A couple/few months back a started a thread wondering why the Northern Pacific didn’t seem to garner much attention from model railroaders. Certainly, the fact is, few people model this road, otherwise there would be more equipment offered and it would be more popular. It was pointed out to me that people really don’t know the history and importance of this railroad: First of all President Lincoln signed the charter for its’ construction in 1864. Northern Pacific was the first northern transcontinental railroad built, providing rail service from Chicago via the CB&Q to Minneapolis/St. Paul (The CB&Q was 98 % owned by the N.P. and G.N. in 1901). The Northern Pacific ran from Minneapolis/St. Paul to the Pacific Northwest. The railroad had about 6800 miles of track and served a large area, including extensive trackage in the states of Idaho, Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota, Oregon, Washington and Wisconsin. In addition the company had international branches heading up to Winnipeg, Manitoba, and southeastern British Columbia, Canada. The N.P. crossed almost every conceivable type of terrain imaginable.
Development of the 4-8-4 Northern and 2-8-8-4 Yellowstone locomotives and the refinement of the heavy duty 2-8-2 Mikado Locomotive were the result of the engineering department of the Northern Pacific. The Northern Pacific was also the developer the Center Beam Flat Car and the first to offer on-board dining service setting standards of excellence. The Northern Pacific also worked hand in hand with General Electric helping this company to become a competitor of E.M.D.
My guess is that every class 1 had similar accomplishments! However, it would be
Being a Canuck my interest are RRs north of the border. The NP is constantly coming up in articles and photo’s as I read about Canadian RRs. It was considered a real threat ( in a business sense) especially in Manitoba ( I was born in Winnipeg) and in British Columbia (where I now live).
As one example the NP is mentioned in this article Bear posted in the “Waldorf and Statler” thread.
Our government online archives have tens of thousands of railroad photo’s in them and I often come across NP pics in the mix.
I model CP because the history behind it fascinates me, not to mention the engineering feat required to build it through the Rockies, Selkirks and Monashee mountains. I think the NPs history (what little I have read about it) would make it a very interesting RR to model.
Many railroads have unique things about them that may give them appeal. I enjoy the SP and D&RGW partly due to the fantastic scenery they operate in and partly from personal experience.
I think you really underestimate the popularity of the Northern Pacific. While it isn’t as popular or modeled as often as the Pennsy, B&O, SP, UP and many others there are quite a few folks following it. If you look at all the brass NP models that have been imported and the huge list of other equipment produced plus the large number of books it wouldn’t seem the NP isn’t popular or ignored. Granted it isn’t in the lime light but it’s definitely out there being recreated and enjoyed.
I worked (at a very low level) on a lawsuit involving BN. As part of “discovery” they had to provide us with literally 1,000,000 pages of documents from their archives. One I got to see was the charter signed “A. Lincoln” from 1864. That was pretty neat.
Another interesting tid-bit about the Northern Pacific is; it was one of the first railroads to start using diesels, adopting the General Motors (EMD) FT in 1944. Northern Pacific’s premier passenger train, the North Coast Linited was one of the safest and finest in the nation, with only one passenger fatality in nearly 70 years of operation.
I have always been interested in NP, and include NP models on my current layout.
For example: … Among my NP lcomotives is my Proto 2000 0-8-0 steam switcher which is currently assigned to the mail and express tracks at my Union Station where it shuttles head end cars for passenger trains.
Maybe, lol. The first thirty years of the SP&S were the years of hand me downs from the parent roads. In 1907 the amount of traffic on the SP&S was quickly outpacing the locos. The GN locos from Vancouver were often in good shape, while NP locomotives were pretty worn. The SP&S sent a telegram to the at that time sup. of motive power Mr. Nutt for a good NP loco. One was dispatched from Tacoma and upon it’s arrival the NP official in Pasco took it and put a junker in it’s place. At 4:00AM the SP&S people liberated their locomotive. That loco never ran back to Pasco, as the SP&S did not want the NP to take it back.
AND—lest we forget, the NP also posessed the most powerful Challengers ever built, the Z-8, which had a total tractive effort of over 106,000 pounds, which is 1000 pounds more than its nearest rival, the Rio Grande L-105’s, and put the much-touted UP 97,000 lb. TE Challengers to shame when it came to sheer power. And again, except for the Rio Grande Baldwin L-105’s, the Alco-built NP Z-6,7 and 8 Challengers were just about the most handsome locomotives of that wheel arrangement ever. I speak as the proud owner of a Sunset Z-6, which looks as if it’s moving hell-bent-for-leather even when it’s standing still, lol!
Both NP Z’s and A series steamers served as the basis for the SP&S’s Z and E series steamers. As well as similar striping on the NP and SP&S diesels(f units).
While I did say: “Certainly, the fact is, few people model this road, otherwise there would be more equipment offered and it would be more popular” the fact is I have no idea how many Northern Pacific modelers there are and neither do you. A correlation between the amount of Northern Pacific equipment offered by the manufacturers and what they estimate the amount of N.P. modelers to be, must exist. That is all you; or, I can be somewhat assured of.
Yes, there has been many brass N.P. locomotives and rolling stock offered and again I have no idea what brass producers use as a method of determining what and how much of something they will produce. I think brass has a few “collectors” who may; or, may not be N.P. modelers.
NP (and GN) were kinda slow to use passenger diesels. The NCL and Empire Builder were not fully dieselized / streamlined until 1947 IIRC. The CB&Q began using EMD passenger diesels in the thirties, so there was a period in the forties where you could see a Pullman green all-heavyweight NCL or EB being pulled by shining silver Burlington E-units between St.Paul and Chicago.
I believe NP had some of the most beautiful steam locomotives AND locomotive paint schemes to equal any North American railway, I am surprised that more people do not run NP on layouts, a very diversified railway to say the least, I do see brass locos for sale (and drool) but the prices are fairly steep for brass.
Since you mentioned that idiom, I had to look it up. Here is what I found:
“The truly odd thing about “hell bent for leather” is that it appears to be a combination of two other phrases: “hell bent” and “hell for leather,” which also dates to the late 19th century. “Hell for leather” specifically referred to riding a horse very fast, the “leather” in question being either the saddle or, more likely, the leather crop used to “incentivize” the poor horse. Rudyard Kipling seemed especially fond of the phrase (“Here, Gaddy, take the note to Bingle and ride hell-for-leather,” Story of the Gadsbys, 1889), and probably contributed to its popularity. “Hell bent for leather” doesn’t make any more literal sense than “hell for leather” did, but the fact that “hell bent” is more widely understood undoubtedly led to the fusion of the two phrases.”
Are there any books on the NP that are a good read as well as informative?
One of the things that I think made the Maryland and Pennsylvania Railroad so popular among modelers is George Hilton’s book The Ma & Pa. The book is enjoyable to read and captures the flavor of the railroad as well as providing information.
A general comment if I may. Finding out “good stuff “about North American Railroads is part of the fun of model railroading for me, the trouble being that there is almost too much good stuff about the (almost too [:P]) many and varied railroads, modellers have to choose from, and in that sense I can understand how individuals feel if they think their particular railroad is underrepresented.
So I enjoy threads such as this that help expand my general knowledge.
Thanks and Cheers, the Bear.[:)]
PS. “Hell for leather” is still in reasonably common usage in this part of the woods.
