The ''Twilight Limited'' was a named

passenger train A passenger train is a train used to transport people along a railroad line. These trains may consist of unpowered passenger railroad cars (also known as coaches or carriages) hauled by one or more locomotives, or may be self-propelled; self pr ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

which initially operated between

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

, and

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

. The

New York Central Railroad The New York Central Railroad was a railroad primarily operating in the Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The railroad primarily connected greater New York and Boston in the east with Chicago and St. Louis in the Midw ...

introduced the train in 1926, and it continued until the formation of

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...

(the National Railroad Passenger Corporation) in 1971, although it lost its name in 1967. Amtrak renamed the train ''St. Clair'', feeling that the name "Twilight Limited" had undesirable connotations and imagery for a company trying to save passenger rail service. Amtrak revived the name in 1976 for a new train frequency on the Chicago–Detroit corridor, and kept the name until all trains on that corridor were renamed ''

Wolverine The wolverine (), (''Gulo gulo''; ''Gulo'' is Latin for "gluttony, glutton"), also referred to as the glutton, carcajou, or quickhatch (from East Cree, ''kwiihkwahaacheew''), is the largest land-dwelling species of the family Mustelidae. It is ...

'' in 2004.

History

New York Central

The New York Central Railroad introduced the ''Twilight Limited'' on April 25, 1926. The new train was first-class only, with parlor cars and a

dining car A dining car (American English) or a restaurant car (British English), also a diner, is a railroad passenger car that serves meals in the manner of a full-service, sit-down restaurant. It is distinct from other railroad food service cars that ...

. It was the fastest of the 13 New York Central (Michigan Central) trains from Chicago to Detroit, leaving

Central Station Central stations or central railway stations emerged in the second half of the nineteenth century as railway stations that had initially been built on the edge of city centres were enveloped by urban expansion and became an integral part of the ...

at 3:00 PM and taking six hours for 283.5 miles to Detroit. After the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

the ''Twilight Limited'' gained coaches, but kept some parlor cars and its dining car. Service on the Chicago-Detroit route continued to drop, from seven trains each way in 1951 to five in 1960. The last parlor car came off in the mid-1960s. As part of a massive restructuring the New York Central dropped all train names on December 3, 1967, although the ex-''Twilight Limited'' still ran.

Penn Central The Penn Central Transportation Company, commonly abbreviated to Penn Central, was an American Railroad classes, class I railroad that operated from 1968 to 1976. Penn Central combined three traditional corporate rivals (the Pennsylvania Railroad ...

(the merged New York Central and

Pennsylvania Railroad The Pennsylvania Railroad (reporting mark PRR), legal name The Pennsylvania Railroad Company also known as the "Pennsy", was an American Class I railroad that was established in 1846 and headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was named ...

) truncated the westbound ex-''Twilight Limited'' at

Ann Arbor Anne, alternatively spelled Ann, is a form of the Latin female given name Anna (name), Anna. This in turn is a representation of the Hebrew Hannah (given name), Hannah, which means 'favour' or 'grace'. Related names include Annie (given name), ...

, Michigan on October 5, 1968. Amtrak kept the eastbound ex-''Twilight Limited'' (No. 356), but renamed it the ''St. Clair.''

Amtrak

By mid-1976 Amtrak had three round-trips on the Chicago-Detroit corridor; these were all named ''

Turboliner The Turboliners were a family of gas turbine trainsets built for Amtrak in the 1970s. They were among the first new equipment purchased by Amtrak to update its fleet with faster, more modern trains. The first batch, known as RTG, were built by ...

'' after the French-designed

gas turbine A gas turbine, also called a combustion turbine, is a type of continuous flow internal combustion engine. The main parts common to all gas turbine engines form the power-producing part (known as the gas generator or core) and are, in the directi ...

RTG trainsets which operated on the route. Demand outstripped the trainsets' fixed capacity of 292, so Amtrak began assigning new conventional

Amfleet Amfleet is a fleet of single-level intercity railroad passenger cars built by the Budd Company for American company Amtrak in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Budd based the Amfleet design on its earlier Metroliner electric multiple unit. An in ...

equipment as it became available. On October 31, 1976, the evening pair of trains (#354/#355) became the ''Twilight Limited''. This service pattern remained mostly uninterrupted until 1994, although budget problems led to the westbound ''Twilight Limited'' running tri-weekly (Friday-Sunday) between 1986 and 1990. On May 5, 1994 Amtrak extended the ''Twilight Limited'' and ''Wolverine'' to

Pontiac Pontiac may refer to: *Pontiac (automobile), a car brand *Pontiac (Ottawa leader) ( – 1769), a Native American war chief Places and jurisdictions Canada *Pontiac, Quebec, a municipality ** Apostolic Vicariate of Pontiac, now the Roman Catholic D ...

, Michigan. In 2000, as part of its Network Growth Strategy Amtrak proposed extending the ''Twilight Limited'' to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

via

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

and Buffalo, New York, bypassing Detroit. The last Michigan-Ontario-New York had ended in 1979 when Amtrak discontinued the ''

Niagara Rainbow The ''Niagara Rainbow'', known as the ''Empire State Express'' before 1976, was an American passenger train service operated by Amtrak between New York City and Detroit via Buffalo and Southwestern Ontario in Canada. The service ran between Oct ...

''. Nothing came of this proposal, although for a time the ''Twilight Limited'' terminated at Detroit and handled additional mail and express business. On April 26, 2004 Amtrak dropped individual names on the Chicago-Detroit corridor and the ''Twilight Limited'' (along with the ''

Lake Cities (Amtrak train) The ''Lake Cities'' was a daily passenger train operated by Amtrak between Chicago, Illinois and Toledo, Ohio via Detroit, Michigan. It operated from 1980 until 2004, when it was folded into the ''Wolverine.'' It replaced the ''St. Clair'', a Chi ...

'') became one of three ''Wolverines''.

References

External links

1976 timetable
{{Former Amtrak routes Former Amtrak routes Named passenger trains of the United States Passenger trains of the New York Central Railroad Railway services introduced in 1926 Railway services discontinued in 1971 Railway services introduced in 1976 Railway services discontinued in 2004