The 1898 train was newly equipped with Barney & Smith sleeping cars, the carriages described in a period brochure as "...a veritable edition de luxe, bound in covers of yellow and gold."

The train was re-equipped multiple times in subsequent years, the last wooden cars being replaced by steel ones in 1914.

Travel by rail continued declining in the 1960s and revenues were further eroded by the ending of most federal mail contracts.

For much of its life the Pioneer Limited was one of three passenger trains that competed for overnight business on the Chicago-Twin Cities run — the others were the Black Hawk, operated by the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad, and the North Western Limited, operated by the Chicago and North Western Railway.

The North Western Limited was discontinued on June 14, 1959, and the last runs of the Black Hawk were on April 12, 1970.