ONE SHINING MOMENT.

Amtrak in the Heartland recalls the Milwaukee to St. Louis trains that ran through Chicago, commencing with Amtrak's first attempt to run trains as a system, commencing late in 1971.

I've provided an extended look at those trains, the day after Thanksgiving of 1971.

Timekeeping was still what one would expect of The Milwaukee Road and Gulf Mobile and Ohio.

In subsequent years, timekeeping fell off for a number of reasons, and the through trains, which turned at Milwaukee either for St. Louis or for Detroit, stopped running.  Today, being able to connect from one of the Regional Rail routes at the Chicago hub is more by accident by design, although that might change.