GREAT NORTHERN RAILWAY--Historical Video---part 4 of 4

[@danielginther4879]

Thoroughly enjoyed all 4 parts, thank you.

[@3RTracing]

this brings back a ton of memories. My dad worked in freight opps at GN. And now, ironically enough, I live at the Sunset Falls Bridge where this video starts.

[@quick65filly]

Road the Empire Builder Minneapolis to Spokane around this time, the Western Star, and North Coast Limited in the late 60's. Im so thankful I had these experiences as a young kid.

[@edmarkle6772]

What a thrill to see this. I worked in the '60s as a gandy ancer and fire and slide patrolman for the gnry during Summers. The scenery, the buildings, calls to the dispatcher, what Memories.

[@nratchr]

A well done 4-part series of a grand railroad. BRAVO ZULU!!!

[@mrowl-the-dsm1304]

Absolutely superb set of four videos, I have enjoyed every one, it was great to see Skykomish and cascades areas like that, Thank You from the UK

[@ChiefSignalman]

Great stuff and brought back a lot of memories. I rode this line in 1959 or 1960. Thanks for your efforts to make this available. Best Regards, Jack

[@462awest]

I'll just be darned. I worked on the Alaska as an operator in the early 80s and Don Jubb was chief dispatcher at the time. Scribbled a lot of DWJ's on flimsy blue paper. I didn't know DWJ's dad was an operator at Everett. So thanks for putting these up. Glad I watched the WHoooooole Thing.

[@davecorum1219]

Many thanks for your excellent 4 part series...even in 2020 your gift keeps on giving.

[@DanialANoah]

As said by all, you do a great service by preserving this footage, it's a priceless cultural artifact and very close to my heart. I spent summers as a kid in Skykomish with family visiting my Moms parents, her dad was a helper conductor. It was a very magical place for a kid. He always said the GN was a very special company to work for, that they stood by employees and families because they knew the sacrifice that job could require. Anyway, much much gratitue, keep up the good deeds!

[@rickgn123]

With a tear in my eye I salute you! Thanks so much for this educational and nostalgic trip down memory lane. I grew up in Everett in the same era and now model GN from the late 50s in HO. Great perspective on operations and fond memories of the old days. Thanks again!

[@jamesberg3106]

Cool to see the NP trestle Adrian. It sure was large

[@kuskanook135]

Once again incredible production!!!!!! Hope you will produce more. Seeing all this from way back when reminds me of my childhood memories,my uncle and grandfather worked for the Canadian Pacific railway in BC at monte creek and Kamloops respectively back in the late 60's and early 70's so suffice to say I've was bitten by thr rail bug decades ago. keep up the good work hope to see more!!!!!

[@normannielsen6956]

Thank you so much for sharing your videos and recordings. That's the way I remember Steven's Pass and the Great Northern's route through the Cascades. I originally became interested in the history of the area, the avalanche, the original switchbacks, and the later improvements back in the '60's. I worked at a hotel where the Spokane train crews laid over after bringing the Empire Builder to Seattle, and they were always willing to talk about "the hill". They would go back manning the Western Star, #27, and I'd have more excuses to head back up to the Pass to do some more exploring. I walked the Iron Goat Trail before it existed as such! Eventually I hired on as a brakeman, very soon after the first merger in 1970, and worked one summer. The area still has a magnetic draw on me, and sometimes I wish I had not gone back to school -- the railroad gets in your blood somehow, becomes forever a part of you. I know history is all about change, but there is that first experience "ground zero" impression that defines the way things are and shall forever be -- except that things DO change and slowly their identity is modified. It was nice to see the old EMD units, recall snatching orders out of the hoop, and see once again the stations and facilities that are no longer there. They may not mean a whole lot to many people but they are very definitely a part of my history. Thank you!!!

[@ScenicDepot]

It was an unusual boyhood experience that stuck with me forever. It got in my blood in a big way, and the area continues to be a major annual attraction for me, so I camp up there every year and hike, pick berries, and watch and listen to trains all night. I consider myself the last of the GN old-timers...there are few of them left now.

[@ScenicDepot]

I did, and I do. We can't live in the past, but this is the best reason I know of to try to!

[@divox9pqr]

Having ridden the Empire Builder west several times, it was great to see its predecessor.

[@Oat57]

Enjoyed all 4 parts. Thanks for sharing.

[@superbulldog81]

Great senic and poigant video....back during the day when the Great Northern RR ruled. Them days are gone now, so all we have are the 8mm film that you took. Thanks for shareing your memories. A SW La. railfan:)

[@slclark209]

I'm a retired air traffic controller. I used to love having kids come up to the tower and let them talk to a plane on the radio. It warmed my heart to see how they let you (?) work as a kid. Sadly, those days are long gone. I, for one, believe our country is lesser for it. Thank you.

[@ScenicDepot]

"They" didn't let me do it, only my dad, and there was only one other operator up there who knew I was literally running the place. The little depot at Scenic during those years was the critical control bottleneck of the Great Northern because of tunnel ventilation requirements and the local CTC control. If GN officials had ever found out what was going on, more than air would have been hitting the fans. But I had the time of my life running those controls, especially the very quirky ventilation system control panel. In my juvenile mind I almost felt at times that I was running a giant model railroad.

[@slclark209]

That's great! But even back then, short of something absolutely catastrophic I think your dad might have gotten away with a good ass chewing. Nowadays, you'd be on CNN for weeks with the story's own theme music and graphics.

[@robertweldon7909]

@@ScenicDepot I believe that is called "living your dream".

