History of the Northern Pacific's North Coast Limited 

You and I may have ridden a Mainstreeter and never knew it. Lived in St. Paul then, and took Trains 1 & 2 frequently to Staples, Glendive and other points father west. Last took the train in December 1970, I believe. Ken has a Lake Superior video about a fully restored NP coach used on the Mainstreeter (Car 517) elsewhere on this site.

Under Jimmy Carter as president. This line never should have lost passenger service. Even if only four days a week, better than nothing. Imagine now a modern Amtrak Superliner or streamliner-equivalent traversing these tracks for a new generation of rail fans. Many are tired of squishy airline seats, FAA interference and endless cancellations for a small storm, and road ragers/tootleputters on the freeways. We have been going downhill since airlines and interstates were subsidized while rails received almost nothing to encourage passenger service between Chicago and Seattle-Portland and elsewhere. Loss of the first class mail contract in 1967 was the writing on the wall for many long-distance trains. Thanks.

and i believe it went through Snoqualmie pass and Stampede pass along Interstate 90 before reaching present-day Auburn, WA

you lucky dude

I always heard it said Pew y'all up.

@@iannarita9816 Not bad.

right - I heard somewhere that it is the most frequently mispronounced place name by press, "pew" "Al" "up". And just to complicate things the actual native american pronunciation is different too, something like "poi" "all" "up".

… of course WW2 and Rationing (gasoline) halted that trend. In the 1950s, with returning veterans and economy, that trend continued with jet air travel cutting into long-range (coast-to-coast) travel by 1960s.

not shorter. longer and slower and more costly to run

That would be the freight paint scheme.

My favorite NP livery is their white, green, and lime paint job, but their pine green and brown paint is a close second

Only if ya wanna burn more gas. I say ditch the plane and take the train

@FranzFerdinandVIII And if you are happy to spend 4 days to travel the distance that can be done in 6 hours.

@@carnakthemagnificent336 On a squishy, hostile, bottom-line plane with angry passengers and no leg room for taller gentlemen.

The reason why some Amtrak routes, like the Empire Builder, are subsidized, is because many people living in the region can't afford plane tickets or personal automobiles to travel to places along the route. Price a plane ticket from Grand Forks, ND to Shelby, Montana, for instance. It's cheaper to fly from Chicago to LA. Meanwhile, a cheap Amtrak ticket (on a Sunday - Monday) from Shelby to Spokane only cost me $67 in 2014 - less than gas in a economy car would have been. I've ridden the Empire Builder recently, and about half the people on board were actual travelers, not vacationers. And wake up - highways and airports are almost 100% subsidized by government.

@@scottb8175 You bet. Three things hurt passenger rail service: (1) interstate highways (convenient in good weather); (2) airline subsidies (faster) and (3) loss of the USPS mail contract in 1966-67 that provided enough income for railroads, such as the GN and NP, to justify keeping the passenger train services going. The arrogant, Wall Street-driven airline industry has forgotten the fact that unless you have a taxpayer subsidized airport to land at, you can't land DE PLANE!

Agree! Great facts here, but his tempo makes it terrible to absorb.