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The 'Milwaukee Road', officially the 'Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad' ('CMSP&P RR') , was a
Class I railroad that operated in the midwest and northwest of the
United States from
1847 until its acquisition by the
Soo Line railway on
January 1,
1986. The company went through several official names and faced bankruptcy several times in that period. While the railroad does not exist as a separate entity anymore, it is still commemorated in buildings like the historic Milwaukee Road Depot in
Minneapolis, Minnesota and in railroad hardware still maintained by railfans, such as the
Milwaukee Road 261 steam locomotive.
History
The Milwaukee Road appeared as the 'Milwaukee and Waukesha Railroad' when incorporated in 1847, but soon changed its name to 'Milwaukee and Mississippi'. After three years, the first train ran from
Milwaukee to
Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, and the first
passenger train ran on
February 25,
1851. In
1874, the name was changed to 'Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Paul'. By
1887, the railroad had lines running through
Wisconsin,
Minnesota,
Iowa,
South Dakota, and the
Upper Peninsula of
Michigan.
Expansion
In the 1890s, the Milwaukee's directors increasingly felt that they had to extend the railroad to the Pacific in order to remain competitive with other roads. A survey in 1901 estimated costs to build to the
Pacific Northwest as $45 million. In 1905, the board approved the Pacific Extension, now estimated at $60 million. The contract for the westernmost part of the route was awarded to
Horace Chapin Henry of Seattle. Construction began in 1906 and was completed in 1909. The route chosen was to be 18 miles shorter than the shortest competitor's, as well as better grades than some. It was an expensive route, however, since the Milwaukee, receiving few land grants, had to buy most of the land or acquire smaller railroads. In addition, the five mountain ranges that had to be crossed (the Saddles, Belts,
Rockies,
Cascades, and
Bitterroots) required major
civil engineering works and the use of additional locomotive power. The completion of 2,300 miles of railroad in only three years was a major feat.
Some historians question the choice of route, however, since it bypassed some population centers and passed through areas with limited local traffic potential. Much of the line paralleled the
Northern Pacific Railroad. It was primarily a long-haul route.
Electrification
The Milwaukee soon found that operation of steam locomotives over the mountain passes was difficult, with winter temperatures that reached -40°F.
Electrification seemed to be the answer, especially with abundant hydro-electric power in the mountains and a ready source of copper on-line at
Anaconda, Montana. In 1914, electrification began between
Harlowton, Montana and
Avery, Idaho. The first electric train ran in 1915 between
Three Forks, Montana and
Deer Lodge, Montana. The system used was 3,000 volt
DC overhead line.
In 1917, the board approved the construction of a separate electrified district between
Othello, Washington and
Tacoma, Washington, extended to Seattle in
1927. The two electrified districts were never connected, but a total of 656 route-miles (1,056 km) of railroad were electrified, making it the largest electrified railroad in the US.
The electrification was successful from an engineering and operational standpoint, but the cost of building the Puget Sound Extension and electrification had cost $257 million, not the $45 million the road had originally budgeted for reaching the Pacific. The debt load and reduced revenues brought the road to bankruptcy in 1925.
The railroad was re-organized as the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad Company in 1927 and officially adopted the familiar trade name The Milwaukee Road. Also in 1927, the road launched its second edition of the
''Olympian'' as a premier luxury limited passenger train and opened its first railroad-owned tourist hotel, The
Gallatin Gateway Inn in Montana.
The company had hardly a chance to make anything of its fresh start before the
Great Depression hit. Despite innovations such as the famous ''
Hiawatha'' high speed trains that averaged over 100 mph, the road again filed for bankruptcy in 1935. The Milwaukee operated under trusteeship until
December 1,
1945.
Postwar
Relative success followed the war. The railroad
dieselized in the mid 1950s, replacing most steam locomotives by 1955 and retiring the last in 1957. Other modernizations included modern freight yards. In association with
Union Pacific Railroad, the Milwaukee took over operations of the "Cities" — the ''
City of Los Angeles'', the ''
City of San Francisco'', the ''
City of Denver'', the ''
City of Portland'', as well as the all-coach ''
Challenger'' from the
Chicago and North Western Railway.
1960s
The whole railroad industry found itself in decline in the late 1950s and the 1960s, but the Milwaukee was hit particularly hard. The Midwest was overbuilt with too many competing roads, while the competition on the transcontinental routes to the Pacific was extremely tough as well. The premier transcontinental streamliner, the ''
Olympian Hiawatha'', despite the innovative scenic observation cars was cancelled in 1961, becoming the first visible casualty. The resignation of President
John P. Kiley in 1957 and his replacement with the fairly inexperienced
William John Quinn was a pivotal moment; from that point onward, the road's management was fixated on merger with another railroad as the solution to the Milwaukee's problems.
