City of Denver (train)

City of Denver

The City of Denver in 1940.
Overview
Service type	Inter-city rail
Status	Discontinued
Locale	Western United States
First service	June 18, 1936
Last service	April 30, 1971
Former operator(s)	Union Pacific Railroad Chicago and North Western Railway Milwaukee Road
Route
Termini	Denver, Colorado
Stops	13 (westbound) 12 (eastbound)
Distance travelled	560 mi (900 km)
Average journey time	17 hours (Chicago - Denver) 16 hours 15 minutes (Denver - Chicago)
Service frequency	Daily
Train number(s)	111 (westbound) 112 (eastbound)
On-board services
Seating arrangements	Reclining seat coaches
Sleeping arrangements	Sections, roomettes and double bedrooms (1961)
Catering facilities	Dining car
Observation facilities	Dome lounge
Technical
Track gauge	4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)
Operating speed	61.6 (westbound) 64.5 (eastbound)
Route map v t e Legend Chicago Union Station Chicago C&NW Elgin Davis Junction Savanna Illinois Iowa Marion Perry Clinton Cedar Rapids Marshalltown Ames Boone Council Bluffs pre-1955 route Iowa Nebraska Omaha Columbus Grand Island Kearney North Platte Nebraska Colorado Julesburg Sterling Fort Morgan La Salle Denver

The City of Denver was a

The articulated streamliners of the 1930s consisted of power cars and passenger cars semi-permanently coupled together, with the cars sharing trucks.^[1] By the end of 1935 the Union Pacific Railroad already operated four such equipment sets, each on a different route: the M-10000 (City of Salina), M-10001 (City of Portland), M-10002 (City of Los Angeles), and M-10004 (City of San Francisco).^[2] While the M-10000 made the round-trip between Kansas City, Missouri, and Salina, Kansas, in a single day, the other three sets required multiple days to run from Chicago to their respective namesakes. The infrequent departure schedule led Union Pacific to advertise a train's "sailings", as though it were an ocean liner.^[3]

In December the Union Pacific and Chicago and North Western Railway (C&NW) announced a new Chicago–Denver "high-speed" service, to be served by a pair of trainsets enabling daily service, the M-10005 and M-10006. The projected running time of 16 hours was a full nine hours faster than the best schedule at that time.^[2] The new trains had a maximum speed in excess of 100 miles per hour (160 km/h) and averaged 65.5 miles per hour (105.4 km/h) over the 1,048-mile (1,687 km) trip. This made it the fastest scheduled long-distance train in the United States. The Union Pacific emphasized that the improved schedule would "save a business day."^[4]

At the same time the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad, commonly known as the Burlington, had ordered two streamlined 10-car trainsets of its own: the

The competition between the two trains remained unchanged for nearly twenty years. Even as it upgraded and replaced its other streamliners, Union Pacific kept the original trainsets on the route until 1953, finally introducing new lightweight equipment in 1953–1954.

Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad (the "Milwaukee Road") began handling the Union Pacific's streamliners east of Omaha, replacing the C&NW.^[12] The Burlington replaced the Denver Zephyr's equipment in 1956. With both trains sporting new equipment competition intensified. The Burlington included "Vista-Dome" dome cars on the Zephyr; within a year the Milwaukee Road's Super Domes began making appearances on the City of Denver. The Burlington also began operating a slumbercoach, an innovative economy sleeping car. Having none of its own, the Union Pacific leased two all-roomette Pennsylvania Railroad sleeping cars and billed it as "Slumbercoach service."^[13] Nevertheless, in the words of railroad historian Joe Welsh the Denver Zephyr "made mincemeat of the UP's City of Denver."^[14]

Throughout the late 1950s and 1960s the Union Pacific gradually downgraded its passenger services and consolidated trains as losses mounted. The westbound City of Denver and City of Portland began joint operation in 1959.[15] On September 7, 1969, the Union Pacific combined five of its Chicago–West Coast streamliners into a single massive train dubbed by critics the "City of Everywhere." This train included the City of Denver, City of Kansas City, City of Los Angeles, City of Portland, and City of San Francisco. Amtrak, which took over most intercity passenger trains in the United States on May 1, 1971, kept a Chicago–Denver train but preferred the Burlington's route. The City of Denver made its last run on April 30, 1971.^[16]

Route

Between 1936–1955 the City of Denver used the

Union Station at 8:30 AM the following morning.^[17]

^: 802

With the switch to the Milwaukee Road the train's Chicago terminus shifted to

Union Station. In June 1960 the City of Denver stopped in Davis Junction (for Rockford) and Savanna in Illinois, Marion (for Cedar Rapids) and Perry in Iowa.^[18]: 720 West of Omaha the station stops were unchanged. The new routing forced new timing; the westbound City of Denver departed Chicago at 3:45 PM and arrived in Denver at 7:35 AM the following morning. Although the new route took 20 minutes longer, by an odd coincidence it was exactly the same length as the previous one, at 1,048 miles (1,687 km).^[18]

^: 742

Equipment

M-10004 car set was also used while either of the two primary sets were down for refurbishing. Each set originally contained a two-car power set, with each unit developing 1,200 horsepower (890 kW). The power sets were upgraded with a second booster in mid-1939. Behind the power car was a baggage car with auxiliary power, a baggage-tavern car (containing the famed "Frontier Shack"), two 50-seat coaches, a dining-cocktail lounge, three sleeping cars in varying configurations, and a sleeper-lounge-observation car.^[8]

The 50-seat coaches featured 2x2 seating, with baggage racks in the vestibule end and separate men's and women's restrooms in the other. The dining-cocktail lounge had half its space devoted to a kitchen and bar area; two seating areas in the other end seated 12 and 24, respectively. Two of the sleeping cars contained 12 open sections, with daytime seating for 24; the third contained eight enclosed sections, two double bedrooms, and a compartment, giving the car a maximum occupancy of 22. The sleeper-lounge-observation car included a compartment, five more double bedrooms, and a rear observation area which seated 22. The cars were air-conditioned throughout.^[19]

The two trainsets remained in use until March 19, 1953, when the Union Pacific introduced conventional lightweight equipment powered by

dome lounges could be found on the City of Denver as well.^[22]

See also

• Passenger train service
  on the Chicago and North Western Railway
• Passenger train service on the Union Pacific Railroad

Notes

1. ^ According to Klein, it covered the Chicago–Omaha portion of its route in 7 hours 26 minutes at a mathematically impossible average speed of 75.3 miles per hour (121.2 km/h).^[10]

Footnotes

References

• ISBN 978-0-8166-4460-5
  .
• Sanders, Craig (2006). Amtrak in the Heartland. Bloomington, Indiana:
  ISBN 978-0-253-34705-3
  .
• ISBN 978-0-7603-0377-1
  .
• OCLC 91468
  .
• Solomon, Brian (2000). Union Pacific Railroad. Osceola, Wisconsin: MBI.
  ISBN 0-7603-0756-3
  .
• Wayner, Robert J., ed. (1972). Car Names, Numbers and Consists. New York: Wayner Publications.
  OCLC 8848690
  .
• Welsh, Joe (2008). Union Pacific's Streamliners. Minneapolis, Minnesota:
  ISBN 978-0-7603-2534-6
  .
• Zimmermann, Karl (2004). Burlington's Zephyrs. Saint Paul, Minnesota:
  ISBN 978-0-7603-1856-0
  .

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to City of Denver (train).

• 1940 timetable