Lines West

I grew up in South Tacoma, Washington in the early 1960's, near the Great Northern, Northern Pacific mainline into Tacoma. My first real memories of my love affair with trains involves the the Green and Orange diesels of the Great Northern Railway, the two tone green of the Northern Pacific, and the yellow and gray of the Union Pacific. Some of my fondest memories growing up were taking the day train (either GN or NP) from Tacoma Union Station to King Street in Seattle to go shopping with my Mother on a Saturday at the Bon Marche (the greatest hobby shop of all time was located on the seventh floor!), and all of her favorite places, then lunch atop the Space Needle where I could watch all the trains at Interbay and along the mains. Also, being able to watch the fast passenger trains and long freight drags at Steilacoom harbor while engaged in my other favorite activity, fishing!This book is a wonderful collection of well captioned photos of "my backyard" in the Puget Sound area. Though steam was out and the electrics long gone (Though the Milwaukee Rd. still ran their Electrics into Tacoma until 1974) by the time I was aware, I do remember many of the places shown in the photos by Lee Picket, Dr. Phil Hastings, W.R. McGee, and all the others.For the railfan, the caption info is informative, and for the modeler, it is invaluable. I am both, hence my fanaticism over such collections as these.I model Great Northern equipment of the 60's in 1/4" scale and research is as much fun as the actual model building. This book and others like it are almost as nice as having a time machine to go back in time to specific place to photograph your intended modeling subject.I would suggest also that if you enjoyed this book that you consider joining or at least supporting the Great Northern Historical Society (Or RR Society of your choice). Organisations such as these help preserve valuable data and provide the means for wonderful volumes like this one to be researched and published.A fine book for the modeler and railfan alike.

A detailed account of the challenges building and operating a railroad across the far northern tier of the U.S. from St Paul, Minnesota to Tacoma, Washington. The author, Charles Wood, documents the vision of James J. Hill (The empire builder) first with the St Paul & Pacific Railroad and then as it evolved into the Great Northern. As a small child, the Station Agent in my home town used to give me railroad pencils that she would get from representatives that would pass through Glendale, OR. I was always fascinated with the symbol of the Great Northern which was a Mountain Goat standing on a peak. When you finish this book you'll see why that was their symbol. This is one of the many "picture books" about railroads that came from Superior Publishing in the 1950s and 1960s. While the photos are all black and white Wood provides a great deal of detailed information with each one. You get a lot of information about the difficulty of blasting tunnels several miles long through solid rock. You'll learn how Hill used electricity to overcome the problems with heat from the steam engines in the long Cascade tunnel. There's also a number of photos of the inside of Pullman passenger cars like the kind that was my home until 18 years old.This is one of those books that continue to go up in price each year so if you can get one you'll find it very informative about a line long since gone but also will make a good investment in years to come.

Lines West is the book that got me interested in the Pacific Northwest and Great Northern Railway history. The coverage of Stevens Pass is incredible - the original switchbacks conquering the pass, the first and second Cascade Tunnels (longest in N. America), the miles of snowsheds still visible from US-2, massive steam engines framed by Mt. Index, the electric locomotives used between Skykomish and Wenatchee, and the Wellington avalanche disaster.The photography is excellent, particularly the winter scenes, and captures both the facts and the emotion surrounding this once-mighty American railroad.The new edition is even better, featuring additional color photographs. If you live in the Northwest, are interested in Western railroading, or both - you'll love this book.

This is by far the best pictorial history of the Great Northern Railroad. Contains some excellent short ( 2-3 page ) introductions to each section of the railroad's history, but most of the book is simply very excellent photos of the subject era with highly informative, sometimes nostalgic captions. A must for modellers of the railroad