Named Trains: #27 – Land O'Corn

#27 – Land O'Corn

Railroad(s): Illinois Central

Operated: 1941 – 1967

Route(s): Chicago – Waterloo, Iowa

The Land O'Corn is a fantastic train name because it precisely describes the service's route while also evoking a strong sense of regional identity. Any causal observer would likely guess such a train would travel through the Midwest, probably through the cornfields of somewhere like Iowa or Nebraska. Such a guess would be correct. The Illinois Central – whose legacy of well-named trains will be documented later in this series – utilized streamlined, self-propelled Metrorailer trainsets on the line during its World War II and post-war tenure and completed the 275-mile trip in 5.5 hours. Amtrak later operated a different train over much of the same route known as the Black Hawk since the service was largely funded by Illinois, not Iowa. Currently, Illinois is working to return intercity passenger rail to the corridor, which is expected to begin in 2015. A name for the restored service has yet to be determined...

#28 – Minute Man
#29 – Fast Mail
#30 – Lake Shore Limited
#31 – Comet

Named Trains: #28 – Minute Man

#28 – Minute Man

Railroad(s): Boston & Maine; Amtrak

Operated: unspecified; 1972 – 1973; 1973 – 1995

Route(s): Boston – Troy (ME); Boston – Philadelphia; Boston – Washington

Another entry from New England, the Minute Man is a perfect reflection of the region's patriotic heritage as well as an embodiment of the train's speed and precision suggested by the moniker. During its Boston & Maine days, the Minute Man operated through the heart of the railroad's territory through Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine, and the company's overall slogan was "the Route of the Minute Man." Near the end of the railroad's era, Minute Man Service was provided under contract to the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) as a commuter rail operation between Boston and Concord, N.H. Currently, plans are moving forward to re-launch service on the route after the line was curtailed at Lowell, Mass., in the early 1980s.

Amtrak's use of the namesake corresponded with trains operating on its Northeast Corridor during the Metroliner era. Although Minute Man iconography is closely associated with New England in general and Massachusetts, in particular, Amtrak figured the colonial legacy of the Corridor states was enough to adapt the entire region.

#29 – Fast Mail
#30 – Lake Shore Limited
#31 – Comet

Named Trains: #29 – Fast Mail

#29 – Fast Mail

Railroad(s): Chicago & North Western; Great Northern; Milwaukee Road; 

Michigan Central; New York Central

Operated: various

Route(s): Cedar Rapids – Chicago; Seattle – Minneapolis; Chicago – Minneapolis; 

New York – Chicago; Chicago – Toledo; New York – Detroit

Generally, this list will chronicle named trains assigned to moving people. Except for this one. The allure of a named train assigned to move goods was too hard to resist. Moreover, the Community Transportation Association of America – which publishes RAIL Magazine – thinks enough of the Fast Mail moniker to use it as the title for its electronic newsletters that we couldn't help but include it. And, besides, express mail often was treated with the same regard as passengers during the height of the rail industry's national prominence. Five different railroads operated Fast Mail trains delivering express mail between terminals at great speed and reliability. Fast Mail runs were known to nearly always make their scheduled times due to the importance of their largest customer: the United States Postal Service. All of them traveled through the Midwest, with all but one serving Chicago, and some trains occasionally carried passengers. While Amtrak does still carry express mail and package shipments, it has never devoted stand-alone trains to express mail service and is even less likely to these days, with printed mail traffic dropping every year due to electronic communications.

Named Trains: #30 – Lake Shore Limited

#30 – Lake Shore Limited

Railroad(s): New York Central; Amtrak

Operated: 1897 – 1956; 1975 – present

Route(s): New York / Boston – Chicago

As the first named train in our series to be both employed by multiple railroads as well as still operating today, the Lake Shore Limited is a natural choice for our list for its blend of descriptive phraseology and historic import. As readers of this space and RAIL Magazine know, your blogger possesses an admitted bias for the legacy of the New York Central. Growing up in Buffalo, N.Y., remnants of the railroad's grandeur and prominence were omnipresent in Western New York, from the hulking remains of Buffalo Central Terminal (relevant RAIL Coverage: RAIL #21) to numerous overpasses and neighborhood stations still emblazoned with the company's signature ovular logo. As a result, I believe the Central to be the finest railroad that ever was anywhere in the world. No one will ever convince me otherwise. So there.

