The GNRHS has published two reference sheets covering the 1950 "International". First is 289 "Seattle-Vancouver (BC) Passenger Train Service 1891-2000" by John F. Strauss, Jr. It offers an excellent "Big Picture" overview of the Seattle-Vancouver corridor, which despite recent interruptions, still operates today. Second is 313 "Great Northern's Internationals - 'A Snappy Diesel-Powered Train' for the Pacific Northwest" by James H. Larson. This focuses on the complete post-war re-equipping with 100% new equipment. It contains a fascinating discussion of differing accounting methods, one which identified the full dining car service as the biggest looser - leading to the removal of 1145 and 1146 from the trains - and one which identified food service as a key draw for lucrative Southern California through passengers.
Within the railroad industry, Railway Age published definitive reviews of each new streamliner introduced. These are gold mines of information, discussing the service, the accomodations, the interior and exterior decor, the materials used, and which vendors supplied what. For a restorationist, ephemera such as paint colors and fabrics can be difficult to find elsewhere. So this review of the GN's new trains in the July 1st, 1950 issue is fascinating.
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| Page 48 | Page 49 | Page 50 | Page 51 | Page 52 | Page 53 | Page 54 | Page 55 |
After the inauguration of the entirely-new, all-streamlined "International", ACF published this newspaper's review in its employee magazine.
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| Front Cover | Page 13 | Page 14 | Page 15 | Page 16 | Page 17 | Back Cover |
Adlake put a two-page add in the July 1st issue of Railway Age, to sell its aluminum sash window units and interior hardware.
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| Page 8 | Page 9 |
O. M. Edwards Co. contributed the roll-up vestibule steps, and was proud to say so in Railway Age. While the left photo is not of a GN car, that's "International" tail car 1196 "Port of Vancouver" on the right.
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James L. Howard & Co. contributed hardware, purchasing a quarter-page Ad from Railway Age.
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Heywood-Wakefield followed a two-page add in the October 28th issue of Railway Age, touting its seating products used in the GN's "Red River" and "International" trains. Left to right, the interior views are: Red River coach, Red River coach, International observation car lounge, International Coach-Diner
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| Page 68 | Page 69 |
New York Air Brake also used the International to advertise to potential customers in Railway Age.
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The Great Northern published an advertising folder in August 1951, praising the virtues of its 'Internationals'. It includes the first color images of the interior I've found, so I got quite excited. These scans appear courtesy of Lindsay Korst and his web site, www.gngoat.org. Click here for the whole brochure.
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| Observation | Lounge | Cafe | Coach | Coach | Women's | Men's |
These scans are from a Great Northern passenger car equipment book I found at Como Shops (book store) several years ago. (Obs car scan from Ben Ringnalda.) They show the ten passenger cars constructed by ACF in 1950 for the Great Northern's Seattle-Vancouver "International". The equipment, along with two E7 locomotives from EMD, formed two train sets which covered three trains each way per day. I've laid the plans out in the same order as the train. There were two coaches per train, so the scan appears twice.
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| 1105 | 1115 | 1116 | 1145 | 1195 "Port of Seattle" |
| 1106 | 1117 | 1118 | 1146 | 1196 "Port of Vancouver" |
The January, 1951 time table offers some interesting tidbits:
Trains Magazine also published contemporary reviews of the Great Northern's new streamliners. In the April 1951 issue, author Bruce Owen Nett wrote "Built By A.C.F.", an fascinating photo-essay of the carbuilder's manufacturing process. Until I am able to reproduce it here, I recommend it as very interesting reading.
