Wabash Railway passenger trains remembered

Wabash Railway passenger trains: All through January 2024, Classic Trains editors are celebrating the history and heritage of the Wabash.

Wabash’s Banner Blue
Chicago–St. Louis Banner Blue at Chicago Ridge, Ill., August 1948.
Bob Borcherding

Wabash E7 1001
One of Wabash’s four E7’s, Nos. 1000–1003, built 1947; colors dark blue, gray, and white; blank dark blue panel was for train names, used only for a short time on one unit, assigned to the City of Kansas City.
Electro-Motive

Parlor car in Wabash service
Heavyweight parlor-lounge car owned and operated by Pullman assigned to service on the Wabash.
Classic Trains coll.

Wabash E7’s on the City of St. Louis
St. Louis–Cheyenne, Wyo., City of St. Louis arriving Denver on the Union Pacific with Wabash E7’s, which ran St. Louis–Denver for a time; November 1947.
R. H. Kindig

Wabash’s Blue Bird
St. Louis–Chicago Blue Bird departing Decatur, Ill., with Pullman-Standard dome-parlor ahead of Budd dome-parlor-observation, March 1960.
R. R. Wallin

Wabash’s Blue Bird
Chicago–St. Louis Blue Bird at Dearborn Station, which Wabash shared with several other roads, including the Santa Fe.
Linn H. Westcott

Wabash’s Banner Blue
Chicago–St. Louis Banner Blue at Chicago Ridge, Ill., August 1948. The train carried an open-platform parlor-observation car until the mid-1960s.
Bob Borcherding

Wabash Oreland Park suburban train
4-4-0 departing Dearborn Station, Chicago, with nameless local train to Oreland Park, Ill., 1931.
A. Johnson

Wabash’s Chicago Express and St. Louis Special
Pacific 668 leads combined trains 79 (Chicago Express) and 1 (St. Louis Special) out of Detroit in 1939; at Fort Wayne, Ind., the train will separate into Chicago and St. Louis sections.
Robert A. Hadley

Wabash Cannon Ball
St. Louis–Detroit Wabash Cannon Ball at Decatur, Ill., January 1961. Wabash had a total of four Alco PA’s.
R. R. Wallin

Wabash Cannon Ball
St. Louis–Detroit Wabash Cannon Ball at Litchfield, Ill., March 1956. Engine 1007 was one of Wabash’s 14 E8’s.
John C. Illman

Wabash’s Blue Bird and Wabash Cannon Ball
St. Louis–Chicago Blue Bird (left, powered by E8 1000) and St. Louis–Detroit Wabash Cannon Ball (right, with E8 1007) at Decatur, Ill., November 1953.
Walter A. Peters

Wabash semi-streamlined Hudson
Class P-1 No. 700, first of seven 4-6-4s rebuilt by the Wabash from 2-8-2s in 1943; used mainly between St. Louis and Chicago, where 700 is pictured in 1950.
Wallace W. Abbey

Wabash’s City of St. Louis
St. Louis–Cheyenne, Wyo., City of St. Louis overtaking a Rock Island freight train (exercising RI trackage rights on UP) west of Limon, Colo., 1949.
E. C. Storm

Wabash’s Banner Blue
Chicago–St. Louis Banner Blue backing into St. Louis Union Station as GM&O’s Ann Rutledge departs, February 1954.
Jim Scribbins

Wabash’s Blue Bird
Interior view of dome-parlor-observation car for Chicago–St. Louis Blue Bird from front of car.
Classic Trains coll.

Wabash’s Banner Blue
Chicago–St. Louis Banner Blue at Landers, Ill., 1940s; photographer arranged smoke and steam effects with crew in advance.
H. W. Pontin

Wabash’s Blue Bird
Chicago–St. Louis Blue Bird ready for departure at Dearborn Station, Chicago.
Classic Trains coll.

Wabash’s Blue Bird
Interior view of diner-lounge of Chicago–St. Louis Blue Bird.
Budd Co.

Wabash’s Blue Bird
Chicago–St. Louis Blue Bird just south of Palos Park, Ill., 1940s.
Richard J. Cook

Please enjoy this photo gallery of Wabash Railway passenger trains, originally published online in May 2019.