Amtrak Hiawatha from Milwaukee to Chicago (in "Business Class"!) - Apparently a Trip Report

I always appreciate the serenity of the Nathan videos

Vending machine chicken salad sandwich seems like it might ultimatly cost a lot more than $6.

Ngl, I saw "Hiawatha", looked at the day, and almost expected this to a secret trip report of the Borealis.

The Hiawatha Service was supposed to get Talgo HSR trainsets but Governor Scott Walker cancelled the project and the Talgo trainsets built in Wisconsin ended up....in Lagos, Nigeria. 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.

The Hiawatha is a pretty good service, and I believe one of the few profitable Amtrak lines. It was poised for HSR upgrade until the Wisconsin government nixed that idea. They used to have a beverage and snack cart, but I guess that's gone now too. They really need to get rid of the ridiculous waiting queue at either end and just let people board.

I am probably the only republican that fully supports public transit. I appreciate your videos. I used to take public transit adventures when I was a trucker and visited different cities, Public transit adventures are the best adventures. Thanks for posting and safe travels.

i think the metrolink cars are being refurbished by talgo which is why they're in wisconsin

Yes WisDOT received 5 million from the FRA in 2019 for the airport station to build another platform and a footbridge! Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport is named in honor of US Army General Billy Mitchell, who was raised in Milwaukee and is often regarded as the father of the US Air Force! Mitchell served in France during World War I and by the time the war ended, commanded all American air combat units in France! After the war, he advocated for increased investment in air power. He was the one that during an inspection tour of the Pacific in 1923, predicted the rise of Japanese strength and later foretold its Sunday-morning attack on Pearl Harbor and the Philippines. He passed away in February 1936, over five years before the attack on Pearl Harbor happened, and in 1946, Congress posthumously awarded Mitchell a special Congressional Medal of Honor

The Hiawatha Service's name refers to the original Hiawatha streamliner fleet! Historically, the Hiawathas were operated by the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad aka the Milwaukee Road, and were among the world's fastest trains in the 1930s and 1940s, initially traveling between Chicago and the Twin Cities. The original Hiawatha fleet in turn was named after the epic poem The Song of Hiawatha by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, an epic about the fictional adventures of an Ojibwe warrior named Hiawatha and the tragedy of his love for Minnehaha, a Dakota woman! The story takes place in Michigan on the south shore of Lake Superior. Amtrak began using the Hiawatha Service name for a Chicago-Milwaukee service in 1972, pivoted to other names between 1976 and 1989 (Turboliners, the Badger, the Nicollet, the Radisson, and the LaSalle), and then returned to the name from then on!

That intro still slaps

2:18 "I assume everyone's yelling at me." Same, Nathan. Same.

The reason why the Metrolink cars are in Milwaukee is because the Talgo factory is there so Metrolink contacted Talgo to refurbish the Bombardier Bi-Level.

Glad to see more Wisconsin videos! I'll be looking forward to the Portage least used station eventually.

I take the Hiawatha for work. For $25 bucks one way for an hour and half train ride, it is a great service. Just wish it had more frequency.

Two comments from a Chicagoland transit employee: 1) The construction appears to be at Grayland (Metra) Station, which is being rebuilt for full accessibility along with some more basic repair/replacement work. 2) Glenview Station is interesting in that it's one of a few mini hubs out in the suburbs that have Metra, Amtrak, and somewhat decent Pace service. It and La Grange Road will be as of next year the only Amtrak stations in the region without Interagency Signage, the program I work on; I'm hoping to add signage at both in a later phase.

2:01 the reason why those Metrolink cars are there is because they are being rebuilt by Talgo on the north side of Milwaukee. The cars you guys saw have already been rebuilt and were awaiting delivery to the west coast.

You really need to ride the Pacific Surfliner. From San Diego to LA it’s a commuter type train that very frequent. And it has great scenery. And the trip from LA to San Luis Obispo is amazing, but only 2 round trips a day.

you should do the new borealis train next.

Amtrak is trying to bring the Hiawatha to 10 trains a day, but plot twist! While Wisconsin is very supportive, Illinois is filibustering! Apparently, some of the suburbs are upset about the addition on third-track sidings, complaining about noise and pollution from stopped trains. I say, third track the whole thing—problem solved!

Took the Hiawatha last year was honestly really comfortable. Haven’t tried the new Venture cars yet, but the horizons were really nice