The Varsity was a train operated by the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific Railroad (the Milwaukee Road) over a 140-mile route between Chicago and Madison, Wisconsin.

The Milwaukee Road began operating trains that connected Chicago and Madison in 1927, service which took the name the Marquette a decade later, and initially ran between Chicago Union Station and Mason City, Iowa, an eight-hour, 384-mile run, until 1951, when service was terminated between Madison and Mason City, and the train was renamed the Varsity. In the beginning, during the days of steam, motive power would usually be the Milwaukee Road's 4-6-2 "Pacific" type locomotives. In the late 1940s, however, diesel power took over, and by the 1950s, EMD F-unit locomotives were assigned to the train. The consist also usually included a railway post office car, one to two passenger coaches, and a café parlor car. During holidays, and during home Wisconsin Badgers football games at Camp Randall Stadium, the Varsity carried more cars, however.

By the late 1950s, the Varsity began to face declining ridership due to the growing popularity of air and car travel. In 1963, the Milwaukee Road ended parlor car service, although, for a brief time, café-lounge service was retained, via displaced Skytop Lounges from the, by then, defunct Olympian Hiawatha, but, by 1965, the train had switched to all coaches. Following the termination of the Milwaukee Road’s contract with the United States Postal Service in 1967, the Milwaukee Road petitioned the Interstate Commerce Commission to end service, with the ICC ruling that the Varsity must retain service on weekends and holidays. Service was officially terminated on April 30, 1971, with the creation of Amtrak.

In the fall of 2014, it was announced that Pullman Rail Journeys, owned by Iowa Pacific Holdings, would operate a limited number of trains in October 2014, between Chicago and Madison, Wisconsin, including two round-trip runs between the two cities, on October 4 and 11, and a run leaving Madison on October 3, and returning on October 5.

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