C&NW Chicago Commuter Trains (1972)C&NW Chicago Commuter Trains (1972)
Chicago and North Western's first bi-level gallery cars for Chicago
commuter service arrived in 1954. Cab-equipped cars arrived in 1960
to allow push-pull service, with locomotives pushing trains into the
city and pulling them out. These trains operated on three major routes
from Chicago, with trains of up to ten cars during the rush-hour peaks.
Mid-day and late evenings, three-car trains were the norm.
This page depicts a typical consists of both
rush-hour and
off-peak trains.
Overview
10-car rush-hour train to Chicago
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CNW 5032A (EMD E8A). This unit, formerly KCS 29, was the newest of four E8A locomotives purchased from Kansas City Southern in January 1970. It was originally built in January 1942 as an E6A, then rebuilt as an E8A by EMD in June 1959. Delivered to the C&NW in April 1970, its steam generator was replaced with a Cummins Diesel-generator set to provide head-end power (HEP) for commuter use, but unlike many C&NW E units its portholes and number boards were left intact. |
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Two of CNW 49-150,211-236,301-329. These two cars are examples of the 157 bi-level (gallery) coaches produced for the C&NW by Pullman-Standard in 1960 through 1970. They came in seven batches: 49-76 were delivered in 1960, 77-150 in 1961, 211-216 in 1965, 217-224 in 1966, 225-236 in 1967, 301-316 in 1968, and finally 317-329 in 1970. The earliest cars could be recognized by the air conditioning intake above the double doors, which had two sets of louvers with a vertical separation in the middle. On later cars, this intake was divided into quarters. |
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Two of CNW 151-210,251-264. These two cars are examples of the 74 bi-levels with control cabs produced for the C&NW by Pullman-Standard in 1960 through 1968. They came in seven batches: 151-194 and 195-200 were built in 1960, 201-210 in 1963, 251-254 in 1965, 255 and 256 in 1966, 257-260 in 1967, and 261-264 in 1968. The air conditioning intake distinguished early cars from late ones, just as with the coaches. |
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Another CNW 49-150,211-236,301-329 bi-level coach. |
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One of CNW 1-16, C&NW's 16 original double-deck commuter cars built by St. Louis Car Co. in 1954. |
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Two of CNW 17-48, from the 32 early Pullman-Standard cars built in 1956. Note the smaller windows, similar to those on the cars produced by St. Louis Car Co. but much smaller than those on later Pullman-Standard cars. These two cars are facing opposite directions, with the lavatory on the second one towards Chicago note the small, square windows. |
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Another CNW 49-150,211-236,301-329 coach from the later Pullman-Standard orders. Note the larger windows compared to the early Pullman-Standard cars just above. |
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Another CNW 151-210,251-264 cab car, this one actually doing the job for which it was built. |
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CNW 415 (EMD F7A) Purchased new from EMD in December 1949 as CNW 4084C and renumbered in January 1972, this unit was one of a number of F-units in the C&NW commuter fleet. It subsequently was renumbered again in 1982, to CNW 400 before being retired on 8 January 1985. |
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A pair of CNW 49-150,211-236,301-329 bi-level coaches, from the seven batches produced by Pullman-Standard from 1960 through 1970. |
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A CNW 151-210,251-264 bi-level coach with a control cab. |
If you're a C&NW commuter fan, you might also enjoy Brian Clough's C&NW bi-levels.
These train images are in a scale of 1 pixel = 12 in and were created by Karl L. Swartz. For more information about them, please see Not Quite Train GIFs.
Copyright © 2002-2005,2008, Karl L. Swartz. All rights reserved.
All trademarks mentioned herein belong to their respective owners.
Animation implemented using Brian Clough's
Train Gif JavaScript Project
in conjunction with
Dr. Clue's DHTML library
.
