Great Northern Railway Historical Society

Today is Canada Day in Canada- The Great Northern served the provinces of Manitoba and British Columbia and also connected at the border with CP and CN lines at Sweetgrass/Coutts (MT/AB) and Northgate (ND/SK).

Other significant events that took place on this date in Great Northern Railway History:

- July 1, 1912: JJ Hill (also a Canadian) resigns as GN Chairman.

- July 1. 1892: GN Express Company was inaugurated.

A look back at Great Northern's history- Week of June 23rd:

1. June 28th, 1862:

First run of the locomotive "William Crooks" with passengers.

"The St. Paul and Pacific was the first railroad in Minnesota, and the William Crooks was the first steam locomotive to run in the state. Eventually, the St. Paul and Pacific became the St. Paul, Minneapolis and Manitoba in 1879, and in 1890 part of the Great Northern Railway.

The locomotive was constructed in 1861 by Smith and Jackson of the New Jersey Locomotive and Machine Company of Paterson, NJ. The locomotive was named for William Crooks, Chief Mechanical Engineer of the St. Paul and Pacific, and Colonel of the Sixth Regiment, MN Volunteers, in the Civil War.

The William Crooks arrived in St. Paul by steamboat on September 9, 1861. On June 28, 1862, the locomotive hauled the historic first trainload of passengers in Minnesota a distance of 10 miles between St. Paul and St. Anthony (now Minneapolis). Regular service between St. Paul and St. Anthony began on July 2, 1862. - From the O. Winston Link Museum.
- Photo - MN Digital Library

YOU'RE INVITED!

Rocky invites you to log in for a great presentation on ZOOM!

Join GNRHS Members John and Connie Coy for a virtual tour of their "Glacier Line" layout--which includes historical pictures and information, complimenting their modeled scenes.

You will see side by side photos of the actual Marias Pass scenes and their amazing likenesses to the model scenes! Join us!

WHEN: Thursday Dec 28, 2023
17:30 Pacific (19:30 Central) for social time
18:00 Pacific (20:00 Central) ZOOM Program begins!

We will post the ZOOM Link closer to the date.

Rocky says-

“Hello to you, our newest followers! Excited to have you onboard!”

Mac Harris, John Angus, Dillon Trinh, Jacob Cole

Happy Thanksgiving from The Great Northern Railway Historical Society!

Rocky says "Don't GOAT to dinner without me"!

This week in Great Northern Railway's History:

1. November 19th, 1887: The Montana Central completes Great Falls - Helena line. (Map of Helena showcasing location of rail lines).

2. November 21st, 1921: First GN train arrives at the all-new Saint Paul Union Depot.

3. November 21st, 1927: Great Northern's first R-1 locomotive is completed. Read more about these impressive Mallets here: http://www.gngoat.org/gn_steam_locomotives.htm

This week in Great Northern Railway History!

- November 15th, 1939: The Izaak Walton Inn opens at Essex, MT.

- November 16th, 1973: Fraternal Order of Empire Builders launches as the historical society for the Great Northern Railway. Later the FOEB is rebranded to the Great Northern Railway Historical Society.

This week in the Great Northern's history:

November 10th- 1931 - "The Inside Gateway" to California opens between the Hill Roads and the Western Pacific connecting at Bieber.

Read more from our GNRHS archives: http://www.gngoat.org/inside_gateway.htm

Rocky hopes you will you always remember them. Thank you for your service.

This date in Great Northern Railway History: November 7th 1970:

The Flathead Tunnel opens.

This week in Great Northern Railway History:

September 26th, 1969- The final employee timetable was issued. (Cascade Division #6).

This date in Great Northern Railway History- October 22nd, 1926:

Great Northern receives the first diesel locomotive. An Alco B6-2 Boxcab locomotive was delivered.

The author of this post could not locate a photo, so a preserved boxcab diesel is shown.

Read more about the early diesel fleet here: https://www.greatnorthernempire.net/index2.htm?GNEGNDieselRosters.htm

This date in Great Northern Railway History-

October 20th, 1890:

JJ Hill set his sights in the Pacific and started construction of the Pacific Extension, westerly from Pacific Jct (just West of Havre, MT).

