Northern Pacific Railway
The Northern Pacific Railway (NP ) was an American railroad company that operated in the states of Idaho, Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota, Oregon, Washington and Wisconsin and international routes operating to Winnipeg in Manitoba and southeastern British Columbia. Place of business was St. Paul, Minnesota. The company was founded on the initiative of the government in Washington to build a transcontinental railway line in the northern United States. The golden nail was smashed by former U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant on September 8, 1883 in Montana. In 1970, the Northern Pacific on the Burlington Northern Railroad.
Route network
The prior of 1929 6784 miles ( about 10,900 kilometers ) comprehensive route network consisted roughly of the main route from Duluth on Lake Superior to Seattle. The route went through Fargo, Bismarck, Glendive, Billings, Missoula, Spokane and Tacoma. The Great Northern Railway was mostly to the north and the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad (Milwaukee Road) mostly south and South Dakota. In Tacoma, the east-west axis branched into a leading northward route to the Canadian border and in a southward to Portland. Other major routes resulted in Minnesota northward to Winnipeg, east north to International Falls on the border of Ontario, from Duluth east to Ashland (Wisconsin ) and one each from Staples (Minnesota) and Duluth Southeastern and south to the metropolitan Minneapolis -Saint Paul.
In 1949 the route network informed of 6889 miles ( 11,087 km ) at 2831 miles ( 4556 km ) Main and 4057 miles ( 6529 km ) branch lines on which of seven railway divisions ( Divisions ) were administered to Lake Superior, based in Duluth, St. Paul is based in Minneapolis, Fargo, headquartered in Fargo, Yellowstone, based in Glendive, Rocky Mountain, headquartered in Missoula, Idaho, based in Spokane and Tacoma, headquartered in Tacoma.
History
The railway company was established on July 2, 1864 as the Northern Pacific Railroad. When a connection route from Lake Superior to Puget Sound was provided, should be developed with the large tracts of land for agriculture, livestock, forestry and mining. In support of railway construction, the company received state land along the route and there were bonds issued in the amount of $ 30 million. As the first president Josiah Perham was elected, was named after the Perham (Minnesota). The construction work was started in 1870. It began in Carlton (Minnesota) where a connection to the Lake Superior and Mississippi Railroad was, which was rented two years later, thereby securing the connection to Duluth. 1873, the route to Bismarck on the Missouri River in North Dakota and at the west end was completed the connection of Kalama on the Columbia River to Tacoma on Puget Sound.
During the economic crisis of 1873, the Northern Pacific ran into trouble and had to sign on 30 June 1875 bankruptcy. With the reorganization of the company's bonds were converted into shares. The railway construction was resumed in 1877, at least on a small scale: from Tacoma a branch line southeast to Puyallup and another to the coal fields around Wilkeson was built. A large part of the coal which was transported via Tacoma to San Francisco, where it was necessary for the steam locomotives of the Central Pacific Railroad. In a short period took over from 1879 to 1881, the lawyer Frederick H. Billings as CEO. The realignment of the company, bonds sales and a total economic boom made it possible to build the first time by a contract 100 miles westward across the Missouri River.
1881 Henry Villard took over with the help of European investors control of the company to retain its built after the stock market crash of 1873 monopolist position in the transport industry in the Pacific Northwest. Under his leadership, on September 8, 1883 in Gold Creek at Garrison (Montana) closing the gap in the rail network. Between Wallula Junction, near Pasco and Portland, but still had the tracks of the Oregon Railway and Navigation Co. (OR & N ) on the southern shore of the Columbia River to be used. From there it was about Goble, where a ferry service across the Columbia River was by Kalama, a connection to the Puget Sound. The OR & N was even owned by Villard, however, began even before the impact of the last nail in Gold Creek with the construction of an alternative route across the Stampede Pass in the Cascade Range to tap the booming region around the Puget Sound in a direct way. By the end of 1883, the Empire of Villard collapsed and the OR & N was handed over to the Union Pacific Railroad. The replacement route with the pass tunnel was fully completed until May 1888 and put into operation after 1887 was at least a temporary connection with hairpins on the Stempede pass passable.
Despite this success, the railway company lived like other U.S. tracks their time of debt. From 1887 to 1893 Henry Villard returned to the board, leaning the chair but from. Instead, took over on September 20, 1888 Thomas Fletcher Oakes, a colleague Villard from its time in the Kansas Pacific, will be CEO. In an attempt to expand the business, an intensive Nebenlinienbau was the Villard- rule independent of any actually existing transport requirements operated to be possible only to new areas. In addition, at that time had to be their first experience in competition with the Great Northern Railway by James J. Hill. The management errors led together with low traffic and the stock market crash in 1893 to a second bankruptcy on October 20, 1893. After three years of fighting over the sovereignty of the railway company was founded in 1896 continued under the name Northern Pacific Railway and the task to disentangle the entrepreneurial confusion, to issued JP Morgan. 1900, the St. Paul and Duluth Railroad and a year later purchased the Seattle and International Railway. 1901 took over the Northern Pacific, together with the Great Northern Railway 98% of the shares of the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad, whereby the important access to Chicago, in the central Midwest and Texas was made possible. In the same year, was founded by James J. Hill and JP Morgan, the Northern Securities Co.. Under its roof, the two companies owned by Hill Northern Pacific and Great Northern were combined. The Supreme Court solved this connection 1904 by decision. Nevertheless, the Spokane, Portland and Seattle Railway was founded to build a route from Spokane to Portland by the two companies in 1905.
