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Chicago & North Western The 400 Club History of the Presidential F Units by Bruc
Chicago & North Western The 400 Club History of the Presidential F Units by Bruce Nelson Soft Cover
88 Pages
Copyright 2015 March 1st Printing
Soft Cover
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments 4
Prologue 7
Introduction9
1. F Units for Freight Service 11
2. Passenger Service15
3. Suburban Service 19
4. Weekend Warriors 25
5. Business Trains 35
6. The 400 Club 45
Post Script 81
Milestones 83
Presidential F7A Specifications 84
Index 87
About the Author 88
This is the story of five members of the Chicago & North Western Railway F7 diesel fleet that saw a wide variety of uses over their 40 years of service. Purchased as freight units intended primarily to replace mainline steam locomotives, these units were ultimately selected for the prestigious assignment of pulling the C&NW's business cars. Interspersed with their time in suburban and intercity passenger service, they periodically returned to limited freight duty on weekends. What follows is a chronological look at the history of these unique locomotives on the North Western, including mechanical details, operational assignments and their ultimate
disposition.
Chicago & North Western owned and operated a significant fleet of business cars in the 1980s. For a company its size traditionally known for frugality, the business car fleet's expansion heralded North Western's graduation from a struggling granger system to the major league of modern railroading. To pull the expanded fleet of business cars around its far-flung system, C&NW spruced up a select group of F7 locomotives, adorning them with traditional streamliner-era heralds.
The North Western was not alone during the 1980s in its assignment of traditional locomotives from the streamline era to power and to "showcase" business car trains. Conrail rostered a trio of E8As to pull its office car specials, while CSX had an A-B-B-A set of F-units for such special assignments. Other railroads also subsequently opted to assign select locomotives to business car trains, some choosing rebuilt streamlined examples and others using more modern passenger power.
Supporters and fans of the C&NW soon nicknamed the carrier's special units "Presidential Fs" in recognition of their attractive appearance and lofty status. But another name bestowed on the units came to represent the special legacy of the North Western. After C&NW debuted its modern "400" streamliner in 1939, the train's popularity became part of the local culture. Subsequently, a number of businesses throughout the upper Midwest capitalized on the moniker. Decades later it was fitting for followers of the business trains, visual reincarnations of the "400s" of old, to bestow an appropriate name of honor on the small group of special units. When the locomotives were renumbered to the 400-series (reflecting on the significance of that number in C&NW history), some referred to the exclusive group as "The 400 Club."
The "400 Club" would fade away in the years before C&NW became part of the Union Pacific system in 1995. However, still fondly remembered by many is the way in which members of the "Club" paid their dues by bringing back elegance to the rails of the Chicago & North Western for a brief, glorious time.
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