The Black Hawk was an Amtrak route from Chicago, Illinois, to Dubuque, Iowa, using Budd Company rail diesel cars between 1974 and approximately 1978 when the RDCs were replaced with Amfleet equipment using EMD F40PH diesel locomotives. Service ended in 1981. The route used the former Gulf, Mobile and Ohio Railroad route between Chicago's Union Station and Bridgeport and the Freeport Subdivision west of Bridgeport. Amtrak, at the State of Illinois' request, did a recent feasibility study to reinstate the Black Hawk route to Rockford, IL and Dubuque, Iowa. Service is predicted to start in 2009.
