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
This 12-page brochure from the mid- to late-1960s purports to be an “along-the-way” travelogue, but in face only four of the pages provide a city-by-city guide to the Northern Pacific’s route between the Twin Cities and the Pacific Northwest. The … 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