Accordingly, its first luxury named train must find a spot on this list. The Central designated the Lake Shore Limited as its fastest train along its mainline route between New York City and Chicago and took advantage of its shoreline-hugging rails along the Hudson River, Erie Canal and the Great Lakes – a direct challenge to its chief rival, the Pennsylvania Railroad. And befitting its Limited status, it only made select stops to winnow the schedule down to 18 hours. Today, Amtrak operates its version of the Lake Shore Limited largely along the same route as its predecessor, but has trouble making its longer 20-hour schedule with any regularity thanks to freight congestion along the line. Nonetheless, a trip along the same route as one of the world's first premier passenger trains is an opportunity not to be missed.

Named Trains: #31 – Comet

#31 – Comet

Railroad(s): New York, New Haven & Hartford 

Operated: 1935 – 1942

Route: Boston – Providence 

Yesterday, we introduced our Month of Named Trains throughout August and mentioned the Comet name as a versatile, yet intriguing choice for any passenger rail service. And, indeed, the moniker has served as a descriptor for railroads across North America since the dawn of the industry in the early 1800s. In this case, the New Haven's Comet is the only one that used the term as a stand-alone title for a train. The New Haven's Comet operated largely in commuter-oriented service between Boston and Providence utilizing custom-made, three-car streamlined trainsets that corresponded with their snazzy "44 miles in 44 minutes" marketing campaign. The sleek blue-and-white motif corresponded well with the Comet name, illustrating themes of speed, wonder and brilliance. Although the three-car trainsets ultimately proved too small for traffic demand during the World War II years, the New Haven's Comet is a stylish and welcome point to begin our monthlong tour of named trains.

August: A Month of Named Trains

Since passenger rail news can slow from a rapid creek to a meandering dribble this time of year, we'll keep you well-hydrated with a new post for every day in August by counting down RAIL Magazine's top 31 named trains throughout North American history. We don't have a precise metric for determining our picks, but will attempt to provide some rationale for each selection. You'll also notice a cumulative list of the previous picks at the bottom of each post.

So, stay tuned starting tomorrow for the list. In the meantime, let's have a quick refresher on named trains. I originally opined on the subject in this post back in 2010, and much of my thoughts on the matter remain the same today. But let's just dig into one element of modern train names that is becoming problematic: overuse of inherently descriptive names like Express, Limited or Special without that train actually serving its namesake role.

For instance, an Express is a train that inherently skips many or all intermediate stops between its terminals in order to provide a more expeditious trip. And yet, many commuter rail systems – Virginia Railway Express, Altamont Commuter Express, Trinity Railway Express, New Mexico Rail Runner Express – use the designation even though hardly any of their trips operate in express mode. Less abused is the Limited marker, indicating that the train only makes limited stops on its route. But still Amtrak's Capitol, Lake Shore and Sunset limiteds skip nary a stop on their various treks. Lastly, a Special indicates an irregular, non-repeating trip arranged for a specific event or period. Fortunately, no scheduled rail services in North America currently promote Special trains as part of their permanent schedules.

So, what then are creative types marketing a new or prospective passenger rail service supposed to use if not for these circumstantial titles? Here's a quick list of iconic, yet generic descriptors that can be paired with a local or regional designation to create a perfect named train:

Arrow

Cannonball

Challenger

City of ____

Clipper

Comet

Dart

Eagle

Flyer

Hawk

Mercury

Meteor

Rocket

Service

Star

Traveler

Wind

Zephyr

Lastly, Wikipedia has a very useful compilation of named trains from around the world for your reference.

Passenger Rail in Minnesota

More than three years ago when this blog was inaugurated, the initial posts focused on aspects of present and future passenger rail services and projects in California. That was due to my travel to that state – along with RAIL Magazine Editor-in-Chief Scott Bogren – for the 2010 edition of Community Transportation Magazine where we profiled transit systems across the Golden State.

In just over two weeks' time, Scott and I again will travel throughout a state visiting mobility providers – this time it will be the land of one thousand lakes: Minnesota.