A renewed attempt by the merger of the two companies was made in 1927, which would have been, however, approved by the Interstate Commerce Commission only under strong restrictions. Starting in 1956, was restarted with studies of a merger of the Northern Pacific and the Great Northern. This led on 2 March 1970 on the formation of the Burlington Northern Railroad (BN ).
1995 BN merged with the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway to.
Locomotives
The first locomotives of the company in 1870 were four small biaxial Baulokomotiven with the name Minnetonka, Itaska, Ottertail and St. Cloud, which were built by Porter and Smith from Pittsburgh. The former locomotive was delivered by ship via Cape Horn to the West Coast to Kalama. Today, it is situated in the Lake Superior Railroad Museum in Duluth. For early American inventory ( 2'B ) 1872 delivered by the Baldwin Locomotive Works Countess of Dufferin was one that was sold after use in Minnesota and the Dakota Territory in 1877 to the Canadian Pacific Railway and there was the first locomotive in the Prairie Provinces was used. The first Ten - Wheeler ( 2'C ) were delivered in 1882 by Baldwin.
The Northern Pacific was a leader in the development of modern steam locomotives. She was among the first U.S. railroad companies, who provided the design Mikado ( 1'D1 ') in service. The desire to semi-skimmed coal of poor quality from the company's mines in Rosebud (Montana) to burn, even required a completely new development: The BTU value, which was 50 percent below that of anthracite coal, made a much larger firebox and therefore an additional trailing axle necessary. This resulted from the Mountain on the Northern ( 2'D2 '), which was first built in 1926 by Alco for the railway company and classified as a Class A product. The design Yellowstone with the mallet axle formula ( 1'D ) D2 ' was first built in 1928 by Alco for the Northern Pacific and classified as number 5000 or Class Z -5. Other machines of this type were built in 1930 by Baldwin for the railway company. They were used to allow higher trailer loads of freight transport and to save Mikado including their Lokmannschaften. The original application was the eponymous Yellowstone Division in western North Dakota and eastern Montana. 1933 acquired the Northern Pacific, the Timken 1111, the first locomotive with roller bearings. The company gave her the number in 2626 and classified them as a class A-1. She moved to 1957 passenger trains in Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana and was subsequently scrapped. After Timken 1111, the Northern Pacific acquired with the exception of the Class Z -6 ( 4-6-6-4 ), which was later rebuilt, only steam locomotives with roller bearings.
The queued as Z 6, Z 7 and Z 8 4 -6- 6-4 locomotives were so great that the Northern Pacific had to expand in many areas of their double-track main line in Montana, the structure gauge. They drove due to the dimensions of the Stempede tunnel under the Stempede never pass west of Easton ( Washington).
1944 were introduced in the EMD FT the first Streckendieselloks.
Passenger
The most famous passenger train and the flagship of the company was the North Coast Limited, the upside from Chicago to Seattle via Butte and the Homestake Pass. It started its operation on 29 April 1900 and continued after the merger on March 2, 1970, for a short time as the Burlington Northern train until April 30, 1971, the day before the Amtrak foundation. The operation of the Chicago Union Station to St. Paul was carried out by the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad on the main route through Wisconsin along the Mississippi River.
In the second row of the transcontinental transport of Alaskan, who was replaced on 16 November 1952 the Main Streeter drove. The Main Streeter, who was driving, unlike the North Coast Limited and the Helena Mullan Pass, perverted to the creation of Amtrak, except that, after the last trip of the former Burlington Train Black Hawk on 12 and 13 April 1970 to the train route from and to St. Paul truncated.
The Northern Pacific was also involved with the Great Northern Railway and the Union Pacific Railroad at the joint Coast Pool Train from Portland to Seattle. The Coast Pool Trains of the Northern Pacific and the Great Northern were also obtained up to the creation of Amtrak.
There were several passenger runs that disappeared even before the merger to Burlington Northern from the scene. These included those of St. Paul to International Falls, which at times jointly with the Great Northern Railway and the Soo Line powered link from St. Paul to Duluth from Duluth to Staples, from St. Paul to Jamestown (North Dakota ) and Fargo to Winnipeg.