The trackage at this point was built to Havre, and then southwesterly to Great Falls (eventually Helena and Butte).

This week in Great Northern Railway History:

October 17th, 1892: Construction crews lay rails into Wenatchee.

October 18th, 1947: the 10,000th trainload of apples leaves Wenatchee on the GN.

Read more here: https://www.bnsf.com/news-media/railtalk/heritage/apple-pan-dowdy.html

This date in Great Northern Railway History- October 16th, 1887:

The rails of the Saint Paul, Minneapolis & Manitoba reach Great Falls, MT. The company would rename to Great Northern Railway in 1889.

Not long after, the rails would push further Southwest towards the riches of Helena and Butte.

This date in Great Northern Railway History- October 15th, 1910:

Station name "Wellington" high in the Cascades was renamed "Tye".

Wellington was the infamous site the of the Wellington Avalanche disaster, which had only occurred earlier in 1910.

Read more about present day "Tye" (Wellington), Washington

https://www.wta.org/go-hiking/hikes/wellington-ghost-town

This week in Great Northern Railway History- September 12th, 1956:

Having outgrown space in downtown Minot, a new, modern freight yard opens on the East side of town- "Gavin Yard".

Named after GN President Frank J. Gavin, this facility was ultra modern for it's time and boasted a Hump Yard. One of the features best remembered was the iconic tower.

Gavin Yard is still in use by the BNSF.

Happy Thanksgiving to our GNRHS Members in Canada!

The Great Northern served Manitoba, (Brandon and Winnipeg), British Columbia (Vancouver, Nelson. Grand Forks, Fernie) as part of the empire.

We celebrate this long weekend with some scenes from 2022's GNRHS/CPHA Convention, held in Nelson, BC.

Photos are taken at or near Salmo, BC.

Paul O'Neil Photos

This date in Great Northern Railway History- October 7th, 1965:

Great Northern steam locomotive- 2523 was donated to the City of Willmar, MN.

#2523 is the last of 28 locomotives built for the Great Northern by the Baldwin Locomotive Works.

Engine 2523’s last run was in 1958, and was placed on permanent display at the Kandiyohi County Historical Society on October 17th, 1965. She is well preserved and resplendent as she ever was.

Read more here:

http://www.kandiyohicountyhistory.com/engine.html

This date in Great Northern Railway History- October 5th, 1911:

GN President JJ. Hill drives in the Last Spike on the Oregon Trunk Railway (a GN venture into Oregon - gaining access to California via Bend).

Read more about the forway into Oregon here: https://www.oregonhistoryproject.org/narratives/central-oregon-adaptation-and-compromise-in-an-arid-landscape/industrial-period-1910-1970/railroads-into-central-oregon/

Enjoy this wonderful presentation by Lee Marsh about his HO scale rendition of the Cascade Division, including discussions of history, layout concept and scenery

GNRHS September 28, 2023 Members Meeting - Featuring Lee Marsh Lee Marsh presents to the September 28, 2023 Quarterly GNRHS Members meeting about his beautiful Cascade Division layout in HO scale

This date in Great Northern Railway History- October 2nd, 1912:

The Surrey Cut-Off opens for traffic. Running at a diagonal from Surrey (Just east of Minot) to Fargo shaved off 52 miles from the original transcontinental route through Grand Forks and Devils Lake.

This route enabled the GN to run fast passenger and freight, without much in the way local traffic (save for grain). There were no significantly sized towns along this except New Rockford.

The Great Northern's Empire Builder historically ran on Great Northern's Surrey Cutoff, while Western Star kept to the original route through Grand Forks, Devils Lake, and Rugby.

After Amtrak's inception, the Western Star was eliminated and the Empire Builder, retained by Amtrak, was routed on the original route, leaving the Surrey Cut Off to be fright only, as it is today by BNSF.

This date in Great Northern Railway History- October 1, 1911:

The first O-1 2-8-2 Steam locomotive was received.

