North coast hiawatha (Amtrak)
Encyclopedia
The North Coast Hiawatha was a United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 passenger train service operated by Amtrak
Amtrak
The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak , is a government-owned corporation that was organized on May 1, 1971, to provide intercity passenger train service in the United States. "Amtrak" is a portmanteau of the words "America" and "track". It is headquartered at Union...

 between Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

, Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...

 and Seattle, Washington. Before the coming of Amtrak the Northern Pacific
Northern Pacific Railway
The Northern Pacific Railway was a railway that operated in the west along the Canadian border of the United States. Construction began in 1870 and the main line opened all the way from the Great Lakes to the Pacific when former president Ulysses S. Grant drove in the final "golden spike" in...

's North Coast Limited
North Coast Limited
The North Coast Limited was a named passenger train operated by the Northern Pacific Railway between Chicago and Seattle via Bismarck, North Dakota...

(Chicago—Seattle) and Mainstreeter (St. Paul—Seattle) served the route. The name combined the North Coast Limited and the Milwaukee Road's Hiawathas
Hiawatha (passenger train)
The Hiawathas were named passenger trains operated by the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad , and traveled from Chicago to the Twin Cities in Minnesota. The original train takes its name from The Song of Hiawatha by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow...

. Introduced in 1971, the North Coast Hiawatha went through numerous schedule changes before being discontinued in 1979. Since then there have been numerous attempts to restore the service, without success.

History

Amtrak's initial network did not include the Northern Pacific main line; the Empire Builder carried all Chicago—Pacific Northwest
Pacific Northwest
The Pacific Northwest is a region in northwestern North America, bounded by the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains on the east. Definitions of the region vary and there is no commonly agreed upon boundary, even among Pacific Northwesterners. A common concept of the...

 over the tracks of the former Great Northern Railway.
On June 5, 1971, Amtrak
Amtrak
The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak , is a government-owned corporation that was organized on May 1, 1971, to provide intercity passenger train service in the United States. "Amtrak" is a portmanteau of the words "America" and "track". It is headquartered at Union...

 started running a section of the Empire Builder over the NP's tracks between Minneapolis and Spokane, Washington
Spokane, Washington
Spokane is a city located in the Northwestern United States in the state of Washington. It is the largest city of Spokane County of which it is also the county seat, and the metropolitan center of the Inland Northwest region...

, returning service to southern North Dakota
North Dakota
North Dakota is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States of America, along the Canadian border. The state is bordered by Canada to the north, Minnesota to the east, South Dakota to the south and Montana to the west. North Dakota is the 19th-largest state by area in the U.S....

 and Montana
Montana
Montana is a state in the Western United States. The western third of Montana contains numerous mountain ranges. Smaller, "island ranges" are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges of the Rocky Mountains. This geographical fact is reflected in the state's name,...

. Amtrak reacted in part to pressure from Mike Mansfield
Mike Mansfield
Michael Joseph Mansfield was an American Democratic politician and the longest-serving Majority Leader of the United States Senate, serving from 1961 to 1977. He also served as United States Ambassador to Japan for over ten years...

 (D-Montana), then Senate Majority Leader, who noted that the Empire Builder bypassed Montana's major population centers. This intervention earned the train the nickname “Mike Mansfield Limited”. In addition, the Northern Pacific route, which included the Yellowstone River
Yellowstone River
The Yellowstone River is a tributary of the Missouri River, approximately long, in the western United States. Considered the principal tributary of the upper Missouri, the river and its tributaries drain a wide area stretching from the Rocky Mountains in the vicinity of the Yellowstone National...

, Homestake Pass
Homestake Pass
Homestake Pass is a mountain pass in the Rocky Mountains of Montana in the United States. It sits on the Continental Divide of the Americas on the border between Jefferson County, Montana and Silver Bow County, Montana, six miles south-southeast of Butte, Montana in Beaverhead-Deerlodge National...

 and Bitterroot Mountains
Bitterroot Mountains
The Northern and Central Bitterroot Range, collectively the Bitterroot Mountains, is the largest portion of the Bitterroot Range, part of the Rocky Mountains, located in the panhandle of Idaho and westernmost Montana in the Western United States...

 was praised for its scenery. Amtrak considered it one of its six most beautiful routes. The North Coast Hiawatha also provided a convenient connection to Yellowstone National Park
Yellowstone National Park
Yellowstone National Park, established by the U.S. Congress and signed into law by President Ulysses S. Grant on March 1, 1872, is a national park located primarily in the U.S. state of Wyoming, although it also extends into Montana and Idaho...

 at Livingston, Montana
Livingston, Montana
-Geography:Livingston is located at , at an altitude of 4.501 feet .According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which, of it is land and 0.38% is waters.-Climate:-Demographics:...

.

On November 11, 1971, Amtrak formally named this service the North Coast Hiawatha, with a tri-weekly schedule between Chicago and Spokane independent of the Empire Builder. In Spokane it combined with the Empire Builder for the trip to Seattle. On the other four days of the week the train terminated in Minneapolis.

This joint operation ended on April 29, 1973, when Amtrak extended the North Coast Hiawatha to Seattle over the Great Northern's route, which included the Stevens Pass
Stevens Pass
Stevens Pass is a mountain pass through the Cascade Mountains located at the border of King County and Chelan County in Washington, United States....

 and Cascade Tunnel
Cascade Tunnel
The Cascade Tunnel refers to two tunnels at Stevens Pass through the Cascade Mountains, approximately to the east of Everett, Washington. The first Cascade Tunnel was a 2.63-mile long single track railroad, built by the Great Northern Railway in 1900 to avoid problems caused by heavy winter...

. This new routing served the northern Washington communities of Wenatchee
Wenatchee, Washington
Wenatchee is located in North Central Washington and is the largest city and county seat of Chelan County, Washington, United States. The population within the city limits in 2010 was 31,925...

 and Everett
Everett, Washington
Everett is the county seat of and the largest city in Snohomish County, Washington, United States. Named for Everett Colby, son of founder Charles L. Colby, it lies north of Seattle. The city had a total population of 103,019 at the 2010 census, making it the 6th largest in the state and...

, which had previously been without service. The North Coast Hiawatha remained on a tri-weekly schedule west of Minneapolis.

The North Coast Hiawatha's schedule fluctuated over the next three years, operating on a daily schedule between Chicago and Seattle in the summers and reverting to tri-weekly west of Minneapolis the rest of the year. Amtrak would also run a daily service during the holiday season (as in 1975, when the North Coast Hiawatha operated daily December 12—January 12), but the North Coast Hiawatha never operated a daily schedule for a full calendar year. In early 1976 the North Coast Hiawatha was threatened with discontinuance, along with the Pacific International and the three daily Portland, Oregon
Portland, Oregon
Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...

—Seattle trains, after the Ford Administration proposed budget cuts. Several members of Congress protested the proposed cuts, including Representative Max Baucus
Max Baucus
Max Sieben Baucus is the senior United States Senator from Montana and a member of the Democratic Party. First elected to the Senate in 1978, as of 2010 he is the longest-serving Senator from Montana, and the fifth longest-serving U.S...

 (D-Montana), and Senators Warren Magnuson (D-Washington) and Bob Packwood
Bob Packwood
Robert William "Bob" Packwood is a U.S. politician from Oregon and a member of the Republican Party. He resigned from the United States Senate, under threat of expulsion, in 1995 after allegations of sexual harassment, abuse and assault of women emerged.-Early life and career:Packwood was born in...

 (R-Oregon). In the end Congress approved a budget for Amtrak $62 million above the administration's request, saving all three services.

