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Take the NP Route to the Golden Gate Expo

Posted on July 3, 2022 by Train LoverJune 7, 2022

This booklet, which is courtesy of the NPRHA — Lorenz Schrenk collection, was prepared by Golden Gate International Exposition commission and shared with the Northern Pacific and other railroads with two blank pages for the railroads to use to advertise their trains. We’ve previously seen the same booklet in a Milwaukee Road edition. Other than the railroad logos on the back covers (shown below), the only information unique to each railroad’s edition is on pages 20 and 21.

Click image to download a 8.4-MB PDF of this 24-page booklet.

For people living near the NP west of Minneapolis-St. Paul, taking the Northern Pacific (or Milwaukee) might have been the best way to get to San Francisco. It would have been harder to entice people in or east of the Twin Cities. Where the Milwaukee Road emphasized the comforts of its trains, NP’s approach was to focus on scenery and access to Yellowstone, Rainier, and Olympic parks as attractions people could enjoy “if time permits.”

Newest Gateway to Yellowstone

Posted on July 2, 2022 by Train LoverJune 7, 2022

We’ve previously seen a 12-page booklet advertising the Beartooth Highway, which the Northern Pacific insisted on calling the Red Lodge High Road because its passenger trains went as far as Red Lodge. Today’s booklet, which is courtesy of the NPRHA — Lorenz Schrenk Collection, is a substantial revision of the previous one.

Click image to download a 6.9-MB PDF of this 16-page booklet.

The booklet retains some of the same photos, or reshoots of photos from similar locations. However, the cover and some interior photos are tilted about 7 degrees, perhaps because whoever laid out the report thought that made them look for exciting. The text is heavily revised. Continue reading →

Deluxe Coach Between Seattle & Spokane

Posted on July 1, 2022 by Train LoverJune 7, 2022

The North Coast Limited (trains #1 & 2) traditionally went between Seattle and Spokane at night in both directions. In the 1930s, the secondary Alaskan went at night westbound but during the day eastbound. The unnamed #5 & 6, which only went as far east as Spokane, went at night eastbound but during the day westbound.

Click image to download a 1.1-MB PDF of this brochure.

Trains 5 & 6 had coaches with unreserved seating that probably weren’t air conditioned. To attract daytime travelers, NP in 1935 began offering a special reserved seat, air-conditioned coach on trains 4 and 5. A Continue reading →

Astonishing Yellowstone in 1938

Posted on June 30, 2022 by Train LoverJune 7, 2022

The 68-page Magic Yellowstone booklet of 1928 has morphed by 1938 into a 68-page Astonishing Yellowstone booklet. The essay by Emerson Hough, which filled 1-1/4 pages of the 1928 booklet, has been heavily edited so that it fits on only one page of the 1938 edition. This booklet is courtesy of NPRHA — Lorenz Schrenk collection.

Click image to download a 21.3-MB PDF of this 68-page booklet.

While the booklet covers the same ground as the 1928 edition, it has been largely rewritten and supplied with all or nearly all new photos. These include two pages of photos of the Red Lodge Highway, which opened in 1937. In general, the photos take more space and the text has been edited down to take less space. In fact, while half the pages of the 1928 booklet are all or nearly all text, the 1938 edition has only seven pages that are mainly text. Continue reading →

Alaska Cruises in 1937

Posted on June 29, 2022 by Train LoverJune 7, 2022

Here’s one more Northern Pacific/Alaska Steamship brochure from the NPRHA — Lorenz Schrenk collection. Several of the tour prices in this brochure are a little higher than in Great Northern’s 1936 brochure but a little lower than Great Northern’s 1938 brochure, so I’m dating it to 1937.

Click image to download a 2.3-MB PDF of this brochure.

The description of the Golden Belt Line Tour says visitors “may readily visit the Government’s famous Matanuska Valley coloninzation project.” This was a New Deal program based on the notion that people who had failed at farming in the harsh environment of Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin could become successful farmers in the even harsher Alaskan environment. The federal government spent $5 million helping to settle more than 200 families in the valley. Within a few years, 90 percent of them were gone.

Alaska Cruises Under the Midnight Sun

Posted on June 28, 2022 by Train LoverJune 7, 2022

This brochure is similar to yesterday’s, but it advertises a “completely air conditioned” North Coast Limited. That dates it to at least 1935. Like yesterday’s, this booklet is courtesy of NPRHA — Lorenz Schrenk collection.

Click image to download a 2.5-MB PDF of this brochure.

These Alaska brochures describe several cruises and tours, including the Inside Passage, Copper River-Keystone Canyon, Prince William Sound, Golden Belt Line, and Yukon River Circle. Several of the tour prices are higher than in yesterday’s but lower than in Great Northern’s 1936 brochure. So I’m dating this to 1935. Continue reading →

The All-American Route to Alaska

Posted on June 27, 2022 by Train LoverJune 7, 2022

“All American” meant taking the Northern Pacific or another U.S. railroad to Seattle and then taking an Alaska Steamship Company ship rather than a Canadian Pacific or Canadian National ship to Alaska. This brochure is mostly about Alaska but at least a quarter of it is about the Northern Pacific and its trains. This booklet is courtesy of NPRHA — Lorenz Schrenk collection.

Click image to download a 2.2-MB PDF of this brochure.

We’ve seen brochures similar to this one for 1936 and 1938, but they are marked for the Great Northern Railway. Clearly, the Alaska Steamship Company was happy to co-brand its publicity with any railroad reaching Seattle. Continue reading →

New Power for the North Coast Limited

Posted on June 26, 2022 by Train LoverJune 7, 2022

In 1926, Northern Pacific became the first railroad to order a 4-8-4 locomotive, which is usually called a “Northern” in the NP’s honor. Other railroads had successfully used 4-8-2 locomotives, but NP needed four wheels to carry an extra large firebox because it burned a low grade of coal.

Click image to download a 590-KB PDF of this brochure.

Although American railroads constructed or purchased almost twice as many 4-8-2s as 4-8-4s, 4-8-4s ended the steam era hauling the Twentieth Century Limited, Los Angeles Limited, Chief, Coast Daylight, Empire Builder, North Coast Limited, and many other fine passenger trains, and so the public came to identify it as the premiere steam locomotive for passenger service. As a result, more than 40 4-8-4s survive today, at least 10 of which are operational, while there are only 17 4-8-2s, only one of which is operational. Continue reading →

In Quiet Valleys Near the Mountains or Sea

Posted on June 25, 2022 by Train LoverJune 7, 2022

We’ve previously seen a 1946 booklet from the Great Northern urging people to resettle in Oregon for their “successful farming future.” Here’s a similar booklet issued by Northern Pacific in 1933 whose front and back covers are adorned with black-and-white photos realistically tinted with green for Oregon fields and forests.

Click image to download a 23.8-MB PDF of this 40-page booklet.

“Oregon farms are operated amid pleasant surroundings, in quiet valleys near the mountains or near the sea,” says the booklet. “Farming is an occupation which brings one close to nature and in Oregon this fact is magnified be- cause the state abounds in natural wonders” including “salmon and other game fish.” Sadly, farming was one, though certainly not the only, factor that led to the near-demise of salmon and other migratory fish. Continue reading →

Jim Bridger’s Yarns of the Yellowstone

Posted on June 24, 2022 by Train LoverJune 7, 2022

Jim Bridger wasn’t the first mountain man to visit Yellowstone, but he had a better publicist than John Colter. Near the end of his life, he told many wild stories about his explorations, some of which may actually have been true. None of the stories told in this little booklet fall into that category.

Click image to download a 5.7-MB PDF of this 16-page booklet.

According to the 1931 booklet, the nine “whimsical stories” within were reprinted from a 1922 book, The Bozeman Trail, Volume 2, which can be downloaded (along with volume 1) from archive.org. The booklet also “acknowledges” a book by Hiram Martin Chittenden, The Yellowstone Park, which is also available for download in versions ranging from 1912 to 1918.