Welcome to the Great Northern Archive |
Visit:
A great source for photos and information about the GN and NP » GN Accident Reports
Main page» Lists accidents GN F45 441
Ex- Santa Fe F45 painted in GN Big Sky Blue and converted to a luxury hotel suite! At the Isaak Walton Inn » Web site with photos of the restoration HERE » 
Click to join gngoat GN RPO #42Photos of RPO car #42 restored at the California State RR Museum »
Whither Little Chief Mountain » July 2008 Skykomish photos»
|
||||||
|
The Great Northern Archive is a collection of information about the Great Northern Railway, primarily during the streamlined era of 1947 to 1970. Highlights of this site include; A complete roster of GN's streamlined passenger car fleet, cross-referenced with photos from the Cordell Newby collection at the joint GN/NP archive, GN accident reports, the 3D GN passenger car modeling project, photos and videos, and more — see more features in the sidebar. GN NW-3 179 in actionHere's a video fro YouTube showing ex-GN NW-3 #179 switching at it's current home in Morrisville, PA in Nov. 2012. See photos from 2009 » Video by bigjim4life on YouTube
GN safety filmSteam, diesel and electric make appearances in this GN safety film, Why Risk Your Life? The film dates from the late forties.
Empire Builder consist - 1955New to the archives is a blueprit from August, 1955 illustrationg the Empire Builder's consist in detail.Click on the image below to view the whole document. 
Must see: web site Streamliner Memories has several GN-related pages of interest:Great Domes for the Empire Builder » Empire Builder full dome Prarie View restoredGN's big dome Prarie View has been restored to GN orange and green by the Iowa Pacific shops in Colorado for use on the Royal Gorge excursion train.
 Photo by Mike Griesmann
Here is Prairie View under restoration at the San Luis and Rio Grande R.R. shops in Alamosa, Colorado. Prarie View spent most of it's previous life in Alaska, and was sold to Iowa Pacific Holdings in late 2009, and moved to its SL&RG shops for restoration. Iowa Pacific holdings operates several excursion operations, and is operating "Pullman Rail Journeys" service using its vintage cars attached to regularly-scheduled Amtrak trains. More info in this news story.
Here's a nice shot by Ted Ellis of a 10-year-old Prarie View in Chicago, 1965... 
Virtual St. Nicholas MountainThis is a video is rendered from my 3-D model of GN observation car St. Nicholas Mountain executed using the program Strata 3D, from drawings and plans from AC&F (obtained fro the museum of Transportation in St. Louis), and visits to the actual St. Nicholas Mountain, which is currently undergoing restoration. (See www.stnicholasmountain.com for details)
Mystery photosThese photos were sent to GN Archive by a reader hoping to find more information about them. The photos come from her grandfather, who worked for the GN as an engineer out of Devil's Lake, N.D.
(Click on the photos for larger images) The engine is P-2 Mountain #2524, and the derailment happened in cold weather — there is snow on the ground. There also appears to be the end of a clerestory-roofed passenger car in the background. The 2524 was involved in an accident at Walden, N.D. in 1954, but was on the head end of a 22-car freight and was not derailed, according to the accident report. If you have any information, please email me. Great Northern in 1950's videosOver on YouTube, there is this great trove of 8mm color films by Dave Wilkie, and many have clips of GN diesels and electrics, the Empire Builder, a run on GN's only RDC between Butte and Helena and the Internationals. Click here for a selection of the GN-related videos, and link to many more interesting video by Mr. Wilkie of the NP, SP&S and Milwaukee Road around Seattle.
16-4 sleeper Agassiz Glacier - On display in Douglas, WyomingBuilt by Pullman for the 1950 Western Star, Agassiz Glacier was one of an order for eight 16-4 sleepers numbered 1181 through 1188. They were named; Kintla, Agassiz, Hudson, Chaney, Paradise, Pumpelly, Tahoma, and Two Ocean Glacier. Thanks to Paul Bernath for sharing his photos. See more photos »
Seattle Railroad PictorialKurt Armbrister produced this video showing passenger trains in and around Seattle from the 50's to the 70's, including views of the Empire Builder and Internationals. Also many shots of NP, UP and Milwaukee action in the Puget Sound.And don't miss the shots of the mini-streamliner in GN colors at the Woodland Park Zoo at about 04:30 in the video!
