The Hiawatha Story

by Jim Scribbins

Overview

First there was a single experimental coach, then an entire fleet. Soon Hiawatha was a railway legend. Loved for their radically new, streamlined look, the Hiawatha’sArt Deco engines were a hallmark of American industrial design—a genre of passenger cars from Tip Top Tap to Touralux to the glass-encased Skytop. For Midwestern passengers from Chicago to Aberdeen, the Hiawatha represented speed, comfort, and luxury, offering spectacular views of the rolling landscape. From 1935 to 1970 it carried countless passengers and even more memories. Richly illustrated with more than 350 photographs, The Hiawatha Story brings the design and history of this beloved rail fleet to life.

Jim Scribbins had a lifetime career at Milwaukee Road and is the author of five books about upper Midwestern railroads. He lives in West Bend, Wisconsin.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780816650033
Publisher:	University of Minnesota Press
Publication date:	05/21/2007
Series:	Fesler-Lampert Minnesota Heritage
Edition description:	First edition
Pages:	272
Sales rank:	1,077,738
Product dimensions:	11.00(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.70(d)

Table of Contents

Introduction     6
Speed     8
Enter the Hi: "Speedlined" became the adjective     10
From Tip Top Tap to Beaver Tail: The train that netted {dollar}700,000 in a year     28
Ribbed Cars and 4-6-4's: What was unprecedented became astounding     40
100 Hits 100: "A few figures for skeptics to mull over     64
Diesels, War, and S.R.O.: In an all-out war, all-out Hi's     72
Famous 15: The locomotive that sold the steam-powered Milwaukee Road on diesels     84
Skytops and Super Domes: More diesels and enough new cars to make a 2 [fraction12]-mile Hi     90
Yellow Paint and Red Ink: For President Crippen, "an unhappy task"     116
North Woods Hiawatha: The Hi that was the fisherman's friend     128
Midwest Hiawatha: "The audacity to challenge entrenchments"     140
Olympian Hiawatha: To fill a void, "a perfect train"     156
Chippewa-Hiawatha: Where aging Pacifies dimmed their headlights for deer     188
Epilogue     202
Way of the Hiawathas     204
Locomotives     224
Rolling Stock     258
Index     266