[@Angelo32516]

Excellent technical work and history. As the railway today? And the region is very beautiful! Watch the four videos . Thanks

[@robertweldon7909]

10/28/2021 What a neat set of 4 videos, covering a good bit of a youngsters life along the tracks. The additional sound track of dispatch work made it even better. Great job. I wonder why I never came across the videos before? For your information, there is a you Tube channel (NW pacific rail fan) that has almost daily videos done along the Kootenai division, mostly done east of Troy Montana, and on the fisher river realignment. Lots of trains, and well recorded. ;-)

[@jfreelan1964]

An outstanding series of videos. Some ways I wish we still had the old covered wagons but time and technology lurches on. This had to taken allot of time to put together, and I appreciate it the effort. Many Thanks, jfreelan1964

[@standswith17]

Many thanks and great job. I do Train Simulator 2016 and its nice to watch videos on Stevens Pass. Especially historical ones. Thanks for sharing the videos.

[@AtomicThreadsInc]

Great video! Thank you for taking the time to put this together to share with the rest of the world. There are not nearly enough recordings like this from this beautiful, long lost era! I wish I could have been around to experience this; I'm glad someone thought to document these events so those of us who came along later could have a peek! :)

[@ScenicDepot]

If only we had HD video recorders in the 1960s.

[@TheStrodude]

Very, very well done! I can see it took a lot of work to pull all the elements together. Many, many thanks for sharing.

[@ScenicDepot]

@ScenicDepot Prior to the DS's new pushbutton setup on the CTC machine console, the phone ring pulses were started by a set of keys, as you know. There used to be what they called the "panic button" which sent out a nonstop pulse of 17, making all the stations ring at once. My dad said DS Vance Shirley used to use this to get everyone on for the morning lineup.

[@douglasskaalrud6865]

I’m laughing at the scene of the passenger train (6:41)with the TOFC flats spliced in mid-train. Rock Island did this same thing and was reviled at having defaced the noble Rocket. Passenger train losses were so bad they had to come up with some new angle to make a little money I suppose.

[@ScenicDepot]

@jazzumwalt The music was from a 35-year-old choir background tape. The train and depot sounds were made by me with my mother's tube-based Sears Silvertone tape recorder in the year 1963. If you listen to the part where the light engine is going into the tunnel (the video of which was from 1969), and play it on a good subwoofer system, you will hear some serious engine rumbling there.

[@ScenicDepot]

@sethvold You refer to the Western Electric Selector model 60A. I have two of them from eBay. I don't understand why the voltage had to be that high; wiring specs I have say it's around 100 volts. I took one to the Skykomish Museum meeting 3 years ago and had it hooked up to a 100VDC power supply and it worked fine. I know all of the old DS phone ringer numbers from Seattle to Ephrata. Of course we always knew when our phone would ring at Scenic after the first two digits. Scenic was 6-6-5.

[@ScenicDepot]

@ScenicDepot The first DS phone-to-radio link on the GN used the same kind of selector system but used 19 pulses for a region connect signal, and 21 for a region disconnect. I have all this stuff on tape/CD. I have a five-hour set of the "best of" GN dispatching from 1969 and 1970, which is where I got the audio for this video.

[@ScenicDepot]

@sethvold Gil Allen was my favorite dispatcher. One of the unfortunate peculiarities of that old phone system was that every once in a while the line would build up a static charge, and then release without warning as a terrible, ear-splitting POP in the headset. My dad had permanent hearing loss in his left ear as a result. As a precaution, some operators would wear the receiver above the ear a little to minimize damage in case it happened. It happened to me a couple times. Very painful.

[@ScenicDepot]

@cme98 The Kitten Kat Motel was known to be a cathouse. It was located at east Baring (a few miles west of Skykomish), and was torn down in the 1970's.

[@hcrun]

Although I am thousands of miles away (Australia), and have never been to your part of the world, I found this utterly fascinating and superbly put together. Full marks to you for your production. This is a priceless cameo and I'm sure that there is no need to tell you how historically-important this is. Have you made a copy available to any museum or official rail-road archive? Thanks for such a wonderful glimpse into the past.

[@ScenicDepot]

@sethvold Wow. I had no idea there was that much induction going on under the lines. It certainly adds up. Next time I'm camping at Scenic I should go down to Alpine and take some equipment, and a light bulb, and measure it. At Scenic, the high voltage tower was just west of the depot. The level of static in the air there on some days was so high, that you could pet a cat and then go to touch its ears and get a large spark. Cheap entertainment.

[@markholmgren3697]

Bud Hamm was a engineer, drove the steam locomotive that was on display at como park zoo

[@jazzumwalt]

Hey ScenicDepot! What did you use for a soundtrack for these videos?

[@3RTracing]

who produced this video? Any idea who dubbed the music? Interesting audio track.

[@ScenicDepot]

The producer is in the opening credits, "By Tom Garrett," yours truly. The music is from an old choir background tape from the 1970s, music by the well-known blind musician Ken Medema.

[@cme98]

lol, @1:09 is the old "Adult Motel" ---out in the middle of nowhere.

[@ScenicDepot]

@Angelo32516 This is pretty much how the BNSF looks today through this territory, with only minor changes.

[@bnsffan6584]

Are those BN or GN leaders because if BN then they are executive colors and that would be cool

[@ScenicDepot]

The power you see was original GN. At that time they had renumbered all the units but had not repainted most of them yet. Big Sky Blue came in 1967 and lasted only three years before the merger.

[@bnsffan6584]

@@ScenicDepot ok thanks and cool

[@downallyourstreets]

Stevens Pass sure is beautiful country, but as far as a rail grade a poorly engineered route over the Cascades. Now the Milwaukee's Snoqualmie Pass route was short and sweet!... and BN abandoned it (shoulder-shrug in disbelief)!