Nostalgia & History > Seattle Great Northern Northern Pacific passenger action pre-BN

50 years ago the BN merger came about, here are some shots of passenger action in Seattle?  I am a few days early account family matters out of town. I am not familier at all of the Seattle railroading scene, so is this King Street area? And wasn't the first Kingdome built close by? I will add a couple of more films in March of the early BN from the northwest, this was about the best I could find right now. Sorry about the quality, the film is Kodak, I don't know if it is the quality of the camera, photographer is unknown. KCRW287

You must be a registered subscriber to watch videos. Join Today!

Very enjoyable footage!!   BSB

Thanks for a very interesting video with lots of good looking equipment!

Larry

Yes definitely Seattle south of King street station. The kingdome was not built until much later 75-76 nice shots of the NCL and the builder. Thanks for sharing

Posted from iPhone

Thanks for the info, I have seen pics of Amtrak with the dome being built, KCRW287

I saw a couple of GREEN/'hockey stick' passenger cars with Great Northern logos in the train at about 2:50.  When was this taken?  Just before or just after the merger?  What would these have been; test schemes?  I do remember seeing green Burlington freight cars just before the merger.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/26/20 11:17 by zars.

Excellent video, thanks for sharing.  Regarding the King Dome, it was built near by and under construction in 1974.

1.  BN 99   27 August 1974   Seattle, WA (just south of King St. Station)

Ron

---

zars Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I saw a couple of GREEN/'hockey stick' passenger
> cars with Great Northern logos in the train about
> 2/3's of the way in.  When was this taken?  Just
> before or just after the merger?  What would
> these have been; test schemes?  I do remember
> seeing green Burlington freight cars just before
> the merger.

I noticed that too.  I never saw BN painted passenger cars with the GN name and herald on them.  Hope someone can provide some info.

There was even a Milwaukee Road baggage car in the mix.

came off the fast mail i figure, chi-msp, those blue express cars were sweet, glad BN adopted the smaller hocky stick, they were almost painting cars blue  and green at  the same time



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/26/20 16:16 by dan.

There were a few passenger cars - and a few engines - painted in the green hockey stick scheme before the merger.
I don't see anything in these shots re-stenciled of re-numbered for BN, so I would date this film from 1969 or 1970, just before the merger.
Shots of two cars together in the hockey-stick scheme with GN logos are rare.

Chris.

Great stuff!

Had never seen blue GN express boxcar before.

Thanks for postimg.

Regards, Jim Evans

Some pretty cool head-end equipment at that late date. The blue GN express box is one I haven't seen before. Thanks for sharing.

That 'hockey stick' paint scheme was super ugly . . especially in the same video as the NP passenger consist at the end of the film

Craig
mcmrailvideos.com
 

This was a pre-merger "hockey stick" experimental scheme where the white reaches all the way to the roof line.  By the time the merger actually occured and equipment started to be painted in earnest the scheme had been modified so that the white only reached to the top of the windows -- much better in my opinion.  Here's one more in the experimental scheme.

Gordon



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/26/20 17:17 by gbmott.

---

The video is awesome and thanks for sharing with us.   I can't say I like the GN passenger train with at least three different passenger color variations present.   I'm sure the loyal GN employees/fans of the time probably felt the same.   

There were 4 GN passenger cars painted in BN green in 1969 with GN heralds.  3 of them are pictured in this thread:  Ocean View, Lake Minnetonka, and 1320.  Coach 1099 was the 4th one.  BSB

That paint scheme on Ocean View is really bad!  The last NP train at the end with all the matching equipment and spotless windows is beautiful!

It was interesting to see the Milwaukee Road baggage (probably mail storage) car.  Long after the Milwaukee passenger trains abandoned Seattle. Of course the Milwaukee trains were at Union station next door.

Great video - thanks for posting it.  Wonderfu/ piece of history.

I watched this video several times. This is an area I spent a lot of time when I was in my teens, right about when this was shot. Whoever it was, l would say spent an idyllic morning there at the southern throat of King Street Station. Judging by the angle of the sun, interspersed with the shots of switchers shuttling baggage cars around, this is what I think is seen:

0:35 - The blue-sky GN engine looks to be pulling train 460, the Portland-bound pool train, at it's 8am departure.
2:24 - The Empire Builder, looking kind of skimpy (only 1 regular coach, 1 dome coach, along with the full-length dome lounge, diner, and 3 sleepers) on it's way to the coach yard after what should have been a 7:45 arrival. If the scenes were in sequence, it would have been before the pool train - maybe it was late.
4:13 - It now looks to be around noon, as the sun is shining pretty head-on to the engine of the NP pool train #408, departure time 12:15pm. The North Coast Limited would have domes and a silver slumbercoach, so this must be the pool train.

I spent some of my paper route money riding some of these trains, but of all the trains that served Seattle, I never got around to riding the NP pool train (the pre-Amtrak Empire Builder, either), much to my regret. Can't wait to see what other videos you have!