Great Northern Railway (US)
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Image:Locomotive Great Northern Railway (US).JPG
The Great Northern Railway Template:Reporting mark, running from St. Paul, Minnesota to Seattle, Washington — more than 1,700 miles (2,736 km) — was the privately-financed creation of the 19th century railroad tycoon James J. Hill and was developed from the St. Paul and Pacific Railroad. The GN route was the most northern transcontintal railroad route in the United States and was north of the Northern Pacific route. The GN had branches that ran north to the Canadian border in Minnesota, North Dakota and Montana. It also had branches that ran to Superior, Wisconsin and Butte, Montana. The GN eventually grew to a system of over 8,000 track miles.
The GN mainline crossed the Mississippi River on the Stone Arch Bridge in Minneapolis, near the Saint Anthony Falls, the only waterfall on the Mississippi. The bridge ceased to be used as a railroad bridge in 1978 and is now used as a pedestrian river crossing with excellent views of the falls and of the lock system used to grant barges access up the river past the falls. The GN mainline reached the Puget Sound at Seattle in 1893.
In 1931 the GN also developed its "Inside Gateway" route to California that rivaled Southern Pacific's route along the I-5 corridor. The GN route was further east than the SP route and ran south from the Columbia River in Oregon. The GN connected with the Western Pacific at Bieber, California.
In 1970 the GN became part of the Burlington Northern Railroad in a merger. The GN's routes are now owned by BNSF Railway.
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Passenger service
Image:GN Empire Builder combined.png The Great Northern operated various passenger trains but the Empire Builder was the GN's premier passenger train. The Empire Builder was named in honor of Great Northern's railroad tycoon founder James Hill, who was considered an "Empire Builder".
Named trains
- Empire Builder Chicago-St. Paul-Seattle
- Western Star Chicago-St. Paul-Seattle
- Dakotan St. Paul-Minot
- Winnipeg Limited St. Paul-Winnipeg
- Red River St. Paul-Fargo
- Gopher St. Paul-Superior/Duluth
- Badger St. Paul-Superior/Duluth
- Internationals Seattle-Vancouver, B.C.
Unnamed trains
- Great Falls-Shelby RDC
- Seattle-Portland
Amtrak's Empire Builder
Today, Amtrak's Empire Builder uses the line.
Further reading
- {{cite book
| last = Sobel | first = Robert | authorlink = | coauthors = | year = 1974 | title = The Entrepeneurs: Explorations within the American business tradition | publisher = Weybright & Talley | chapter = Chapter 4: James J. Hill | location = | id = ISBN 0-679-40064-8
}}
- {{cite book
| last = Wilson | first = Jeff | authorlink = | coauthors = | year = 2000 | title = Great Northern Railway in the Pacific Northwest (Golden Years of Railroading) | publisher = Kalmbach Publishing | location = Waukesha, Wisconsin | id = ISBN 0-89024-420-0
}}
- {{cite book
| last = Hidey | first = Ralph W. | authorlink = | coauthors = Muriel E. Hidy, Roy V. Scott, Don L. Hofsommer | year = 2004 | title = The Great Northern Railway: A History | publisher = University of Minnesota Press | location = | id = ISBN 0-81664-429-2 }}
See also
External links
- Great Northern Railway Historical Society
- The Great Northern Empire — Then and Now
- Great Northern Railway Post Office Car No. 42 — 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.
Image:GreatNorthernTrain,NorthDakota.jpg
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