In my post on the most promising regions for passenger rail over the next decade, I listed the Twin Cities at the peak position of that projection. In addition, we've discussed Minneapolis' Hiawatha line light rail, North Star commuter rail and the Saint Paul Union Depot in past editions of RAIL.

While passenger rail in the context of rail transit in the Twin Cities region indeed appears to be on solid footing, intercity rail in the larger state is less a sure thing. Currently, Amtrak's daily – and often-delayed – Empire Builder between Chicago and Seattle/Portland is the only scheduled intercity rail service in Minnesota. Although the Empire Builder has some of the highest customer service ratings in the entire Amtrak network, it arrives at Midway Station – appropriately named for its location in-between Saint Paul and Minneapolis, but hardly convenient for most of the region's population – on its westbound trek late at night, not particularly ideal for regular, reliable travel. Moreover, the train pauses for about 45 minutes in each direction to refuel and change crews, another obstacle to a robust rail corridor.

And yet, despite the state's current paucity of intercity passenger rail options, there are several encouraging projects that could transform Minnesota's ability to connect communities via passenger trains. In particular, the Zip Rail corridor – between the Twin Cities and Rochester – and the Northern Lights Express, which would link Minneapolis-St Paul with Duluth are about at the same stage of development and could connect the bulk of the state's population via frequent and reliable passenger rail service.

Zip Rail

Despite its status as the largest metropolitan area in Minnesota outside the Twin Cities region with more than 200,000 residents, the Rochester, Minn., area does not benefit from great transportation connections along the roughly 90-mile route to Minneapolis-St Paul. No direct rail lines connect the two regions and although the state's Highway 52 doesn't yet experience great congestion, it is not built to Interstate Highway levels (limited-access, grade-separated, etc). The populations of both regions are expected to grow over coming decades, requiring improved mobility connections between them.

Accordingly, Zip Rail – a coordinated effort of the Olmstead County Regional Rail Authority, the Minnesota Department of Transportation and the Federal Railroad Administration – is studying how best to institute high-capacity rail service within the corridor. The state has identified the route as a Priority 1 corridor, placing at the front of the list for state support and investment.

Current studies have focused on high-speed rail service – at speeds between 150 and 220 miles per hour – utilizing dedicated infrastructure and vehicles as the best fit for the corridor to compete with auto and air travel, while also potentially serving as the first phase of a larger high-speed rail network connecting other Midwestern destinations such as Chicago, Milwaukee, Madison and Des Moines. State transportation officials have long identified a high-speed rail link to Chicago as one of their top long-term goals, but leaders in neighboring Iowa and Wisconsin have been hesitant at best and reticent at worst to expand intercity passenger rail options in their states.

In the meantime, Minnesota could initiate high-speed rail service between the Twin Cities and Rochester – serving intrastate traffic initially – while waiting for Iowa and Wisconsin to become more comfortable with similar projects, or alternatively work with Illinois – one of the most passenger-rail friendly states in the nation – to advance the Twin Cities – Chicago corridor without the involvement of Iowa and Wisconsin, even though such a service would have to travel through at least one of those states.

As it stands today, Minnesota recently conducted a series of public meetings along the Zip Rail route in advance of the Tier I Environmental Impact Study (EIS) – a prerequisite for any large infrastructure project to move forward. A service development plan is also expected to be completed in conjunction with the EIS by the end of 2014.

Northern Lights Express

Seeking to link the Twin Cities with Minnesota's third-largest metropolitan area is the 155-mile Northern Lights Express service. While the project would likely use conventional rail equipment rather than high-speed rail infrastructure as proposed for Zip Rail, the operation will still focus on frequent trips and 110-mph service to spur $2 billion in development and encourage more than 13,000 jobs along the corridor.

The project – Joint Powers Board with participation from six counties, numerous cities and the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe – begin in 2007 and is currently undertaking engineering and design work supported by federal and state investment that is expected to be completed in 2015. Trains on the corridor would utilize existing BNSF Railway tracks between Duluth and The Interchange intermodal facility currently under construction in downtown Minneapolis, along with three additional on-line stations in Hinckley, Cambridge and Coon Rapids.

Stay tuned for additional Potomac Express posts – as well as tweets from @RAILMag and @CTMag1 – next week for reports from the field as RAIL Magazine travels across Minnesota...