Lake Country Limited

The Lake Country Limited near Janesville in 2000
Overview
Service type	Inter-city rail
Status	Discontinued
Locale	Illinois, Wisconsin
First service	April 15, 2000
Last service	September 23, 2001
Former operator(s)	Amtrak
Route
Termini	Chicago, Illinois Janesville, Wisconsin
Stops	2
Distance travelled	98 miles (158 km)
Service frequency	Daily
Train number(s)	342, 343, 344
On-board services
Catering facilities	None
Baggage facilities	Carry-on only
Technical
Rolling stock	Horizon or Amfleet coaches
Track gauge	4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Operating speed	30 miles per hour (48 km/h)
Track owner(s)	Metra Wisconsin and Southern Railroad
Route map Legend 98 mi 158 km Janesville 67 mi 108 km Lake Geneva Wisconsin Illinois Fox Lake (Metra only) Des Plaines River Hiawatha Service and Empire Builder 16 mi 26 km Glenview Chicago River (North Branch) 0 mi 0 km Chicago other Amtrak services This diagram: view talk edit

The Lake Country Limited was a short-lived Amtrak route which connected Chicago, Illinois with Janesville, Wisconsin. The route was part of Amtrak's Network Growth Strategy, which envisioned an expanded role for mail and express business. The Lake Country Limited would have exchanged goods with a new Chicago–Philadelphia train named the Skyline Connection, which in the end never began operation. The previous time when there was interstate train service along the route was the era immediately before Amtrak (April 30, 1971) when the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad (Milwaukee Road) operated the Sioux and the Varsity trains.

Route

Trains originated at Chicago's Union Station and ran north over the tracks of Metra's Milwaukee District / North Line. Northwest of Fox Lake, Illinois, it ran over tracks owned by the Wisconsin and Southern Railroad and the state of Wisconsin to a temporary platform outside of Janesville. The poor condition of the Fox Lake–Janesville stretch limited trains to 30 miles per hour (48 km/h).^[1]

The initial route was Chicago–Glenview–Janesville; on June 15, 2000, an additional stop was added at Zenda, Wisconsin to serve Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, a popular resort community. The train consisted of one diesel engine, one coach car, and one non-powered control unit (NPCU).^[2]: 185