Trip Report: Amtrak’s Hiawatha Service

Last week i Took the hiawatha to milwaukee for a day. Then at milwaukee we took the streetcar around the city. Great experience! 😁

It's great that both DOTs work together to make this service so frequent, though I agree with your input on an alternative and Metra expansion! The Hiawatha Service and the Milwaukee Road's Hiawathas that came before it are named after The Song of Hiawatha, an 1855 epic poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. The epic is about the fictional adventures of an Ojibwe warrior named Hiawatha and the tragedy of his love for Minnehaha, a Dakota woman. It takes place in the Pictured Rocks area of Michigan on the south shore of Lake Superior. Longfellow's poem is based on oral traditions surrounding the figure of Manabozho, the Ojibwe trickster figure and culture hero in Anishinaabe storytelling. Longfellow drew some of his material from his friendship with Ojibwe Chief Kahge-ga-gah-bowh, who would visit Longfellow's home. He also had frequent encounters with Black Hawk and other Sauk people on Boston Common, as well as drawing inspiration from writings by Henry Rowe Schoolcraft, an ethnographer and United States Indian agent.

I wish that we could restore the North Shore Line between Chicago and Milwaukee. But once you lose something, it is impossible to get it back.

Thank you for bringing the shorter routes to light.

This brings back memories of the 1970s when my uncle would say "let go get lunch in Milwaukee, and we would head to Union Station and hop an Amtrak train to the beer city. In the early days of Amtrak we would get to ride on The Milwaukee Road Hiawatha cars. Round porthole windows and wood paneling.

I love the Hiawatha. I’ve taken it at least 100 times it seems in the last 11 years. I remember being a little kid and loving every second of the ride

Absolutely with you on the revised route suggestion. Everyone of those stops on the lake shore are very popular stops for anyone living in the area. Another great video.

I love the Hiawatha Service from Chicago to Milwaukee.

I'm off to Milwaukee on the Hiawatha line tomorrow- very excited!!

Great day up here- some ideas- really like the bookstore! Thank you. You have to check out the bobble head museum - largest in the world and definitely lunch at the Milwaukee public Marker too!

There's been talk of trying to get Metra to extend from Kenosha to Milwaukee since I was a kid. Now I'm 40. At least maybe we'll finally get the link between Madison and Milwaukee that is so sorely overdue.

One wonders if Amtrak has considered using the cafe for some basics like beer, brats/burgers for the Hiawathas. Chicagoans and Milwaukee-ites (is that the correct term?) would probably buy them up. That menu is a regional favorite. Morning runs could sell just coffee/bagels/fresh fruit.

I mean hey, seeing a Northeast Corridor car out in the Midwest isn't all that weird, not as weird as the fact Moroccan royalty once used Budd SPV-2000s as the royal train! Wisconsin chose the name Great River because it travels along the bank of the Mississippi River, and Great River is the literal meaning of Misi-ziibi, the Ojibwe name for the Mississippi River. Yes, the modern name for the river is a French interpretation of this word. Sturtevant was originally known as Parkersville, after early settlers in the area called the Parker family. It's been named Sturtevant since 1923 which was when the B. F. Sturtevant Company, a fan manufacturer, opened a plant. The manufacturer ceased to exist in 1989. Right next to the tracks in Glenview is the site of a big Naval Air Station! It was originally built by the Curtiss Flying Service and intended to be the hub of Chicago's air service. When it was dedicated as Curtiss Field in 1929, it was home to the largest hangar built to that time, Hangar One. And it was quite advanced for the time like having a one gigacandela electric light which allowed for night airfield activity. It was used by the military starting in 1937 as NRAB Chicago and later renamed to NAS Glenview in 1944. It was eventually shut down in 1995, being turned into mixed-use development called The Glen, with Hangar One and the control tower remaining. Before it was shut down, this was the staging area for the Chicago Air & Water Show.

If the Downeaster can offer five trains per day (and i think they could do more) Chicago to Milwaukee should be able to manage ten/day.

Always frustrated me I couldn't take Metra to Racine. Extending the UP line to Milwaukee makes sense to me.

I'm from essex near London England and have just discovered your channel,its good and i am going through your videos, your voice is clear and pleasing.ihave been to the usa several times,also did the California zephyr from Chicago to sf. Gonna settle down now and watch some more videos.

I love this short Amtrak route. I’ve been on it a few times with my mom and it’s nice to know it’s not super long. I really want to go back to Wisconsin so bad to travel on many of the types of public transportation between Kenosha and Milwaukee which I’ve done once.

In my experience it’s a lot more busy in Milwaukee when it’s warm out

Love the attention to detail you give your videos!

I am on the UPN right now to Kenosha to ride the trolley. Pretty cool