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The Northern Pacific's Stampede Pass Tunnel

The Northern Pacific's Stampede Pass Tunnel was the railroad's crossing of the Cascade Mountains in western Washington State. It was the first railroad to do so while there would eventually be three major main line crossing the Cascades, the two others owned by the Great Northern and Milwaukee Road passed to north of Stampede. The line operated as a through route until after the merger of the Burlington Northern in 1970, which shutdown the route in the 1980s. It was subsequently reopened by successor BNSF Railway in the 1990s to alleviate growing congestion and while it has never reached capacity levels envisioned the line remains an important artery today.

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. Perhaps what the railroad is best remembered for is its Ying Yang herald and its distinguished flagship passenger train, the North Coast Limited, which used a beautiful two-tone green livery. The NP 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. In early 1881 Northern Pacific civil engineer Virgil Bogue discovered Stampede Pass and it was eventually chosen as the most cost-effective means of crossing the daunting Cascade range. While the railroad had a route opened to Seattle by 1886 it had yet to complete the Stampede Pass Tunnel, thus requiring the use of brutal switchbacks to scale the area. These switchbacks were as steep as 5.6% (meaning a rise in elevation of over 5 1/2 feet for every 100 feet traversed) in some areas.

To hoist freight and passenger trains over the pass the Northern Pacific purchased two massive 2-10-0 Decapods, the heaviest and most powerful steam locomotives in the world at the time. Listed as Class M on the railroad's roster they carried the road numbers 1 and 2 and were built by Burnham, Parry, Williams & Company. They weighed more than 135 tons and could produce nearly 35,000 pounds of tractive effort. They were quite a locomotive for their day. For more information about them please click here.

Work on Stampede Pass Tunnel began in January, 1886 with contractor Nelson Bennett winning the contract to bore the tunnel under the pass. While work on the tunnel started slow the state of art equipment Bennett used on the project, including air compressors, drills, narrow-gauge steam locomotives, and even an electric light plant allowed things quickly picked up whereby at one point up to 16-feet of new tunnel was being bored every day. With more than 300 workers employed on the project it took just 2 1/2 years to complete the 9,850-foot long Stampede Pass Tunnel in May, 1888 (it opened officially on May 27).

With the Northern Pacific now open all of the way to Seattle it also meant the dangerous switchbacks could be close although the railroad continued to use them for maintenance purposes for a short time afterward when the tunnel work was being done. Overall the Stampede Pass Tunnel carried a maximum grade of 2.2% from both its eastward and westward approaches. Just over 20 years after the tunnel was opened NP looked to have it double-tracked which was completed in 1915. Of note for historical reference, while Stampede Pass Tunnel carried a respectable grade the Milwaukee Road's Snoqualmie Pass Tunnel directly to the north would be the West's best engineered route over the Cascades with a maximum grade of just 1.7%.

In the 1980s then Burlington Northern considered Stampede redundant with falling traffic levels and closed the pass to save on maintenance costs. However, between 1995 and 1996 successor Burlington Northern Santa Fe spent millions to reopen the pass and today it acts as a relief valve for the increased tonnage coming from the Port of Seattle. For more information regarding Stampede Pass Tunnel and nearby Cascade and Snoqualmie please click here.

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(A deep thanks to the Museum of the Rockies at Montana State University for allowing Ron Nixon's historic collection of the Northern Pacific to be featured here. Please note that the photos featured on this page feature their corresponding image number so that you may quickly and easily find more information about it from their website. To view Ron Nixon's entire collection please click here.)

For more on the NP you might want to consider the book Northern Pacific Railway Photo Archive by John Kelly. The author gives a superb pictorial history of the railroad from the 1930s through the 1960s and features both freight and passenger operations If you have any kind of an interest in the Northern Pacific you are sure to enjoy Sullivan's book. Also, consider the book Dining Car to the Pacific: The "Famously Good" Food of the Northern Pacific Railway by author William McKenzie. The book is over 160 pages in length and details the exquisite food served aboard the Northern Pacific's plush passenger trains. If you're interested in perhaps purchasing either (or both) of these books please visit the links below which will take you to ordering information through Amazon.com, the trusted online shopping network.

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