Articles

Proposed Reference Sheet
Ted Doyle

On January 6, 1893, in an impromptu ceremony, one and three-fourths miles east of Scenic, Washington, a plain iron spike was driven home to complete Great Northern’s Pacific Extension.

Six months elapsed before the first transcontinental, regularly scheduled passenger trains ran between Seattle and St Paul; this was after the bridge had been completed over the Columbia in May.

Original Mainline

The June 1893 mainline differed from its route of later years. The 1827 mile route to Puget Sound ran through substantial wilderness followed ten rivers and crossed three major passes, Marias, Haskell, and Stevens. From St Paul, the original mainline went northwest through Elk River, St Cloud, Fargo, and Moorehead to Grand Forks, North Dakota where it turned west to Devil's Lake. It followed the high line through Minot, Williston and Havre, Montana to crest the Rockies at Marias Pass. The mainline descended into the Flathead Valley to Kalispell, and proceeded west over the 1-1/2% grades east and west of Haskell Pass and then to Jennings where the Kootanai River was reached. The Kootanai was followed to Idaho and then upon entering Washington, at Newport. The line went south to Spokane with a mile of the route using trackage rights over the S,LS &E railway. From Spokane it went west to the Columbia River and Wenatchee. The weakest link in GN's route was the line across the Cascades. There, Great Northern had to accept a temporary line with torturous switchbacks until traffic grew to the point that justified the planned tunnel. After topping the Cascades, the route followed the Skykomish River to NP’s Delta Junction and Everett. It then followed the shores of Puget Sound, with its mudslides, to Seattle and its Railroad Avenue Terminal.

Great Northern’s first transcontinental train from St. Paul to Seattle was simply known as numbers 3&4. During this period trains 1 & 2 ran between St Paul to Grand Forks; and went 23 &24 from Havre to Butte. In the East, the Winnipeg train became numbers 9&10. According to the 1893 GN timetables, time changes occurred at Minot between Central and Mountain time and at Spokane between Mountain and Pacific time. By 1905 the change points were Williston, North Dakota and Troy, Montana.

The Eastern end of the line between St Paul and Havre had been in service for several years. Open platform cars pulled by 4-4-0s had proven satisfactory. When service between Havre and Spokane was established in 1892, heavier power was acquired. That year, Mogals joined the remunda to handle trains over Haskell and Marias Passes. Soon the mogals were augmented by 2-8-0 and 4-8-0s as helpers. For the new Puget Sound service, the line over the Cascades had to be developed and would prove to be the most difficult. In the Cascades, the Mogals could handle two or three cars over the 4% grades and switchbacks. Normally, three locomotives were required to move a seven car passenger train over the Cascade summit, taking 1-1/2 - 2 hours to cross the switchbacks.

Line Changes

The St. Paul - Seattle running time was cut from 75 hours in 1893, to 58 hours in 1905 for the new Oriental Limited because of line improvements. The significant changes in the first twelve years, that allowed Great Northern to shave the running time by 17 hours included eliminating the hazardous switchbacks over Stevens Pass with the original 2.6 mile Cascade Tunnel in 1900. The tunnel eliminated eight and one half miles of track and reduced maximum elevation to 3,383 feet. Sixty-nine miles of mainline was relocated between Columbia Falls and Jennings, Montana in 1904, eliminating the 1.5% grades of abandoned Haskell Pass line. Although the new line was 16 miles longer, the running time was slightly shorten. Trackage was improved in the western cities in several ways: the Everett tunnel was completed in 1901 eliminating the loop around the city over NP trackage; the line was changed through Spokane in 1902 for the new Havermale Island passenger depot; and the Seattle tunnel was completed in 1905, permitting the opening of King Street Station in 1906.

Line improvements continued, as the GN was not yet complete insofar as constructing track and tapping Northwest areas. The Cascade Tunnel was electrified in 1909. Between 1907-11, the sea wall between Everett and Ballard double tracked and improved to reduce the danger of mud slides. The completion, in 1912 ,of the Surrey Cutoff between Fargo and Minot North Dakota shortened the transcontinental route by 52 miles. The Chumstick cutoff in 1927, resulted in the relocation of the line between Peshastin and Scenic and electrification of 75 miles between Wenatchee and Skykomish. In 1929, the eight mile Cascade Tunnel was completed. All of these resulted in faster and more efficient passenger operations.