Continuing its rivalry with the Canadian Pacific, the only railroad that actually served both Vancouver and Victoria BC, the Great Northern issued this tiny brochure that might be dated 1964. Like the Portland brochure, this one is three across and two high and features eight color photos, three color drawings, and is evenly split between the two cities.
Click image to download a 1.6-MB PDF of this brochure.
The brochure includes a map showing how to reach Vancouver via Great Northern rails and Victoria via a ferry that was walking distance from Seattle’s King Street railroad station. GN’s line to Vancouver was built in the early 1900s when the Hill-Van Horne rivalry was at its peak. To reach Vancouver, the GN illegally built its tracks across Canadian Pacific tracks in the middle of the night. Eventually, the GN built a magnificent station next to what would become the Canadian National Station. When passenger traffic dwindled after 1960, GN tore its station down and routed its trains into the CN station. Neither station was as convenient to Vancouver travelers as the Canadian Pacific station, which was located right downtown as it had been built when most land in the city was still vacant.