North Coast Hiawatha

From TrainSpottingWorld, for Rail fans everywhere

The North Coast Hiawatha was a passenger train service operated by Amtrak.

On June 5, 1971, Amtrak started the North Coast Hiawatha, running three times per week from Chicago, Illinois, to Seattle, Washington. From the start, Amtrak had operated the daily Empire Builder between Chicago and Seattle, a former Great Northern Railroad passenger train. The North Coast Hiawatha ran combined with the Empire Builder on the former Milwaukee Road Chicago-Minneapolis route, then took the Northern Pacific Railway main line through North Dakota and Montana. At Spokane, Washington, it was again combined with the Empire Builder to Seattle. In November 1971, the train began running separately between Chicago and Spokane, and operated daily between Chicago and the Twin Cities. The North Coast Hiawatha was discontinued October 1, 1979.