Five years after the Great Northern re-equipped the Oriental Limited in 1924, the Northern Pacific completely re-equipped its North Coast Limited. Unlike GN’s premiere train, the North Coast Limited had the extra cache of being an all-Pullman train. Click image … Continue reading
The Great Northern, Northern Pacific, and Burlington railways jointly published this travel booklet in 1925. Focused on the Northwest, the centerfold map features the three railroads’ routes across Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Washington, and Oregon. Naturally, the SP&S route is also … Continue reading
This North Coast Limited menu doesn’t have a date, but it urges people to “apply now for training as a U.S. Army Aviation Cadet.” This places it before 1947, when the Army Air Corps became the Air Force. Since the … Continue reading
In 1883, Northern Pacific financier Henry Villard celebrated the completion of the transcontinental line with a fabulous “golden spike” ceremony (which didn’t actually use a gold spike), and then promptly had a nervous breakdown over the company’s weak finances. To … Continue reading
Unlike the previous NP stationery from the heavyweight era, this one doesn’t mention air condition or roller bearings, so it must be from the 1920s or early 1930s. Click image to download a 151-KB PDF of this letterhead. The image … Continue reading
This undated brochure doesn’t mention air conditioning or roller bearings, suggesting that it was printed before the mid-1930s. Northern Pacific was proud of its dining car service, having been the first transcontinental railway to offer a dining car on its … Continue reading
For more than three decades, the Great Big Baked Potato was a mainstay of Northern Pacific advertising. Many of the ads featured the same image of a potato on a plate (Garnet pattern of China), with a spoon on the … Continue reading
This lunch menu doesn’t have a date, but as previously noted it would have to be from the late 1930s when the Northern Pacific had roller bearings on its passenger locomotives. The rather spectacular pattern on the menu cover wraps … Continue reading
This piece of on-board stationery advertises “the air-conditioned North Coast Limited” with the added statement, “For 1000 miles-companion of mountains.” While Great Northern would later advertise that the Great Domed Empire Builder passed “more scenic miles,” Northern Pacific fans would … Continue reading
One-upping the Great Northern, Northern Pacific advertises that its North Coast Limited is not only air-conditioned, but roller-bearinged. This refers primarily to the railroad’s steam locomotives: NP bought the Timken “Four Aces“–locomotive 1111, the first to be fully outfitted with … Continue reading
