Hiawatha had Class, and much Glass!!

The photo on the front of this post card is a Beaver Tail observation car used on the Hiawatha routes.

From our friends at Wikipedia: “The Hiawathas were a fleet of named passenger trains operated by the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad (also known as the Milwaukee Road) between Chicago and various destinations in the Midwest and Western United States. The most notable of these trains was the original Twin Cities Hiawatha, which served the Twin Cities in Minnesota. The train was named for the epic poem The Song of Hiawatha by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. History The first Hiawatha trains ran in 1935. By 1948, five routes carried the Hiawatha name: The Twin Cities Hiawatha — the main line route from Chicago through Milwaukee to St. Paul and Minneapolis, in Morning and Afternoon editions. The Twin Cities Hiawatha was the original Hiawatha, beginning service between Chicago and the Twin Cities on May 29, 1935. The Hiawatha used styled streamlined Class A 4-4-2 steam locomotives built by the American Locomotive Company and was intended to compete directly with the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad's (Burlington Route) Twin Cities Zephyrs and Chicago and North Western Railway's Twin Cities 400. The North Woods Hiawatha — a spur route off the Chicago-Minnesota main line leading from New Lisbon to Minocqua, Wisconsin The Chippewa-Hiawatha — connected Chicago to Ontonagon in Michigan's Upper Peninsula via Milwaukee and Green Bay, Wisconsin The Midwest Hiawatha — used the Milwaukee Road's mainline across Illinois and Iowa to Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and Omaha, Nebraska (the train split into two parts in Manilla, Iowa) The Olympian Hiawatha — which traversed the Milwaukee mainline from Chicago-Twin Cities-Seattle/Tacoma.” Adam Burns of https://www.american-rails.com/ says that the history of the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad’s Hiawatha is multifaceted and long. If you are interested in getting the details, you may want to purchase (or check out of the library) one of these two books: Jim Scribbins' book, "The Hiawatha Story," and "The Milwaukee Road's Hiawathas" by Brian Solomon and John Gruber.

This post card was published by that great post card mystery publisher Railcards.com

Speed, Luxury and Comfort

The locomotive in this picture (which is a painting, not a photograph) certainly looks sleek. It is the train belonging to the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad called the "Hiawatha". This website tells us the following about the history of the "Hiawatha". https://www.american-rails.com/hiawatha.html In 1935 the Milwaukee Road introduced the Hiawatha, sometimes referred to as the Twin Cities Hiawatha, a passenger train that would spawn a whole fleet of famous trains by the same name. The original operated between Chicago and the Twin Cities and officially began service on May 29, 1935; one of the first streamlined trains ever to be introduced in the U.S. Originally powered by 4-4-2 Atlantic-type steam locomotives (later 4-6-4 Hudson-types) the train was entirely streamlined, including the locomotive, and home-built in the Milwaukee Road's own shops. They became so successful the railroad found itself short on demand and to meet such eventually operated two versions of the train, the Morning Hiawatha and the Afternoon Hiawatha. These trains regularly cruised over 100 mph with hardly a bump or shudder during the ride; both trains could make the jaunt between the two cities in roughly seven hours.

The post card was published by Dover Publications in 1996. This is everything I know abou the publisher.