These four photographs by Walter E. Frost come from the City of Vancouver Archives. The thumbnails link to the full-sized image.
 | June 15, 1950. E7 510 and the brand-new International are on display in Vancouver, BC. The equipment is arranged as designed: E7, RPO, Baggage, two coaches, coach-diner, and observation car. All are running vestibule-forward. (Click for photo detail.) |
 | Walter made two exposures. Note that running vestibule-forward, what I normally call 1146's left (kitchen) side is actually on the right (engineer's) side of the train. (Click for photo detail.) |
 | July 16, 1950. E7 511 has the brand-new International in tow. Interestingly, pendulum coach 999 is cut in between the RPO-Baggage car and the train's normal coaches. Viewed in full resolution, the coach-diner is running vestibule-forward in it's normal position ahead of the observation car. (Click for photo detail.) |
 | July 30, 1950. Walter returned to take another picture. This time the pendulum coach was absent. There were two full International trains and only one pendulum coach, so perhaps it was on the other train. (Click for photo detail.) |
Pendulum car 999 deserves special mention, since it often ran on the Puget Sounders and later the Internationals. Two demonstrators were built around 1938 and are seen in this article and accompanying photo sequence from Life magazine. They apparently never sold. Three more were built in 1941-42 by Pacific Railway Equipment Co. and sold one each to the Santa Fe, the Burlington, and the Great Northern. The patent drawings make their unique suspension design clear. They were credited in part to one Cortland T. Hill, grandson of James J. Hill. Here is an early picture, possibly from Railway Age magazine, taken in an unusual paint scheme (reportedly the Santa Fe's Blue Goose "Saratoga & Medium Blue and Silver scheme".) This was prior to being remodeled with rectangular windows and having its pendulum suspension removed. 999 had 68 seats, and was retired in the late 1960's.
Randall Davidson found this consist for northbound train 362 of October 3rd, 1951 in “Passenger Train Consists 1923-1973” by Robert J. Wayner (Wayner Publications nd). The consist is near-original, except that 505 was ordered for the 1947 Empire Builder, and 1223 is a flat-top 48-seat leg rest coach from the 1951 Empire Builder.
GN 505 E7A diesel
GN 1105 Baggage-Mail car
GN 1115 Coach
GN 1223 Coach
GN 1116 Coach
GN 1145 Coach-Dining Car
GN 1195 Parlor-Observation Car “Port of Seattle”
(Interesting - MTM had the opportunity to purchase 1215, 1223, 1224 and 1229. I inspected all four, and recommended not buying 1223 or 1229 because their electrical cabinets were missing. Also 1223 would have duplicated Soo 559's original number - Rock Island 1223.)
Happily, coaches 1115 and 1116 survive today and are regularly used by the Lake Superior Railroad Museum. They acquired them after a time in the BN business car fleet.
According to the January 1954 Official Register of Passenger Train Equipment, GN 1145 and 1146 received AAR mechanical designation DB "Buffet Car - A coach or chair car provided with cooking facilities to prepare and serve meals". (See page 41, which is actually the 43rd of 113 pages.) Also interesting are the milage rate of .191 and per diem of $35.15 - see page 116 (108 of 113) for the use of these factors.
Jim Lancaster has posted childhood memories - and photos! - of the early 1950's in Ferndale, WA. This was on the International's route. He has pictures of the GN "International" on its own page.
Here is an advertisement/time table for the Internationals, issued in January 1957:
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Here is a photo of the coastal scenery along the International's route, which popped up on flickr. This photo was taken in 1968, so although the train is pictured the coach-diners had already been gone for eight years. Hint: Click the "All Sizes" magnifying glass at the photo's upper-left for a bigger image.
Kalmbach's Classic Trains Magazine published "Great Northern Railway in the Pacific Northwest" in 2001, by Jeff Wilson. Page 12 is a full-page photo by Phillip Hastings on a rainy Seattle morning. On the left are the observation and coach-diner of the International. The Cascadian and Empire Builder are on adjacent tracks.
Ted Doyle has a wonderful overview of the International's 155-mile route, and much of it's pre-streamlined passenger service history.
The West Coast Railway Association's web site has an article about the GN and CN stations in Vancouver, BC. Turns out the GN's was demolished in 1965, but lives on in photos.
Credit to Bill Sornsin for the above two links.
An interesting web site called StreamLiner Memories has a great deal of content about various passenger trains, including the Internationals. Over time, several articles have been posted, including:
