until October 1957.   Then Ocober 1957 till The beginning of Amtrak in April 1971 It ran from Chicago to Clinton Iowa.   I thionk the orginal consist was An E8 Locomotive and two coaches and at times a cafe.buffet car  Hope this helps  Larry

[NW_611]

 That does help; thank you. I was under the impression, since I know little about the C&NW, that it was a full streamlined train.

[jrbernier]

  The C&NW only had two steamline observation cars, and they were used on the Twin Cities 400.  All other 400's ran without them.  The Kate Shelly 400 was an attempt to fill in a void left by the removal of the UP Streamliners from a C&NW routing  over to the Milwaukee Road.

  There was no dedicated equipment for the train.  Existing rolling stock from the pasenger pool was used.  This was a mix of 400 cars and ex-City train cars left over when UP moved their trains.  Bagg-Dorm car up front, coaches, diner, & parlor-lounge cars were 'regulars' in the early trains.  Cut backs through the year made the train basically 'coach' only.  The route was cut back from Boone to Cedar Rapids after the first year, and the following year the train was cut back again to Clinton, IA.  By the time Amtrak arrived, the train amounted to a single engine pulling 2 or 3 coaches.  It may have been the last steam heated C&NW train by that time, as all other service had gone to HEP.

  At one time the C&NW had plans for a Corn King 400 between Chicago & Omaha, with a connection between Missouri Valley and Souix City.  That never happened and the 'Kate' was as close to a '400' as Iowa ever had.

Jim

[CSSHEGEWISCH]

The "Kate Shelley" was indeed the last steam-heated passenger train on C&NW.  It was also the last C&NW passenger train without bi-levels.  At least two E7A's with steam generators (5012B and 5013B, IIRC) were the regularly assigned power.

[FTGT725]

I grew up next to the C&NW mainline in Dixon, IL. Towards the end, it was usually one E7A and one coach.