Railroad mergers had to be approved by the
Interstate Commerce Commission, however, and in 1969 the ICC effectively blocked the merger with the
Chicago and North Western Railway (C&NW) that the Milwaukee Road had counted on and had been planning for since 1964. The ICC asked for terms that the C&NW was not willing to agree to. The merger of the "Hill Lines" — the
Northern Pacific, the
Great Northern, and the
Burlington Route — was approved at around the same time, and the merged
Burlington Northern came into being on
March 3,
1970, completely surrounding the Milwaukee Road.
Early 1970s
Almost immediately after the BN merger, the owners of the C&NW offered to sell the railroad to the Milwaukee outright. The Milwaukee board rejected the offer, even though it would have given them what they had wanted throughout most of the previous decade, stating that they now believed only merger with a larger system — not a slightly smaller one — could save the railroad. Almost immediately, the road filed with the ICC to be included in the Union Pacific merger with the
Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad. Nothing came of this, nor other attempts to force the Milwaukee into other mergers against the desires of the other participants.
Fortunately for the Milwaukee, the BN merger required opening more markets to competitors, and in 1971-73, the MILW's traffic on its Pacific Extension increased substantially, although the reverse was true on its Midwest lines. The deferred maintenance on the railroad's physical plant, however, which had been building up all through the 1960s as the road attempted to polish its financial appearance for merger, was beginning to cause problems. The road's financial problems were exacerbated by the road's practice of improving its earnings during that period by selling off its wholly owned cars to financial institutions and leasing them back. The lease charges became steeper and steeper, and more and more cars needed to be sold off in order to pay for the lease payments. The railroad's fleet of cars was becoming older and older because more money was being spent on finance payments for the old cars than on buying new ones. This, in turn, contributed to car shortages that turned away business.
De-electrification
In February 1973, and against the advice of studies conducted by both the railroad and independent groups, the Milwaukee decided to scrap its electrification scheme. The board of directors considered the electrification scheme an impediment to its merger and consolidation plans, and that the money required to maintain it would be better spent elsewhere. The high copper prices of time, and the $10 million the railroad estimated it would get for selling off the copper overhead wire, contributed to the decision.
The surveys had found that an investment of $39 million could have closed the "gap" between the two electrified districts, bought new locomotives, and upgraded the electrical equipment all along the line. Furthermore, the displaced diesel locomotives could have been used elsewhere and thus reduced the requirement to purchase new, reducing the true cost of the plan to only $18 million.
General Electric even proposed underwriting the financing because of the railroad's financial position.
Rejecting this, the railroad dismantled its electrification just as the
1973 oil crisis took hold. By 1974, when the electrification was shut down, the electric locomotives operated at half the cost of the diesels that replaced them. Worse, the railroad had to spend $39 million, as much as the GE-sponsored revitalisation plan, to buy more diesel locomotives to replace the electrics, and only received $5 million for the copper scrap since prices had fallen.
The badly-maintained track, which was the part of the system most in need of renewal, was never touched.
Decline to bankruptcy
Things didn't get any better after the electrification was dismantled. By 1977, much of the Pacific Extension was under slow orders due to the condition of the track, and transit times had almost tripled. Cars needing repair were being sidelined for lack of money, and locomotives needing major service were being parked. The road filed for bankruptcy for the third time on
December 19,
1977.
The bankruptcy resulted in the Milwaukee abandoning the Pacific Extension completely in 1980 and restructuring as a small regional line, which was eventually taken over by the
Soo Line in 1985. However, the ICC's auditors discovered, too late, that for some reason the Pacific Extension's expenses had been double-entered during most of the 1970s. Far from the unprofitable boat-anchor the railroad and the bankruptcy trustees said it was, the ICC found that the Pacific Extension had been returning a profit to the railroad even through 1977 and 1978, at which time traffic was severely down due to the road's problems.
Regional railroad, 1981-1985
The restructured 'Milwaukee Road, Inc.' ("Milwaukee II") proved no more profitable than the previous, losing money every year. Competition by other, larger railroads for control of the Great Lakes area attracted a bidding war for purchase of the railroad in 1984, with the C&NW and the SOO bidding up the prices. The railroad was sold to the
Soo Line Railroad on
February 21,
1985 and officially ceased to be as of
January 1,
1986.
As of 2007, a few locomotives remain in the railroad's freight paint scheme, sans the Milwaukee Road logo.
