UP M-10001 "City of Portland" - EB West Chicago, IL - August 4, 1935 - AW Johnson Photo

Proof-of-Concept: the "Pioneer Zephyr" showed what could be done in the marriage of the Winton 201A diesel engine to a streamlined train made of stainless steel, but it took the Pullman-Standard (P-S)-built M-10001 to demonstrate that the new trains could also be used to provide reasonable overnight accommodations (three sleepers were in this 7-car trainset). Al Johnson was on the Wilson Avenue bridge in West Chicago to catch the "City of Portland" on its final sprint into Chicago.

Ordered by UP on June 30, 1933, P-S delivered the train to the UP in early October 1934, after which it ran a series of demonstration runs/was exhibited. Returned to P-S for modification in December of that year (it also traded its 900 hp diesel for a 1,200 hp installation), it resumed service on the UP/C&NW routing in May 1935 (making its run on an every-fifth-day basis). Scheduled for a 39.75-hour one-way running time, this was a full day faster compared to previous schedules. Out-of-service from June 1939, the train was sold for scrap in August 1941.

NP F3 6501A "North Coast Limited" - WB Durant, MT - May 28, 1951 - HM Stange Photo

One Crowded Canyon - tracks of three railroads (from right-to-left: Butte, Anaconda & Pacific (BA&P), Northern Pacific (NP) and the Milwaukee Road) threaded through Silver Bow Canyon, west of Butte, MT. The Milwaukee and the BA&P ran within sight of each other for 14 miles, starting on the west side of Butte.

The NP's flagship train began operation on April 29, 1900 initially envisioned as a seasonal operation, but quickly made a permanent part of the timetable. NP's famous "Big Baked Potato" joined the menu offerings from 1909. Between 1911 and 1918, the "North Coast" used the C&NW Chicago Passenger Terminal; the transition to the more-familiar CB&Q-NP routing was made thereafter.

Henry's view reflects a train reaping the benefits of the NP's November 1946 $9.8 million investment to update the accommodations on the "North Coast,"" including six diesels and 78 passenger cars (all from P-S). A little over a year later, the train would have 9 hours shaved off its schedule, to better meet the competition on the Milwaukee and the Great Northern. NP would continue to invest in improvements to the train throughout the 1950s - domes came in 1954, followed by Slumbercoaches

CMStP&P E-20 "Olympian Hiawatha" - WB Vendome, MT - June 7, 1956 - G Krambles Photo

Single-ended (the steam generator was in the rear cab) "Little Joe" locomotive E-20 has the "Olympian Hiawatha" in tow past Vendome, MT. This was tough railroading country, either way from Vendome (elevation - 4,810 feet), the line rose substantially. In the 6 miles east to Piedmont, the elevation of the line rose 455 feet, while heading the other way (west towards Cedric), the climb was 368 feet over just 4 miles.

Milwaukee had operated an "Olympian" since 1911; the train graduated to the "Hiawatha" branding from June 29, 1947. Six sets of new streamlined equipment (including the famous "Skytop" sleeper-observations) were delivered from P-S that year. Milwaukee returned to P-S for six (out of 10) "Super-Domes" to be assigned to this train (see the 7th car back in this consist).

Locomotives E-20 and E-21 began running in place of diesels on the "Olympian" over the Montana-Idaho electrified zone from March of 1952. Their assignment as passenger locomotives was short-lived. In the interest of improving locomotive utilization, the pair were converted to freight service during 1956

GN E7 500 "Morning International" - SB near Ballard, WA - July 7, 1957

The condition of that GN E7 up-front on this "Morning International" has always grabbed my attention! Not bad for a 12-year-old locomotive (s/n 2825; built 4/45)?!? Sadly, there's no name on the mount, so this great image can't be attributed. GN didn't hesitate to commit capital to upgrade its passenger services. In the five years from 1947, the road spent $22 million on new, streamlined trains. These include the flagship "Empire Builder,"" the "Western Star,"" the "Red River" and the three-times-daily "Internationals." Each 5-car "International" represented an investment of $875,000. <> GN also heavily promoted the service, slashing fares by 32% from January 1950. Earnings on the "Internationals" responded accordingly - up 23% compared to the results for the previous year. However, by 1955, GN was running a passenger deficit of $22 million. Loss of the mail contract caused the road to discontinue two evening trains on this corridor in mid-1960. The morning train-pair was eliminated during 1969.

As for E7 500, it continued to remain in service until the BN merger, being renumbered to 9901. The locomotive was sold to PNC on March 18, 1971.

GN SDP45 333 "Empire Builder" - WB Havre, MT - October 2, 1968 - G Krambles Photo

One-of-a-Kind: Only on the GN could you find both SDP40s and SDP45s. A little over a year old, SDP45 333 (dressed in the handsome "Big Sky Blue" image) is shown during the servicing stop in Havre. You might not normally think of this as high-speed territory, but for the 87.4 miles from Malta to Havre, this train had rolled off the miles at an average speed of 69.9 mph. On the CB&Q, the combined "Empire Builder"/ "North Coast Limited" hustled west out of Aurora at an average speed of 75.9 mph for the 60+ miles to Oregon, IL.

Despite GN's seeming "do it right or don't do it at all" philosophy towards its passenger services, these were tough times for the "Builder."" The train had remained profitable through 1966, but the 1967 cancellation of the train's RPO meant that it incurred a direct cost loss of $8 million in 1968. Despite the bad tidings, the train would remain on the timecard till the dawn of Amtrak, which has operated an "Empire Builder" ever since.