You can find the only existing example of this type, on display in Williston, ND. 3059 is the only remaining representative of the mighty 2-8-2's the Great Northern relied on so heavily.

Read more about these great workhorses:
http://www.greatnorthernempire.net/index2.htm?GNEGN_O1_Class.htm

A look back at Great Northern Railway History: September 23rd, 1925-

GN Locomotive 2517 leaves Seattle on a storied run pulling a Silk Train.

"The Silk Trains were marathon style runs from the West Coast eastward to the mills on the East Coast.

The Great Northern‟s most notable silk train run between Seattle WA and St. Paul MN took
place in 1925. The locomotive was # 2517. The 18 car train left Seattle on September 25 at 16:30
and made the run to St. Paul in five hours less time than the Oriental Limited. After a short turnaround in St. Paul, #2517 pulled #27 (the fastest mail train in the world) back to Seattle. It made
the 3,578 mile trip in slightly less than 100 hours, including stops and 24 crew changes.

#2517 was one of 28 class P-2 4-8-2‟s built by Baldwin Locomotive Works in
1923. Its tender carried 5,000 US gallons of fuel oil and 12,000 US gallons of
water. Length of engine and tender was 94 feet six inches, weight 617,000
pounds, 29” by 23” cylinders, 73” diameter drive wheels, 54,823 pounds tractive
effort. This was a stock engine and no special treatment was afforded it."

Source - Alan Vanterpool - "Silk Roads Across North America"

September 16th- Great Northern's Founder and First President - James Jerome Hill's birthday:

James Jerome Hill was born on September 16th, 1838 in Eramosa Township, Upper Canada (near present day Guelph, Ontario).

He of course is best known for his exploits in Saint Paul and his railroad empire- The Great Northern Railway.

Here is more about his family history:

Biography – HILL, JAMES JEROME – Volume XIV (1911-1920) – Dictionary of Canadian Biography HILL, JAMES JEROME, railway official and capitalist; b. 16 Sept. 1838 in Eramosa Township, Upper Canada, son of James Hill and Ann Dunbar; m. 19 Aug. 1867 Mary Theresa Mehegan in St Paul, Minn., and they had eight daughters, one of whom died in infancy, and two sons; d. ...

This date in Great Northern Railway History- September 15th, 1929:

A new named service running between Spokane and Seattle was launched, a daylight train named "The Cascadian". This service was streamlined in the 50's.

This date in Great Northern History- September 14th, 1891:

The westward expansion of the Great Northern towards Puget Sound met the beginning of the first formidable barrier- Marias Pass.

On September 14th, 1891 the rails reached Marias Pass.

PHOTO: Summit station at the top of Pass. 1932- Montana Historical Archives

This date in Great Northern Railway History: September 9th, 1861:

What would become a famed and much adored locomotive, the "William Crooks" was received by the company.

The 4-4-0- type locomotive was constructed in 1861 by Smith and Jackson of the New Jersey Locomotive and Machine Company of Paterson, NJ. The locomotive was named for William Crooks, who was the Chief Mechanical Engineer of the St. Paul and Pacific, and Colonel of the Sixth Regiment, MN Volunteers, from the Civil War. The William Crooks arrived in St. Paul by steamboat on September 9, 1861.

The William Crooks is preserved and on display at the Lake Superior Railroad Museum at Duluth.

https://www.mnopedia.org/multimedia/william-crooks-locomotive

This date in Great Northern Railway History- September 2nd, 1969:

F45 locomotive #440 was delivered to the Great Northern.

Resplendent in her as new "Big Sky Blue" livery, #440 would be the last locomotive ordered under the GN Flag before the March 1970 Merger.

#440 would eventually wear BN Cascade Green and be numbered BN 6613. The locomotive was sold to National Railway Equipment in 1984 and eventually scrapped.

During our GNRHS convention in Saint Cloud, some of our members who are Great Northern vets - “Old Goats” gathered.

From Left - Right:

Mike Martin, Neil Payton, Albert J. Pfeiffer, Ray Schouviller, Bob Bye, Dennis Hilleren