The westbound Olympian Hiawatha at Butte, Montana, June 24, 1949.

"Drumhead" logos such as this often adorned the ends of observation cars on the Olympian Hiawatha.

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The Olympian and the successor Olympian Hiawatha was a named passenger train operated by the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad (The Milwaukee Road) as train Nos. 15 and 16 from 1911 to 1961. more...

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Its route traversed the Milwaukee Road main line from Chicago, Illinois west to Seattle/Tacoma, Washington.

The streamlined Olympian Hiawatha replaced the Milwaukee's heavyweight Olympian train in 1947. The train was designed by industrial designer Brooks Stevens and included the destinctive glassed-in \"Skytop\" observation-sleeping cars. In 1952 the Milwaukee Road added full-length \"Super Dome\" cars to the train.

State-of-the-art Heavyweight Olympian

With the completion of the Milwaukee Road's \"Puget Sound extension,\" a new 2300-mile mainline from South Dakota to Seattle and Tacoma in 1909 that made that railroad the last entry into the transcontinental trade, the Milwaukee ordered the equipment needed for two state-of-the-art steel luxury trains for Chicago-Milwaukee-St. Paul-Seattle-Tacoma service on the line. Following a public contest the Milwaukee Road chose the name Olympian for the flagship train and Columbian for its slower running mate which traversed the same route. Both trains were inaugurated on May 28, 1911.

In 1915 the Milwaukee completed its initial electrified section of rail line, from Harlowton to Deer Lodge, Montana, a feat that was advertised to to passengers since electrification eliminated the soot normally associated with steam-powered rail travel prior to the era of air-conditioning. Extensions to the electrified network in the 1910s and 1920s resulted in a total of 649 miles of of electrified main line, in Montana/Idaho and over the Cascades in Washington. The 440 miles of electrified line between Harlowton, Montana and Avery, Idaho was the longest continuous electrified rail line in the world. Besides being cleaner, electrification allowed the road to pull both freight and passenger loads faster, more reliably and more efficiently regardless of season.

In 1926 Milwaukee contracted with Pullman-Standard to replace the original Olympian with new train-sets and the train was again completely re-equipped, the new trains making their first run on August 1, 1927. The plushly appointed steel equipment was painted orange and maroon and was among the first trains to be radio-equipped. Capitalizing on its soot-free electrification, open observation gondola cars were operated during the summer months. In an effort to increase ridership on the Olympian the Milwaukee Road also opened its first railroad-owned hotel near Yellowstone National Park, the Gallatin Gateway Inn. Gallatin Gateway was reached from a spur line that connected to the main line at Three Forks, Montana.

Both the Olympian and Columbian operated into 1930. However, as ridership fell during the onset of the great depression, the Columbian was dropped from the schedule and all transcontinental services consolidated into the Olympian.