Amtrak announced in October 1976 that the North Coast Hiawatha would be the second train, after the Empire Builder, to receive the new bi-level Superliner
Superliner (railcar)
The Superliner is a double decker passenger car used by Amtrak on long haul trains that do not use the Northeast Corridor. The initial cars were built by Pullman-Standard in the late 1970s and a second order was built in the mid 1990s by Bombardier Transportation...

 coaches, then on order from Pullman Standard. In the end the North Coast Hiawatha was cancelled before the Superliners entered long-distance service. In the spring of 1977 Amtrak added seven hours to the North Coast Hiawatha's schedule, making it 52 hours 30 minutes. The change was prompted by new speed restrictions on Amtrak trains after a rash of derailments involving the new EMD SDP40F
EMD SDP40F
The EMD SDP40F was a 6-axle Diesel-electric locomotive built by General Motors Electro-Motive Division from 1973 for Amtrak service. Power was provided by an EMD 645E3 16-cylinder turbocharged Diesel engine, which generated 3000 tractive horsepower .-Origins:The SDP40F was the first locomotive...

 diesel locomotives. In September Amtrak eliminated the off-day Chicago—St. Paul service, leaving the North Coast Hiawatha with three trips a week. Amtrak reduced the Empire Builder to quad-weekly service as well.

In November Amtrak reduced the North Coast Hiawatha's running time to 46 hours 40 minutes, after the replacement of the SDP40Fs permitted an easing of speed restrictions. Even as this improved service began, the North Coast Hiawatha was threatened with cancellation. Facing a budget deficit of $60 million, Amtrak identified a half dozen routes which it considered "financially troubled." Amtrak proposed merging the North Coast Hiawatha and the Empire Builder, or even cancelling both. Throughout 1978 no decision was taken, and the North Coast Hiawatha and Empire Builder continued to provide between them daily service between Chicago and Seattle.

Discontinuance

In January 1979 Secretary of Transportation Brock Adams
Brock Adams
Brockman "Brock" Adams was an American politician and member of Congress. Adams was a Democrat from Washington and served as a U.S. Representative, Senator, and United States Secretary of Transportation before retiring in January 1993.Adams was born in Atlanta, Georgia, and attended the public...

 announced plans to cut 12000 miles (19,312.1 km) from Amtrak's network. The North Coast Hiawatha was one of many routes scheduled for elimination. The North Coast Hiawatha had faced cancellation before, but after eight years of federal subsidies members of Congress favored retrenchment. Once-vocal supporters such as Senator Magnuson expressed regret but made no public commitment. Adams noted that the North Coast Hiawatha recovered only $6 million against expenses of $24 million, and that the per-passenger cost was $178.

In July an attempt by Representative (and future Vice President
Vice president
A vice president is an officer in government or business who is below a president in rank. The name comes from the Latin vice meaning 'in place of'. In some countries, the vice president is called the deputy president...

) Al Gore
Al Gore
Albert Arnold "Al" Gore, Jr. served as the 45th Vice President of the United States , under President Bill Clinton. He was the Democratic Party's nominee for President in the 2000 U.S. presidential election....

 (D-Tennessee) to impose a one-year moratorium on the proposed cuts failed 214-197. In the end the Senate approved a smaller cutback, citing a 24% spike in Amtrak ridership after an oil shock during the summer, but the North Coast Hiawatha remained on the chopping block. In late September the Railway Labor Executives Association, along with Senator John Melcher
John Melcher
John Melcher is an American politician of the Democratic Party who represented Montana as a member of the United States House of Representatives, and as a United States Senator from 1977 until 1989.-Early life:...

 (D-Montana) and Representative Pat Williams
John Patrick Williams
John Patrick "Pat" Williams is a former Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives from the state of Montana during the years 1979–1997....

 (D-Montana), sued the U.S. Department of Transportation to prevent the discontinuance of the North Coast Hiawatha, then scheduled for October 1. A federal judge temporarily restrained Amtrak from ending the route, but the last North Coast Hiawatha ran on October 6, 1979. The last paying passenger on that run was Niel G. "Peter" Peterson, who boarded around 6 am in Ellensburg, Washington, arriving a few hours later at the King Street Station (now Amtrak
Amtrak
The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak , is a government-owned corporation that was organized on May 1, 1971, to provide intercity passenger train service in the United States. "Amtrak" is a portmanteau of the words "America" and "track". It is headquartered at Union...

