North Star (Amtrak train)

This article is about the former Amtrak train service. For the currently operating commuter rail service, see Northstar Line. For other uses, see North Star (disambiguation) § Rail.

The North Star was a passenger train operated by Amtrak (the National Railroad Passenger Corporation) between Duluth, Minnesota and Saint Paul, Minnesota. It originally operated from Chicago, Illinois via St. Paul to Superior, Wisconsin and Duluth, but was soon cut back to a Saint Paul–Duluth train. The service relied in part on funding from the state of Minnesota.

North Star

The North Star at the Superior Depot
Overview
Service type	Inter-city rail
Status	Discontinued
Locale	Midwestern United States
Predecessor	Arrowhead & Twin Cities Hiawatha
First service	April 30, 1978
Last service	April 7, 1985
Former operator(s)	Amtrak
Route
Termini	Chicago, Illinois (1978–1981) Saint Paul, Minnesota (1981–1985) Duluth, Minnesota
Distance travelled	573 mi (922 km) (1978–1981) 153 mi (246 km) (1981–1985)
Train number(s)	9, 10
Technical
Track gauge	4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)
Track owner(s)	Milwaukee Road BN Railroad
Route map Legend 573 mi 922 km Duluth MN WI 568 mi 914 km Superior Closed 1984 WI MN 509 mi 819 km Sandstone 464 mi 747 km Cambridge 418 mi 673 km Saint Paul–Midway Pre-1981 route 371 mi 597 km Red Wing 306 mi 492 km Winona MN WI 281 mi 452 km La Crosse 240 mi 386 km Tomah 195 mi 314 km Wisconsin Dells 178 mi 286 km Portage 150 mi 241 km Columbus 85 mi 137 km Milwaukee 62 mi 100 km Sturtevant WI IL 17 mi 27 km Glenview 0 mi Chicago This diagram: view talk edit

History

The North Star was introduced in the spring of 1978, when Amtrak moved Twin Cities operations from the Great Northern Depot in Minneapolis to Midway station in Saint Paul and combined the previous Chicago–Minneapolis Twin Cities Hiawatha and the Minneapolis–Duluth Arrowhead services into one train. Where the Arrowhead's route was 148 miles (238 km) long,^[1] the North Star was a 573-mile (922 km) sleeper originating in Chicago at 10:30 PM in the initial schedule. It took 8 hours 45 minutes to reach Saint Paul, where there was a 35-minute layover. It then took another 3:45 to reach Duluth for an overall schedule of just over 13 hours from Chicago.^[2]

Three other trains shared parts of the North Star route: the quad-weekly Empire Builder from Chicago to Portland, Oregon and Seattle, Washington, via the Milwaukee Road to St. Paul and the former Great Northern beyond; the thrice-weekly North Coast Hiawatha, also from Chicago to Portland and Seattle, on the Milwaukee to St. Paul and the former Northern Pacific beyond; and the daily Turboliner between Chicago and Milwaukee.^[3]: 31 The Empire Builder became a daily train again in 1979 when the North Coast Hiawatha was eliminated.^[4]: 166

 

The North Star at the Duluth Depot

There were perennial budget battles involving the North Star. In October 1981 cost-cutting measures forced the service to be converted to a Twin Cities–Duluth local, which left the daily Empire Builder as the only Chicago–Twin Cities connection. No effort was made to link the schedules of the two trains. At this time, the schedule was 3 hours 35 minutes from Saint Paul to Duluth.^[5][6] It briefly stopped service in September 1982 when Amtrak requested $27,000 (equivalent to $85,246 in 2023) in funding to keep it operating as a weekend and peak period train. Duluth businessman Jeno Paulucci offered a $25,000 (equivalent to $78,931 in 2023) donation, with the rest intended to be covered from some other source. U.S. Senator David Durenberger (R-MN) also requested that Amtrak run a financial audit, which uncovered an extra $100,000 (equivalent to $315,724 in 2023) in available funds.^[7]

By the end of service in 1985, the North Star no longer served Superior and made intermediate stops only in Cambridge and Sandstone.^[8] State funding ran out in March 1985, and the train made its final run on April 7 of that year.^[4]: 191

See also

• North Shore Scenic Railroad
• Northern Lights Express, a proposed restoration of passenger rail service between the Twin Cities and Duluth

References

1. Amtrak (January 8, 1978). "Amtrak National Train Timetables" (PDF). timetables.org. The Museum of Railway Timetables. p. 37. Retrieved November 6, 2014.
2. Amtrak (April 30, 1978). "Amtrak National Train Timetables" (PDF). timetables.org. The Museum of Railway Timetables. p. 37. Retrieved November 6, 2014.
3. Goldberg, Bruce (1981). Amtrak--the first decade. Silver Spring, MD: Alan Books. OCLC 7925036.
4. Sanders, Craig (2006). Amtrak in the Heartland. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press. ISBN 978-0-253-34705-3.
5. "Amtrak Chicago-Milwaukee Corridor Timetable Timeline". ancestry.com. October 25, 1981. Archived from the original on June 30, 2012. Retrieved February 4, 2009.
6. Amtrak (October 25, 1981). "Amtrak National Train Timetables" (PDF). timetables.org. The Museum of Railway Timetables. p. 42. Retrieved November 6, 2014.
7. . WTCN-TV and KSTP-TV. September 1982. Archived from the original on July 2, 2014. Retrieved September 25, 2010.
8. Amtrak (October 28, 1984). "Amtrak National Train Timetables" (PDF). timetables.org. The Museum of Railway Timetables. p. 49. Retrieved November 6, 2014.

External links

• 1984 timetable