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Orange and Green lives on!
Examples of the GN colors
in post-GN use »

July 2008 Skykomish photos»

1947 article

A Story About the
New Empire Builder»

Spring-frogs

All you ever wanted to know about spring-frog assemblies»

Wall map

Photos of a large illustrated
GN wall map »

Accident reports

Added newspaper clipping and photos for Dassel page»

Added newspaper clipping and photos for Wayzata page»

Main page» Lists accidents

Streamlined car roster

Just added printable version »

The 'Virtual' St. Nicholas Mt. project

3D renderings of one the Mid-Century Empire Builder's unique observation cars currently undergoing restoration.

Video of ex-GN dome
Ocean View

On Amtrak's Adirondack, Nov. 2007. Plus interior shots»

Joint GN -NP archives now online

The GN and NP Rwy. historical societies have created a web site where you can browse some of the holdings at the Jackson St. roundhouse in St. Paul.

Just some of the items available for downloading are: PDF files of station plans, timetables and AFE reports, and photo collections such as the Newby Collection (example at right).

Go to the GN-NP joint site »

Whither "Little Chief Mountain"

Photo: Arnie Burkhardt

Ex-GN observation Little Chief Mt. in Milwaukee, Nov., 1971.

Little Chief Mountain was one of 6 tall-window observation cars made for the Mid-Century Empire Builder in 1950. Of the 6, Little Chief was the only one (that I know of) that saw service with Amtrak as a stand-in for the full-length dome on the North Coast Hiawatha.

Litttle Chief Mountain can be seen in Amtrak service in the video set "Empire Builders to Milwaukee", a collection of films taken in the Milwaukee area shortly after Amtrak's inception in 1971.

The car was involved in a wreck in the Kootenai River canyon in northern Idaho in late 1971, but details are scarce.

Sold to American Recycling Corp., 1971

Photo of the wrecked Little Chief Mt. in Spokane, Wash. in 1973 on Greg Smith's web site»

Photo of same from the newby Collection at the GN-NP joint archive:

A Great Northern dinosaur

EX-GN NW3#179 is 68 years old this year and still kickin'!

See more photos »

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).

Click to see the
1121 drawing»

The first subject of this site 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.