The North Coast Limited, Northern Pacific's Regal Train to the Pacific Northwest

The Northern Pacific’s North Coast Limited was one of three famous Pacific Northwest passenger trains, the other two being the Great Northern’s regal Empire Builder and the Milwaukee Road’s exotic Olympian Hiawatha. While the Empire Builder may have been the al le crème of Pacific Northwest passenger services the North Coast Limited was certainly a close second. It should be noted that while the Milwaukee Road spent much time, effort, and money promoting its luxurious Olympian Hi the railroad eventually threw in the towel to the Great Northern and Northern Pacific, bowing out of passenger operations to Seattle in 1961, ten years before Amtrak came along. The NCL was one of the oldest, named passenger trains in the country before it was discontinued on April 30, 1971, the day before Amtrak took over intercity passenger operations.

The Northern Pacific Railway was the first of the three major Northwestern railroads to begin construction. Unlike many other railroads the Northern Pacific did not change names numerous times throughout its existence and would likewise never acquire numerous other smaller roads to form its system.

The Northern Pacific has its roots dating to the summer of 1864 when President Lincoln signed the railroad’s creation by an Act of Congress and the Northern Pacific Railroad Company was born. Construction on the new company began seven years later in 1870 and would roughly follow the expedition of Lewis and Clark who originally chartered the western territory in the early 19th century.

Being that Hill held such an influence over the three railroads, including the jointly owned Seattle, Portland & Spokane, the Northern Pacific likely was destined to be merged with the other two roads at some point. The railroads tried for decades to merge but were blocked numerous times by the ICC, mostly citing monopoly issues as the reason. It took until 1970 when the ICC finally granted permission to do so (partly because the Milwaukee Road consented after years of trying to block the merger) forming the then Burlington Northern.

While the North Coast Limited was always the Northern Pacific’s flagship train between Chicago (via allying road Chicago, Burlington & Quincy) and Seattle, the train truly came of age and is best remembered after the streamliner era came into full swing in the 1940s. Before that time the NP actually lulled behind the GN and Milwaukee in terms of services offered. However, beginning in 1944 the railroad placed a large order from Pullman-Standard of lightweight, streamlined equipment. The new cars allowed the NP to run six trains, three in each direction, completely streamlined with head-end power provided by EMD F-series diesel-electrics.

What’s more the train was given a stunning livery provided by Raymond Loewy (of PRR fame, which stylized that railroad’s famous GG1 electrics) of two-tone green with white trim. Inside, the train played on themes of the area in which it operated (similar to that of the Builder), the breathtaking scenery of the Cascades and Northern Plains (which was all the more enhanced by the panoramic views afforded by the Vista-Dome cars on the train). These features, coupled with the railroad slicing transit times down by 12-hours allowed it to become very competitive with the GN’s Builder and effectively forced the Milwaukee out of the Pacific Northwest passenger business by the early 1960s.

So successful was the train that it continued to show very healthy ridership numbers through the mid-1960s! Of course, it also didn’t hurt that the train ran through Yellowstone National Park with a station stop at Livingston, Montana. Alas, however, with passenger operation costs continuing to increase (throughout the industry) through the 1960s the NCL’s days were becoming numbered. By the late 1960s it and the Builder were merged east of St. Paul, Minnesota. When Amtrak took over all intercity passenger operations in 1971 the then Burlington Northern was more than happy to rid itself of such and the final run of the fabled North Coast Limited occurred on April 30, 1971.

For more reading on the North Coast Limited you might want to consider the book The Vista-Dome North Coast Limited: The Story of the Northern Pacific Railway's Famous Domeliner by author William Kuebler, Jr. The book is over 300 pages and highlights the Northern Pacific's passenger operations, particularly its famous North Coast Limited flagship train.

Also, for even more reading on streamliners like the NCL you might want to also consider the book Streamliners: History of a Railroad Icon from renowned author Mike Schafer who covers in detail most of the well known and remembered “classic” passenger trains to operate in the country. If you have any interest in such you should very much enjoy Mr. Schafer’s book.