The Great Northern Railway is Classic Trains' Railroad of the Month for September 2020
The nerve center of the Minot N.D., yard is this yard office, its impressive control tower commanding a view of the entire 471-acre facility. The freight cars pictured have just entered one of the five electronically controlled retarders. The floodlight is one of that that provide 62.75 million candlepower for safe nighttime operation.
Great Northern
Engine 3396 leads first 402 at Harlem, Mont., east of Havre, in August 1948. The locomotive was the highest-numbered of the O-7 class 2-8-2s, which were rebuilt from 2-6-8-0s.
F. McKindlay, collection of M.F. Priebe
Train 435 with R-2 class 2-8-8-2 No. 2059 rolls 2 miles west of Pinnacle, Mont., along the north fork of the Flathead River in April 1941. The crew this day included engineer Kohlmier, conductor Letcher, and brakemen Sherman and Mitchell.
W.R. McGee
The leaden skies of an early-winter afternoon silhouetted Gassman Coulee trestle on the main line west of Minot, N.D. Here, a 118-car covered hopper train of potash roars southwest from Northgate, N.Dak., to Mendota, Ill. Six F7s pulled the train from International Mineral & Chemical Corporation’s potash terminal at Northgate, in the first potash unit train operation of the Great Northern and Chicago, Burlington & Quincy. The trestle is 117 feet high and 1,792 feet long.
Great Northern
An eastbound freight train courses through the Columbia River valley near Rock Island, Wash. Power on this day is a four-unit set of F7s totaling 6,000 horsepower.
Great Northern
Appleyard at Wenatchee, Wash., was the eastern terminal for electric operations, with extensive facilities for both steam and electric locomotives. At right is an icing platform to service the thousands of refrigerated cars that head east with loads of apples each fall.
Great Northern
Two electric motors pull a heavy freight east near Chumstick, Wash., north of Leavenworth. Three more electric helper locomotives are located farther back. In the distance is a portal for Tunnel 13.
William J. Pontin
A westbound freight with an A-B-B-A set of F units crosses the Columbia River at Rock Island, Wash.
Great Northern
Literally a blue streak, a 114-car train of new jumbo covered hoppers rolls through farmland west of the Twin Cities for loading. The train with its three EMD SD45s represents a $2.5 million investment by the railroad. Each of the 55-foot covered hoppers carries 3,800 bushels of wheat.
Great Northern
A solid train of “Big Sky Blue” covered hopers negotiates the dramatic curve onto the Fort Wright bridge over the Spokane River in Washington. The 50-car train, on the last leg of a journey that started in Wolf Point, Mont., is carrying 175,000 bushels of wheat to Portland, Ore., where it will be loaded onto a ship bound for Japan. The power, four Spokane, Portland & Seattle diesels, is visible on the bridge in the distance.
Great Northern
All this month — September 2020 — Classic Trains editors are celebrating the heritage, history, and images of the Great Northern Railway.
Please enjoy this photo gallery of images from the David P. Morgan Library archives at Kalmbach Media that include GN diesel- and steam-powered freight trains through time.
You might also enjoy this Great Northern history article from Classic Trains or a passenger train gallery!