St. Nicholas Mountain progressHere are some shots of the prgress on the restoration of GN observation car St. Nicholas Mountain, taken in early May. Stripping the vinyl covering from the wainscotting revealed the wood panels that had been covered for so long were in surprisingly good shape. The small hole in the side has been patched, and the refurbished lighting fixtures in the lounge are coming along well too. For more info, visit the St. Nicholas Mountain page »
|
Orange and Green lives on! 
Video of ex-GN dome 
Columbia River gorge from Roosevelt, Wash. to Portland, Ore. |
Columbia River gorge near Lyle, Washington |
Marias Pass between Essex and Whitefish, Montana |
 |
 |
 |
From the GNRHS/NPRHS Archives:
Here's an example of the photos you can find over at the Great Northern - Northern Pacific joint archives »
GN publicity shot of the 1947 Empire Builder in the Washington Cascades.
On the Empire Builder in 1954
On YouTube- Glacier Park to Cut Bank area on the Incomparable Great Northern Railway "Empire Builder" in 8mm film by Edgar W. Rynerson.
On the Empire Builder in 1964
Tom Biery sends this account of riding the Empire Builder in the summer of 1964 at the tender age of 15 — on his own, just for the ride. He took many photos and provided a traveloue of his adventures.
See Tom's Empire Builder trip »
This was the summer that the GN suffered major diruptions along its line around Glacier National Park in northern Montana as spring thaws combined with days of rain caused flooding and many washouts between East Glacier and Whitefish. The GN detoured its trains vis Great Falls and on to the NP mainline through Missoula, regaining GN rails at Sandpoint, Idaho.
The incredible Hulk
This photo by J.L. Hickey of an ex-GN NW-5 shell at a scrapyard in Council Bluffs, Iowa caught my eye on Trainorders.com, and Mr. Hickey posed an interesting question...
...the ex-GN and BN NW-5 used for a short time by CBRY (Council Bluffs Ry.), all the carbody above the running board, resting on top of another boxcar. Seems kind of a shame, would an old GP-7 underframe with maybe switcher innards fit beneath this carbody? Or I wonder if a certain museum in Duluth, MN could use some extra body parts...
...maybe somebody will see where it is and come to its rescue! The last place I saw these in service was at Minneapolis Jct. enginehouse in 1980, when I was in BN engine training in St. Paul.... I think four of these ended up on Colorado & Eastern in Goodland, KS, and in 1982, Great Western Railway in Loveland, CO acquired two of them.... At a later date, I looked around Goodland, KS, and in the weeds sat two other partially disassembled NW-5's. Though it was worn out from the heavy transfer service in the Twin Cities and breakdown-prone, 994 disappeared from Loveland, presumably to start its last career, on CBRY. Several years later, the other one that sat behind the roundhouse in Loveland was hauled away to go up to Duluth and was the one restored so lovingly - it looks great!
— J.L. Hickey
1947 Science Illustrated
This striking cover illustration from the April, 1947 issue of Science Illustrated has to be one of the best illustations of a diesel locomotive in its time, and happens to showcase a GN E-7. The artwork really shows how the luminous new technology emerged from the soot and black steel of the steam era into the bright post-war future. Sure, the details of the E-7 are very stylized, but the artist really captured the luminous glossy finish of the bright Omaha orange and Pullman green diesel at the moment of its completion, ready to sprint out of the EMD stable into the light.
Streamlined passenger car roster updates
Photos from the Newby collection have been cross-linked to their entries (where available or identifiable) on the Streamlined Cars Roster page »
An old Goat that's still kickin'
EX-GN NW3#179 is over 70 years old this year and still kickin'!
GN accident reports updates
A Google map of accident locations, and more info has been added to the Accident Reports section»
The primary focus of this site is the streamlined passenger trains of the Great Northern Railway, with a focus on their premier train, the post-war Empire Builder in the years 1947 to 1970.
This site contains details about streamlined passenger car construction and history in general, with detailed drawings showing the differences between otherwise "standard" design cars produced by Budd, Pullman and American Car & Foundry (ACF).
An example is a typical GN coach of the 1100 series, the 1121, a 48-seat day/night coach built in 1947 by Pullman-Standard for the inaugural Empire Builder.
The Great Northern Railway Historical Society had already published a detailed reference sheet by Martin Evoy about the 1100 series coaches, so there was ample material to start from.
Adding another dimension
I started using a 3D drawing program at work several years ago and realized the advantages of the detail and view possibilities available by adding another dimension to a drawing.
See the St. Nicholas Mt. page>> for more information and images about this project.