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Railroads & Locomotives Fallen Flags Remembering Great Northern passenger trains

Remembering Great Northern passenger trains

By Chuck Braasch | September 4, 2020

| Last updated on December 29, 2020


The Great Northern Railway is Classic Trains' Railroad of the Month for September 2020.

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Bright-colored promotional illustration with a map of the Western United States and orange-and-brown diesel electric locomotives.

GN’s Empire Builder

Chicago–Seattle/Portland Empire Builder booklet cover, 1947.

Great Northern
Bright-colored promotional illustration with a map of the Western United States and orange-and-brown diesel electric locomotives.
Several people in cloth cushioned bench-style coach seats looking out a passenger coach on a snowy scene.

GN’s Empire Builder/Western Star

Chicago–Seattle/Portland Empire Builder (Western Star after 1951) 60-seat coach, 1947.

Great Northern
Several people in cloth cushioned bench-style coach seats looking out a passenger coach on a snowy scene.
The tail of an observation car in a yard or station displaying an "Empire Builder" emblem on the rear.

GN’s Empire Builder

Chicago–Seattle/Portland Empire Builder observation car, early 1940s.

Classic Trains collection
The tail of an observation car in a yard or station displaying an "Empire Builder" emblem on the rear.
Several trains paused near a train station with large clocktower.

GN’s Fast Mail

St. Paul–Seattle Fast Mail (left) at Spokane, Wash., July 1948.

Wade J. Stevenson
Several trains paused near a train station with large clocktower.
Cab-unit diesel locomotives lead a long passenger train on an s-curve at the foot of snow-capped mountains and forest.

GN’s 'Western Star'

Chicago–Seattle/Portland Western Star in Marias Pass, Mont., 1951.

Great Northern
Cab-unit diesel locomotives lead a long passenger train on an s-curve at the foot of snow-capped mountains and forest.
Worker loads bags from a cart into a passenger car at a train station with several passenger trains paused.

GN’s 'International' and 'Empire Builder'

Seattle–Vancouver, B.C., International observation car (left) and Chicago–Seattle Empire Builder (right, being unloaded) at Seattle, 1958.

Philip R. Hastings
Worker loads bags from a cart into a passenger car at a train station with several passenger trains paused.
Passenger train rounding a curve along a shoreline as viewed from behind the train.

GN’s 'Empire Builder'

Chicago–Seattle Empire Builder along Puget Sound, c. 1929.

Great Northern
Passenger train rounding a curve along a shoreline as viewed from behind the train.
An orange-and-brown passenger train pass behind a person fishing in a river.

GN’s 'Empire Builder'

Chicago–Seattle/Portland Empire Builder, east of Shelby, Mont., c. 1954.

Great Northern
An orange-and-brown passenger train pass behind a person fishing in a river.
People seated at a bar and a white-suited waiter standing by.

GN’s 'Empire Builder'

Chicago–Seattle/Portland Empire Builder, “G-bar-N Ranch” mid-train lounge car, c. 1951.

Great Northern
People seated at a bar and a white-suited waiter standing by.
Diesel locomotive-led passenger train seen near a sandy beach.

GN’s 'Empire Builder'

Seattle–Chicago Empire Builder at Richmond Beach, Wash., along Puget Sound, April 1953.

David W. Salter
Diesel locomotive-led passenger train seen near a sandy beach.
Cab unit diesel locomotives lead a mail-express train through a prairie.

GN’s 'Fast Mail'

Seattle–St. Paul, Minn., Fast Mail, west of Ray, N.D., June 1950.

Classic Trains collection
Cab unit diesel locomotives lead a mail-express train through a prairie.
Diesel-locomotive led passenger train bends toward the photographer on a four-track mainline.

GN’s 'Empire Builder'

Chicago–Seattle/Portland Empire Builder, late 1940s.

Great Northern
Diesel-locomotive led passenger train bends toward the photographer on a four-track mainline.
Man and two women seated at a passenger car table pose for a photograph taken by a second man.

GN’s 'Empire Builder'

Chicago–Seattle/Portland Empire Builder, 1951 version, observation-lounge interior.

Great Northern
Man and two women seated at a passenger car table pose for a photograph taken by a second man.
Angled side view of a passenger car in a rail yard.

GN’s 'Empire Builder'

Chicago–Seattle/Portland Empire Builder, 1947 version, dining car Lake Chelan.

Great Northern
Angled side view of a passenger car in a rail yard.
Realistic color illustration of a steam locomotive next to a semaphore signal in a mountain scene.

GN’s 'Empire Builder'

Chicago–Seattle/Portland Empire Builder, brochure cover, 1941.

Great Northern
Realistic color illustration of a steam locomotive next to a semaphore signal in a mountain scene.
Passenger train in distance moves along a ledge above a wide river and below modest mountain tops.

GN’s 'Fast Mail'

St. Paul, Minn.–Seattle Fast Mail, Columbia Falls, Mont., 1950s.

Frank McKinlay
Passenger train in distance moves along a ledge above a wide river and below modest mountain tops.

 

All through September 2020, Classic Trains editors are celebrating the history, grit and grandeur of the Great Northern Railway.

Please enjoy this Great Northern Railway passenger train photo gallery, originally published in September 2018.

If you like this gallery, please take a look at an article on the history of the Great Northern, here.

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