International Limited (passenger train)
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The International Limited was a named passenger train operated between Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

 and Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...

, Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....

. It was originally operated by Canadian National
Canadian National Railway
The Canadian National Railway Company is a Canadian Class I railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec. CN's slogan is "North America's Railroad"....

 and Grand Trunk Western
Grand Trunk Western Railroad
The Grand Trunk Western Railroad is an important subsidiary of the Canadian National Railway , constituting the majority of CN's Chicago Division ....

. When the route was revived in 1982, it was operated jointly by Via Rail
VIA Rail
Via Rail Canada is an independent crown corporation offering intercity passenger rail services in Canada. It is headquartered near Montreal Central Station at 3 Place Ville-Marie in Montreal, Quebec....

 and Amtrak
Amtrak
The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak , is a government-owned corporation that was organized on May 1, 1971, to provide intercity passenger train service in the United States. "Amtrak" is a portmanteau of the words "America" and "track". It is headquartered at Union...

. The Amtrak service was discontinued on April 25, 2004, due to decreasing ridership: down from 125,126 in 1997 to just 88,045 in 2003

CN/GTW operation

When the Canadian National
Canadian National Railway
The Canadian National Railway Company is a Canadian Class I railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec. CN's slogan is "North America's Railroad"....

 and Grand Trunk Western
Grand Trunk Western Railroad
The Grand Trunk Western Railroad is an important subsidiary of the Canadian National Railway , constituting the majority of CN's Chicago Division ....

 controlled the operations of train number 14, the International Limited, from Chicago's Dearborn Station
Dearborn Station (Chicago)
Dearborn Station was the oldest of the six intercity train stations serving downtown Chicago during the heyday of rail in the twentieth century. Additionally, the station was used as a terminal for commuter traffic. Located at Dearborn and Polk Streets, it was also referred to as Polk Street Station...

 to Montreal's Central Station, the train was around 12 cars long, including GTW & CNR Baggage-express cars (two), CNR Coaches (five), CNR named 12-1 Pullman Sleepers (three), CNR 8-1-2 named Pullman Sleeper (one), and last but not least, an unusual 2-3-1 Buffet, Lounge, Solarium from the CNR. It departed from Chicago's Dearborn Station at 8:00 pm behind a GTW U4-b 6400 Northern type steam locomotive. At Port Huron, St. Clair Tunnel Company electrics would pull the train through the tunnel to Sarnia, Ontario, where a CNR 5700 class Hudson (4-6-4
4-6-4
Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, 4-6-4 represents the wheel arrangement of four leading wheels on two axles , six powered and coupled driving wheels on three axles, and four trailing wheels on two axles .Other equivalent classifications are:UIC classification:...

 wheel arrangement) or a CNR 6400 class Streamlined Confederation (4-8-4
4-8-4
Under the Whyte notation classification of steam locomotives, 4-8-4 represents the wheel arrangement of four leading wheels on two axles , eight powered and coupled driving wheels on four axles, and four trailing wheels on two axles .Other equivalent classifications are:UIC classification: 2D2...

 wheel arrangement) would take the train to Montreal. The 15 hour train ride left Chicago at 8:00 pm and arrived in Montreal at around 11:00 am the next morning. The train left daily stopping at Chicago, Sarnia, Toronto, and Montreal as well as a variety of other stops along the way. A second section operated in the opposite direction as train number, leaving Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...

 and travelling to Chicago as, stopping at the same stations along the way running as train number 13. The Chicago to Montreal section is shown in the photograph behind a CNR 5700 class Hudson.

Amtrak/Via operation (International)

Amtrak and Via Rail revived the International Limited in 1982 by extending Amtrak's Blue Water Limited, which then terminated at Port Huron, to Toronto. In contrast to its predecessor it used ex-Penn Central west of Battle Creek, Michigan
Battle Creek, Michigan
Battle Creek is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan, in northwest Calhoun County, at the confluence of the Kalamazoo and Battle Creek Rivers. It is the principal city of the Battle Creek, Michigan Metropolitan Statistical Area , which encompasses all of Calhoun county...

, in common with Amtrak's other Michigan trains. At the beginning both Amtrak and Via equipment was used; Amtrak typically using diesels and Amfleet
Amfleet
Amfleet is a series of intercity railroad passenger cars built for the operator Amtrak by the manufacturer Budd Company in two series during the late 1970s and early 1980s. Today, Amfleet cars are used extensively throughout the Amtrak system outside the western United States...

 coaches while Via used LRC
LRC (train)
LRC is a bilingual acronym for Light, Rapid, Comfortable or Léger, Rapide, et Confortable, the name of a series of lightweight diesel-powered passenger trains that were used on short- to medium-distance inter-city service in the Canadian Provinces of Ontario and Quebec...

s and Tempo coaches. The first train departed Chicago on October 31, 1982. On June 13, 1983 Amtrak renamed the train the International, which it carried until its discontinuance.

Via Rail re-routed the International off its original CN route in 1990 to a more northerly route. This new route enabled it to service Kitchener, Ontario
Kitchener, Ontario
The City of Kitchener is a city in Southern Ontario, Canada. It was the Town of Berlin from 1854 until 1912 and the City of Berlin from 1912 until 1916. The city had a population of 204,668 in the Canada 2006 Census...

 but added an hour to its running time. Toward the end of the decade Amtrak considered running the train via Durand and Detroit, dropping Flint and Port Huron, but nothing came of this proposal.

The train consisted of two or three coaches and a food-service / custom class car combination. The train was powered alternately by a Via Rail or an Amtrak F40PH
EMD F40PH
-Amtrak NPCU Conversions:In later years, as Amtrak's F40PH fleet was being replaced by the newer GE Genesis-series locomotives, Amtrak converted a number of the retired units—generally ones with major mechanical problems limiting their value in the resale or lease marketplace—into "Non-Power...

 locomotive and the cars could be any combination of Amtrak's Heritage, Amfleet
Amfleet
Amfleet is a series of intercity railroad passenger cars built for the operator Amtrak by the manufacturer Budd Company in two series during the late 1970s and early 1980s. Today, Amfleet cars are used extensively throughout the Amtrak system outside the western United States...

 I and II, or Horizon Fleet
Comet (passenger car)
The Comets are a class of locomotive-hauled railcars that was first designed in the late 1960s by Pullman-Standard as a modern commuter car for North American rail lines. Later, the Comet moniker was adopted by New Jersey Transit for all of its non-powered single level commuter coaches...

 coaches or by cars provided by Via. From Monday through Saturday, the opposing trains ran as Amtrak-Via train numbers 364 and 365. On Sundays however, they ran as train numbers 366 and 367. By 1995, both trains usually ran with a set of 4 to 5 Superliners
Superliner (railcar)
The Superliner is a double decker passenger car used by Amtrak on long haul trains that do not use the Northeast Corridor. The initial cars were built by Pullman-Standard in the late 1970s and a second order was built in the mid 1990s by Bombardier Transportation...

.

In later years, Amtrak P42
GE Genesis
GE Genesis is a series of passenger locomotives produced by GE Transportation Systems, a subsidiary of General Electric...

 locomotives replaced the F40s. In 2002, they mainly only consisted of Horizon Fleet and Amfleet
Amfleet
Amfleet is a series of intercity railroad passenger cars built for the operator Amtrak by the manufacturer Budd Company in two series during the late 1970s and early 1980s. Today, Amfleet cars are used extensively throughout the Amtrak system outside the western United States...

 coaches because the Superliner
Superliner (railcar)
The Superliner is a double decker passenger car used by Amtrak on long haul trains that do not use the Northeast Corridor. The initial cars were built by Pullman-Standard in the late 1970s and a second order was built in the mid 1990s by Bombardier Transportation...

's were in for extensive renovation. The train was discontinued in 2004 due to falling ridership. Via Rail still runs trains on the route between Toronto and Sarnia, Ontario
Sarnia, Ontario
Sarnia is a city in Southern Ontario, Canada . It is the largest city on Lake Huron and is located where the upper Great Lakes empty into the St. Clair River....

, while Amtrak replaced its portion of the service with the Chicago-Port Huron, MI Blue Water
Blue Water (passenger train)
The Blue Water, also known as the Blue Water Limited 1975—1982, is a passenger train service operated by Amtrak as part of its Michigan Services. The line connects Port Huron, Michigan and Chicago, Illinois via East Lansing, Michigan....

.
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