Passenger train service
The Milwaukee Road aggressively marketed passenger service through much of its history, maintaining a high quality of service until the end of private intercity passenger operations in 1971. The Milwaukee prided itself on its passenger operations, providing the nation with some of its most innovative and colorful trains. The railroads home-built equipment was among some of the best passenger equipment ever run on any American railroad. The Milwaukee's reputation for high quality service was the principal reason that the Union Pacific shifted its service to the Milwaukee Road for it's "City" streamliners in 1955.
The Milwaukee Road's ''Pioneer Limited'' was one of the nations' first named trains and its colorful ''Hiawatha'' trains were among the nation's finest streamliners. The post-World War II ''Hiawatha'' trains remain a high water mark for passenger train industrial design.
★ ''
Afternoon Hiawatha''
★ ''
The Arrow''
★ ''
Chippewa-Hiawatha''
★ ''
The Columbian''
★ ''
Copper Country Limited''
★ ''
Fast Mail''
★ ''
Midwest Hiawatha''
★ ''
Morning Hiawatha''
★ ''
North Woods Hiawatha''
★ ''
Olympian''
★ ''
Olympian Hiawatha''
★ ''
The Pioneer Limited''
★ ''
The Sioux''
★ ''
Southwest Limited''
★ ''
The Varsity''
Starting in November, 1955 the Milwaukee Road assumed joint operation of the Union Pacific's ''
City of Los Angeles'', ''
City of Portland'', ''
City of Denver'', and ''
Challenger'' trains as well as the Union Pacific/Southern Pacific ''
City of San Francisco''.
After assuming operation of the UP's services, the Milwaukee Road gradually dropped its orange and maroon paint scheme in favor of UP's Armour yellow and red, finding the latter easier to keep clean.
The Milwaukee Road's streamlined passenger services are unique in that most of its equipment was built by the railroad at its Milwaukee Menomonee Valley shops including the four generations of ''Hiawatha'' equipment introduced in 1933-34, 1935, 1937-38, and 1947-48. Most striking were the "beavertail" observation cars of the 1930s and the "Skytop Lounge" observation cars by industrial designer
Brooks Stevens in the 1940s. Extended "Skytop Lounge" cars were also ordered from Pullman for ''Olympian Hiawatha'' service in 1951. The ''Olympian Hiawatha'' set was later sold to the
Canadian National Railway.
Postal Stamp
★
August 26,
1999: The
United States Postal Service issues 33-cent ''
All Aboard! 20th Century American Trains'' commemorative
stamps featuring five celebrated American passenger trains from the
1930s and
1940s. One of the five stamps features an image of The ''Hiawatha'', known as "Fastest Train in America", as it traveled over 100
miles per hour on its daily run connecting
Chicago, Milwaukee and the Twin Cities.
References
★ Derleth, August ''The Milwaukee Road: Its First Hundred Years'' (Creative Age Press, New York, 1948).
★ Johnson, Stanley. ''Milwaukee Road Olympian: A Ride to Remember.'' Coeur d'Alene, ID: Museum of North Idaho Publications, 2001 ISBN 0-96436-477-8
★ Johnson, Stanley. ''The Milwaukee Road Revisited''. Caldwell, ID: University of Idaho Press, 1997. ISBN 0-89301-198-3 ISBN: 0-97233-566-8
★ Johnson, Stanley. ''The Milwaukee Road's Western Extension: The Building of a Transcontinental Railroad''. Coeur d'Alene, ID: Museum of North Idaho Publications, 2007. ISBN 0-97233-566-8
★ Schmidt, W. H., Jr. (1977) "The singular Milwaukee - A profile" ''Railroad History'' (136) 5-129.
★ Scribbins, Jim. ''The Hiawatha Story.'' Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2007. ISBN 0-81665-003-9
★
What Really Happened Jones, Todd
See also
★ ''
Hiawatha (Amtrak)''
★
Iron Horse State Park
★
List of Milwaukee Road locomotives
★
External links
★
Milwaukee Road Historical Association
★
The Milwaukee Road 4-8-4 #261
★
Milwaukee Road History at Milwaukee Public Library
★
Milwaukee Road Ski area and ski train history
★
Milwaukee Road history (Puget Sound Model Railroad Engineers)
★
''All Aboard! 20th Century American Trains'' 1999 USPS Stamp Program
★
Milwaukee Road online
★
The Gene H. Lawson collection: The Milwaukee Road, a Museum of Pictures - fascinating picture collection along the Pacific Extension 1910-1980 approx.
★
University of Washington Libraries Digital Collections – Transportation Photographs An ongoing digital collection of photographs depicting various modes of transportation in the Pacific Northwest region and Western United States during the first half of the 20th century. Includes images of the Milwaukee Road.
★ Washington State Iron Horse State Park web site [
[1]]
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