lettering for C&NW’s 1935-39 “400” heavyweight train

In January 1935, the Chicago & Northwestern, in order to meet the growing competition of the Milwaukee Railroad and the Burlington’s new service between Chicago and Minneapolis/St. Paul, reconditioned a number of cars into an air-conditioned train which it named the “The 400”. With speeds of up to 100 mph, pulled by one of 4 E2a Class Pacific’s (2902, 2903, 2907, 2908), these engines had new, large tenders with oil bunkers. Running on high-grade roadbed, the train made the 406.7 mile run in just 400 minutes. At the time it was the fastest train on the Continent - perhaps in the world. With automobiles able to speed up to 50 mph on recently improved highways, the train was an instant success arriving in half the time. Plans were immediately made to build a new light-weight streamliner to be in service by late 1938. Four A units, new EMC E-3’s, assigned road numbers of 5001A-B and 5002A-B, two A’s coupled back to back, arrived in mid-1939 and operated for a short time with the heavy-weight train set until the new lightweight consists were delivered. The 20 streamlined cars, painted yellow and green, were finally put into service in September 24, 1939, completing the train. (see decal set C&NW “400” -2 for these cars)

Decal set designed and created at Protocraft Decals
Printed by Microscale Industries