As I’ve noted before, when Northern Pacific introduced the streamlined North Coast Limited in 1948, it left it on the same timetable as the previous heavyweight train. That kept it at a severe disadvantage compared with the Empire Builder and … Continue reading
This 1956 brochure uses NP’s typical black-and-white photos with red trim format to advertise the lounge car on NP’s Mainstreamer. This had been the coffee shop-lounge car on the 1948 North Coast Limited. The only decoration in that original car … Continue reading
Like the Western Star, which brought many tourists to Glacier Park in tour cars from other railroads, the NP used the Mainstreeter to bring tour cars to Livingston, where they would board buses to Yellowstone Park. By the mid-1960s, however, … Continue reading
The Mainstreeter was really little more than the Northern Pacific’s previous secondary train, the Alaskan, but with Diesel power and a somewhat faster schedule. Yet the schedule was still slower than the Western Star, requiring almost ten more hours to … Continue reading
If the Western Star was downgraded after 1967, its rival the Mainstreeter was never really upgraded. While the Star began in 1951 as a completely streamlined train, the Mainstreeter was inaugurated on November 16, 1952 with Diesels and streamlined coaches, … Continue reading
