Correspondent William Dorsett writes of a 1946 trip on the Olympian: "I was only 5 when we took this trip, but I remember parts of it clearly.  We went tourist sleeper on the Olympian (Touralux as the Milwaukee Road called it)—2 days and 3 nights to Chicago (67 hours, I believe).  From Chicago to New York we took the PRR’s Trail Blazer.  I remember watching the porter make the berths down at night.  Eastbound I remember a stop when my father and I got out and walked up to the engine, a steamer I think a 4-6-4 or possibly a 4-8-4.  The engineer invited us up into the cab.  I also remember standing in the Milwaukee station around 7 am and then leaving.  For a while we ran parallel to a passenger train (on our left as we were heading south) on another railroad.  The engine was a 4-8-4 and we ran neck and neck for a while, both gathering speed until we left it in the dust.  I’ve wondered since what railroad the other train was on, CNW?  Soo? [NOTE: Almost certainly, C. & N. W. I can't pin down which train, exactly, unless it was one of the morning commuters----Eric.]  The train ran fast, very fast into Chicago—my father (who had fired for a brief time on the Erie in the 1920s, Jersey City to Port Jervis) said it was the fastest he’d ever traveled.  I loved it, but my mother was petrified."

The schedule as given here looks a little too leisurely to truly petrify a lady, but keep in mind that Milwaukee to Chicago was the Milwaukee Road's racetrack.  The famous Hiawathas were scheduled to cover that 85 mile stretch in just 75 minutes, hitting 100 mph much of the way. The only eastbound stop between those cities on this timetable was a discharge-only flag stop at Deerfield; since no passengers were picked up the engineer and conductor didn't have to be too particular about holding for time. You can bet that they wouldn't be penalized for an early arrival in Chicago.