) in downtown Seattle.

Proposed return

In 2008 a bill was passed that would require Amtrak to study the area and consider returning service to the area, prompting some to believe that there is a great chance of service restoration. Amtrak published a feasibility study in October 2009, which proposed restoring the North Coast Hiawatha to its 1979 route where possible with a daily schedule. Amtrak projected a yearly ridership of 359,800, some of whom would be drawn from the Empire Builder. Amtrak estimated that $1 billion in funds would be necessary to relaunch the North Coast Hiawatha, including over $300 million for new locomotives and rolling stock
Rolling stock
Rolling stock comprises all the vehicles that move on a railway. It usually includes both powered and unpowered vehicles, for example locomotives, railroad cars, coaches and wagons...

. It would take four to five years to reintroduce the service if a decision is made to move forward.

Equipment

The North Coast Hiawatha saw a variety of motive power and rolling stock during its eight years, as Amtrak disposed of its inherited equipment as best it could and gradually replaced it with its own stock. In the early 1970s a North Coast Hiawatha might feature as many as four dome car
Dome car
A dome car is a type of railway passenger car that has a glass dome on the top of the car where passengers can ride and see in all directions around the train. It also can include features of a coach, lounge car, dining car or observation...

s pulled by ex-Milwaukee Road EMD E9
EMD E9
The EMD E9 was a , A1A-A1A passenger train-hauling diesel locomotive built by General Motors' Electro-Motive Division of La Grange, Illinois between April 1954 and January 1964. 100 cab-equipped lead A units were produced, along with 44 cabless booster B units. All were for service within the...

s. The 1970 Burlington/Great Northern merger notwithstanding, cars carried both the "Big Sky Blue" livery characteristic of late Great Northern passenger trains and the "Cascade Green" of the Burlington Northern Railroad
Burlington Northern Railroad
The Burlington Northern Railroad was a United States-based railroad company formed from a merger of four major U.S. railroads. Burlington Northern operated between 1970 and 1996....

.

The North Coast Hiawatha was one of many routes to receive the new EMD SDP40F
EMD SDP40F
The EMD SDP40F was a 6-axle Diesel-electric locomotive built by General Motors Electro-Motive Division from 1973 for Amtrak service. Power was provided by an EMD 645E3 16-cylinder turbocharged Diesel engine, which generated 3000 tractive horsepower .-Origins:The SDP40F was the first locomotive...

, which worked the route between 1974–1977, although older EMD E8
EMD E8
The EMD E8 was a , A1A-A1A passenger train locomotive manufactured by General Motors' Electro-Motive Division of La Grange, Illinois. The cab version, or E8A, was manufactured from August, 1949 to December, 1953, and 449 were produced – 446 for U.S., and 3 for Canada...

 and EMD E9
EMD E9
The EMD E9 was a , A1A-A1A passenger train-hauling diesel locomotive built by General Motors' Electro-Motive Division of La Grange, Illinois between April 1954 and January 1964. 100 cab-equipped lead A units were produced, along with 44 cabless booster B units. All were for service within the...

s continued to be used. A series of derailments involving the SDP40F prompted their replacement, and by late 1977 Amtrak had introduced the EMD F40PH
EMD F40PH
-Amtrak NPCU Conversions:In later years, as Amtrak's F40PH fleet was being replaced by the newer GE Genesis-series locomotives, Amtrak converted a number of the retired units—generally ones with major mechanical problems limiting their value in the resale or lease marketplace—into "Non-Power...

 on the North Coast Hiawatha. These sometimes ran with an E9 "B" unit as well. Early 1977 Chicago-Minneapolis consists included new Amfleet
Amfleet
Amfleet is a series of intercity railroad passenger cars built for the operator Amtrak by the manufacturer Budd Company in two series during the late 1970s and early 1980s. Today, Amfleet cars are used extensively throughout the Amtrak system outside the western United States...

coaches while the Seattle through trains continued to run with domes.

External links

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