After the Great Northern added dome cars to the Empire Builder, that train didn’t need the large-windowed Mountain-series of observation cars, so it put those cars on the Western Star. This brochure advertises the upgraded train including interior photos of … Continue reading
Category Archives: Great Northern
Initially, at least, the Great Northern tried to offer nearly identical service on the Western Star as on the Mid-Century Empire Builder. The railway had two routes from Minneapolis to Fargo; two from Fargo to Minot; and two from Havre … Continue reading
It may be true that nothing could be finer than eating in a diner, but waiting in line for a seat in the dining car was a hassle. A few railroads avoided that by offering passengers reservations. What medications interact … Continue reading
While the dining cars of premiere trains such as the Empire Builder and–in its early years, at least–the Western Star used heavy linen tablecloths, secondary trains such as the Red River and Internationals used paper placemats instead. Paper placemats were … Continue reading
Like its cross-border rival, the Canadian Pacific, the Great Northern published a brochure advising photographers how to take photos through the tinted glass windows of the dome cars. But where the Canadian Pacific brochure merely advised photographers to account for … Continue reading
Here’s a used ticket envelope from the 1947 streamlined Empire Builder. The inner flap of the envelope has a photo of a spectacular mountain in Glacier National Park. The ticket agent wrote on the outer flap that the passenger spent … Continue reading
Here are two different versions of the same brochure. The first, published when the train was inaugurated in 1951, advertises the Mid-Century Empire Builder. Perhaps because it was no longer mid-century by 1954, when the second brochure was printed, the … Continue reading
The 1947 Empire Builder was Great Northern’s greatest train (at least, up until 1951, when the railroad replaced the train with an entirely new train). Many illustrations advertising the 1947 train showed five locomotives representing the five complete train sets … Continue reading
The 1950 version of the westbound here-you-are brochure is superficially the same as the 1949 brochure, but in fact the text and graphics have been almost completely redone. Click image to download a PDF of this four-page brochure. The GN … Continue reading
Here is the 1950 eastbound counterpart to yesterday’s “Here You Are” brochure for Empire Builder passengers. Eastbound passengers had to get up early to see Glacier Park, as the train arrived at West Glacier (Belton) at about 7:30 am. Click … Continue reading