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Northern Pacific Pictorial Vol 5 Domes, RDCs and Slumbercoaches by John Strauss
Northern Pacific Pictorial Vol 5 Domes, RDCs and Slumbercoaches by John F Strauss Jr
Hard Cover
208 pages
Copyright 2001
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Selected Bibliography and Acknowledgements4
Introduction 7
New Schedules, New Trains, and New Colors: 1952-1954 10
Four Domes - West and East: 1954-1959 50
Quality Service on Fewer Trains: 1960-1965 108
Nice People or No Passengers: 1966-1970 158
View from the Vista Dome North Coast Limited 202
INTRODUCTION:
With the change to forward-looking management, Northern Pacific regained its reputation during the 1950s as a provider of excellent transcontinental passenger train service along "the Main Street of the Northwest", and it pursued passengers aggressively until the late 1960s. Near the end of this 19-year period, however, its North Coast Limited, Mainstreeter, and "Coast Pool Train", Nos. 407 & 408, were all that remained in the midst of termination of mail contracts, of preference for travel by private automobile and jet airliner, of increased operating costs, of declining passenger revenues, and of train-off applications. These three trains faded with noticeable indifference by the traveling public into a new super railroad known as Burlington Northern in March 1970, and they disappeared with the coming of Amtrak during May, 1971.
As Northern Pacific entered into the 1950s, there was considerable pressure to speed up the streamlined North Coast Limited that was exerted by Great Northern's Empire Builder, Milwaukee Road's Olympian Hiawatha, and Union Pacific's City of Portland. However, before faster times between St. Paul and Seattle could be scheduled for its primary passenger train, improvements to Northern Pacific's transcontinental main line had to be completed at considerable expense.
Also, as passenger traffic patterns began to change to vacation-oriented coach travel from business-oriented sleeping car travel, those who traveled on the North Coast Limited exerted additional pressure for up-to-date cars with domes and with economical coach-sleeping car accommodations.
The decisions to proceed with the purchase of these new cars were made difficult for management, however. Passenger traffic on its premier streamliner and its other passenger trains was heaviest during the summer months and the Christmas Holidays. During the other months of the year, reductions in the number of assigned coaches and sleeping cars and of on-board crew were necessary in order to achieve reasonable costs of operation. At the same time, expensive passenger equipment was placed in temporary storage in the Railway's terminal coach yards.
The following four chapters in this Volume Five take the reader through this period of highs and lows from 1952, when Northern Pacific met its competition head-on, through 1954, when the innovative dome cars came and when its "Four Domes Train West" was achieved, through 1959, when the innovative Slumbercoach was introduced, to 1970 when only three main line passenger trains were still in service on Northern Pacific Railway. These four chapters are entitled "New Schedules, New Trains, and New Colors: 1952-1954", "Four Domes West and East: 1954-1959", "Quality Service on Fewer Trains: 1960-1965", and "Nice People or No Passengers: 1966-1970".
As was the case in the companion book, "Northern Pacific Pictorial Volume Four", descriptions of Burlington Route, Southern Pacific, and Spokane, Portland & Seattle Ry's connecting passenger trains during this 1952-1970 period have been included in each of this volume's four chapters. The passenger trains of these three railroads were closely involved with Northern Pacific's in through Chicago-Seattle via St. Paul, Chicago-Portland via St. Paul, Spokane, and Pasco, and Seattle-California via Portland service. The competition, which was presented by Great Northern, Milwaukee Road, and Union Pacific as well as Canadian National and Canadian Pacific transcontinental passenger trains, and which had to be faced by the Northern Pacific, has also been presented in each chapter of this volume. O
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