Nostalgia & History > Great Northern: Fargo, North Dakota.

Fargo, North Dakota was a major stop on several Great Northern Railway trains. Here are a few photos of Fargo near the end of the steam era...

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This beautiful depot still sees the daily run of the Empire Builder on Amtrak.

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Wonderful photos, thanks for posting.

Redwater Wrote:
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This beautiful depot still sees the daily run of the Empire Builder on Amtrak.

Correct, but Amtrak doesn't actually use this building, which is now the "Great Northern Bicycle Company".  Amtrak uses what was the baggage annex/freight room, a separate smaller building at the east end of this depot:
https://www.google.com/maps/@46.8808613,-96.7847753,3a,75y,297.9h,91.89t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1seVC7sa3dKu2M2cnTK-10bg!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fcb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile%26w%3D900%26h%3D600%26pitch%3D-1.8898744148067692%26panoid%3DeVC7sa3dKu2M2cnTK-10bg%26yaw%3D297.8973569121614!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI0MTEyNC4xIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D

Here's a westbound BNSF grain train passing on May 19, 2016.

mike woodruff
north platte ne

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Thanks for posting!  The bicycle company sign reminds me of the GN herald that graced this depot after the shots posted were taken.  And notice the engines with the centered headlight on the smokebox.  These ae undoubtedly P2 Mountains, 4-8-2.  A couple of the shots show the engine without the Belpaire firebox, standard on the GN.  The only other class not to have this style of firebox were the S2 Northern 4-8-4's. However, they had smokebox mounted air pumps.  A really great look back here.  

Nick Tharalson,
Marion, IA


 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/29/24 08:27 by ntharalson.

Those 4-8-2s look markedly similar to UP Mountains built by Alco in the early 20's. Were they also built about that time?

Tom

UP3806 Wrote:
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Those 4-8-2s look markedly similar to UP Mountains built by Alco in the early 20's. Were they also built about that time?

The GN P-2s came from Baldwin in 1923 and are nearly identical in specs to the UP's MT-1s.  Same driver diameter (73"), same cylinder bore and stroke (29" x 28"), same boiler pressure (200 psi), same tractive effort (54,000 lbs).  The GN engines were just slighly heavier, 357,000 lbs vs. 350,000 lbs for the UP.

mike woodruff
north platte ne 

That's an impressive brick structure!  Probably the heartbeat of the city for many decades!

Thanks very much for these nice photos.  Too bad I only got to see lots of GN steam engines in the scrap lines.

Craig Hanson
Vay, Idaho