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Great Northern Railway (U.S.)

The Great Northern Railway (reporting mark GN) was an American Class I railroad. Running from Saint Paul, Minnesota, to Seattle, Washington, it was the creation of 19th-century railroad entrepreneur James J. Hill and was developed from the Saint Paul & Pacific Railroad. The Great Northern's route was the northernmost transcontinental railroad route in the U.S.

This article is about the US railway. For other railways with the same name, see Great Northern Railway.

Overview

Railroad and Bank Building
Saint Paul, Minnesota

GN

1889–1970

Burlington Northern Railroad

4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)

8,368 miles (13,467 km)

In 1970, the Great Northern Railway merged with three other railroads to form the Burlington Northern Railroad, which merged in 1996 with the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway to form the Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway.

: St. Paul–Fargo

Alexandrian

: St. Paul-Superior/Duluth (later renamed Badger)

Badger Express

: Seattle–Spokane (1909-1959)

Cascadian

: St. Paul-Minot

Dakotan

Eastern Express: Seattle-St. Paul (1903–1906) (replaced by Fast Mail in 1906)

[16]

: Chicago-Seattle/Portland (1929–present)

Empire Builder

No. 27: St. Paul–Seattle (1906–1910) (renamed The Oregonian in 1910)[16]

Fast Mail

: St. Paul–Seattle (1915-1929) (replaced by Empire Builder in 1929)[16]

Glacier Park Limited

: St. Paul-Superior/Duluth

Gopher

Great Northern Express: (1909–1918) Kansas City-Seattle[18]

[17]

: Seattle-Vancouver, B.C.

International

Oregonian : St. Paul–Seattle (1910–1915) (replaced by Glacier Park Limited in 1915)

[16]

 : Chicago-St. Paul-Seattle (replaced by Western Star in 1951)

Oriental Limited

Puget Sound Express: St. Paul-Seattle (1903–1906) (replaced by Fast Mail in 1906)

[16]

: Grand Forks-St. Paul (later renamed Red River)

Red River Limited

[19]

Seattle Express

Southeast Express: (1909–1918) Seattle-Kansas City[20]

[17]

 : Chicago-St. Paul-Seattle-Portland

Western Star

: St. Paul-Winnipeg

Winnipeg Limited

Rolling stock[edit]

In 1951 the company owned 844 locomotives, including 568 steam, 261 diesel-electric and 15 all-electric, as well 822 passenger-train cars and 43.897 freight-train cars.[21]

Paint schemes[edit]

The Great Northern had numerous paint scheme variations and color changes over the years, but Rocky the goat was consistently featured.[14]

"Hustle Muscle"

EMD SD45 #400

The Great Northern Railway is considered to have inspired (in broad outline, not in specific details) the Taggart Transcontinental railroad in 's Atlas Shrugged.[26]

Ayn Rand

The song Great Northern by the band Riders In The Sky featured on their 2002 album Ridin' The Tweetsie Railroad describes a journey along the Great Northern Railway.[27]

Western

Appearances in popular culture:

Great Northern Roster

Great Northern Railway: Mansfield Branch (1909-1985)

GN's largest electric locomotive

W-1

interurban electric railway purchased by G.N. in 1929.

Spokane and Inland Empire Railroad

Western Fruit Express

- A snowplow design unique to the Great Northern.

Snow Dozer

Pyle, Joseph G. "James J. Hill." Minnesota History Bulletin 2#5 1918, pp. 295–323.

online

Rae, John B. "The Great Northern's land grant." Journal of Economic History 12.2 (1952): 140-145.

Lively World of Great Northern (Around 1960)

Archived July 13, 2023, at the Wayback Machine

Fort Langley

Minnesota Historical Society.

Great Northern Railway Company Records

Great Northern Railway Historical Society

The Great Northern Empire — Then and Now

The Great Northern Railway

Great Northern Railway Page

— photographs and short history of one of six streamlined baggage-mail cars built for the Great Northern by the American Car and Foundry Company in 1950.

Great Northern Railway Post Office Car No. 42

Archived September 11, 2006, at the Wayback Machine

Great Northern Railway route map (1920)

Book about Louis W. Hill Sr., son and successor of empire builder James J. Hill at Ramsey County Historical Society.

Dutiful Son: Louis W. Hill Sr. Book

Archived September 16, 2016, at the Wayback Machine

"The Egotistigraphy", by John Sanford Barnes. An autobiography, including his role in the early financing of the Great Northern Railway and the career of James J. Hill, privately printed 1910. Internet edition edited by Susan Bainbridge Hay 2012

(HAER) No. MT-52, "Great Northern Depot, 100-110 Neill Avenue, Helena, Lewis and Clark County, MT", 7 photos, 11 data pages, 1 photo caption page

Historic American Engineering Record

HAER No. MT-53, "", 8 photos, 13 data pages, 1 photo caption page

Great Northern Railroad Bed, From Big Sandy to Verona, Fort Benton, Chouteau County, MT