The Great Northern published the Goat for “individuals and organizations engaged directly or indirectly in the handling of industrial traffic matters and travel by railroad.” In other words, it was more likely to be seen by travel agents than the … Continue reading
James J. Hill’s Great Northern Railway opened a magnificent station in Minneapolis in 1913. Although the station was prominently marked with the name “Great Northern,” it also served the Northern Pacific, Burlington, Chicago & North Western, Chicago Great Western, and … Continue reading
Ralph Budd’s son, John, became president of the Great Northern in May, 1951, so this is the first annual report that signed by him rather than Frank Gavin, who stayed on as chairman of the board. The wrap-around cover shows … Continue reading
After 1949’s boring cover photo, this one is particularly exciting, especially for passenger train fans. It shows the streamlined Internationals, which entered service in June of 1950. The two train sets built by American Car & Foundary would have passed … Continue reading
This four-page brochure briefly describes thirty different tours ranging from one day (meaning overnight) to ten nights long. The tours rely mainly on motor coaches; those who preferred to take horseback rides through the park would have to find other … Continue reading
We’ve previously seen Great Northern dude ranch booklets from 1935 and 1940. This one from 1950 includes a brief description of 45 different dude ranches. Most of them are in Montana, but there are five in Washington, two in British … Continue reading
And the winner of the most boring cover photo on a Great Northern annual report in the 1940s is . . . 1949! Seriously, the bridge under construction in the photo could be anywhere; it could be a highway bridge. … Continue reading
The 1948 cover uses orange and green to depict the streamlined Empire Builder. It’s not four colors like the 1946 cover, but its better than just green and black, which is what the title page (page 3) uses to portray … Continue reading
After the glorious, full-color cover on the 1946 annual report, GN returned to process colors for the 1947 cover. At least there are two colors (in addition to black): orange and red, instead of the green used in the 1940-1945 … Continue reading
Departing from the black-and-white cover photos of the previous five years, the 1946 annual report introduces the streamlined Empire Builder with this gorgeous color cover, which wraps around to the back (see the full cover below). This is the same … Continue reading
