On October 15, 1942, a southbound Great Northern freight engine derailed and fell over on its side at 24th and Bay St. Six railroad cars piled up behind the derailed engine. Luckily the train was moving slowly and the engineer and the crew had time to leap to safety. Engineer R. Ritter and Fireman August Zueger, both of Seattle, were able to crawl out of the cab of the locomotive. (T. Times 10/16/1942. pg. 1; TNT 10/16/1942, pg. 1)
ca. 1957. Copy of customer print. The interior of a Northern Pacific Railway refrigerator car shows it empty of any cargo. Warning signs are posted on each door; nails are not permitted to be driven into the doors. A smaller sign indicates that thresholds must be cleared before the doors are closed. Floor of the refrigerator car appears to be made of wood. This was a new car; put into action September, 1957. Photograph requested by Pacific Car & Foundry.
Two long strings of Armour freight cars extend as far as the eye can see on July 27, 1954. This photograph was taken in Seattle; these freight cars, on separate tracks, are possibly loaded with Armour meats ready for delivery. The cars are refrigerated so that perishables could be transported without fear of spoilage. Photograph ordered by Armour Packing Co. TPL-10069
Approximately 900 employees and guests of Northern Pacific Railway enjoyed the company's annual awards dinner on April 25, 1962. It was held in the Fellowship Hall of the Masonic Temple. View of head tables on stage; rows of people eating. Some men have ribbons pinned to their lapels while some women are wearing corsages. The South Tacoma Shops had won the annual President's Safety Award for the fifth time since the award's inauguration. Each year one railway shop between Tacoma and St. Paul was judged to have the best safety working record. (TNT 4-26-62, B-9)
Rayonier locomotive #90 is loaded with logs on a late fall day in 1963. First known as Rainier Pulp & Paper Co. in 1926, the company realized that Western hemlock, plentiful on the West Coast, was a prime source of bleached paper pulp. Its first mill was established in Shelton in 1927. A few years later, Rainier research scientists joined with Du Pont, leading producer of rayon, to perfect the world's first pulp made from hemlock designed especially for the growing rayon field. 1937 saw the incorporation of the company as "Rayonier;" the name combining both rayon and Mt. Rainier, visible from the Shelton mill. Photograph ordered by Malcolm McGhie, industrial consultant, New York. (www.rayonier.com)
Several men examine closely the interior of a new Chicago, Milwaukee Railroad boxcar on March 7, 1968, at the railroad's yard. Both doors of the boxcar are opened; interior appears to be entirely metal. Photograph ordered by the Public Relations Department, Chicago, Milwaukee Railroad, Seattle.
Railroad freight cars; Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific Railroad Co. (Tacoma);
ca. 1920. Copy of Asahel Curtis print #51689 requested by the Washington State Historical Society on June 1, 1977. View of unidentified male and female along side of train. The couple are wearing railroad caps. The man is wearing a white shirt and striped tie under his somewhat soiled uniform.
ca. 1948. This photograph, taken in 1948, shows Engine No. 903 of the Tacoma Municipal Beltline Railway. In January of 1948, Tacoma bought two almost new 65-ton diesel locomotives through the War Assets Administration. The Beltline Railroad was able to buy both locomotives from the federal government for only $41,000. They had originally cost over a quarter of a million dollars. (TNT 01/14/1948 p.14)
Members of the Washington Co-op Egg & Poultry Association are aboard a small Great Northern locomotive which is pulling three boxcars presumably packed with eggs for the 1930 Western Washington Fair. G74.1-034
Railroad locomotives; Railroad freight cars; Washington Co-op Egg & Poultry Association (Tacoma);
ca. 1920. Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad, Engine #10254. Copy of Asahel Curtis print #52236 requested by the Washington State Historical Society on June 1, 1977. The electric powered train pauses on the tracks circa 1920. This is one of the 60,000 Asahel Curtis images in the Washington State Historical Society collection.
Railroad locomotives; Railroads; Railroad tracks; Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad Co.;
ca. 1920. Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad, Engine #10253. This is an Asahel Curtis print, #46216, which was requested copied by the Washington State Historical Society on April 1, 1977. Three men are standing next to the electric powered engine, spaced far apart, with the man in the foreground seemingly prepared to give the "go ahead" signal. Photographer Curtis documented industry in Washington State as well as historic events and geographic features. He was based in Seattle and worked there until his death in 1941. 60,000 of his images are held in trust by the Washington State Historical Society. (www.wshs.org/wshm/online-exhibits/curtis/exhibitb.htm)
Railroad locomotives; Railroad cars; Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad Co.; Railroads;
ca. 1926. Wenatchee Apple display in window at Great Northern Railroad ticket office, located at Transportation Row. (alternate address 112-18 So. 9th St.) Placards in the window offer the information that "over 15,000 car loads of apples are shipped annually over the Great Northern Railway" and that "National Apple Week" is "October 31 through November 7th." The sign board below the "Tickets" neon sign has pictures of Paramount stars Jack Holt and Billie Dove eating Wenatchee apples while in the Cascades filming "Ancient Highway." (filed with Argentum)
ca. 1926. Wenatchee Apple display in window at Great Northern Railroad ticket office, located in Transportation Row. (alternate address 112-18 So. 9th) Two unidentified men pose in the window along with the apples advertising National Apple Week, October 31 to November 6. (filed with Argentum)
On January 6, 1943 a Lotan Fuel Company truck was crossing the belt line tracks near 2500 East 11th Street on the tideflats when it was hit broadside by a Municipal Belt Line train engine. The engine was knocked off the tracks, and the truck ended up laying on its side, its load of fuel wood dumped onto the tracks. Surprisingly, no one in either the truck or the engine was injured. (T.Times, 1/7/1943 p.16)
Railroad accidents--Tacoma; Municipal Belt Line (Tacoma); Trucks--Tacoma--1940-1950; Lotan Fuel Co. (Tacoma);
Steam escaped from a Great Northern freight locomotive after the southbound train derailed at 24th and Bay St. on October 15, 1942, and fell over on its side. Six cars piled up behind the derailed engine. Over 100 feet of track were torn up in the mishap, but luckily no one was hurt. The locomotive, known as the Extra 3210, was scheduled only to pause in Tacoma for the coupling of a helper engine. The train was past the Reservation Junction, on the east city outskirts, and had reached the line leading to the drawbridge when the locomotive and tender turned over on their sides. The cause of the accident was unknown at the time the story ran in the newspaper. (TNT 10/16/1942, pg. 1; T. Times 10/16/1942, pg. 1)
Interior of the remodeled Great Northern Railroad Ticket Office in November of 1942. Pictured are the long, curved ticket counter with agents seated at the desks lying beyond. Three large landscape paintings decorate the walls. The office was located in the Drury building. It was part of "Transportation Row," 112-18 So. 9th St., which housed the ticket offices of all area railroads.
Railroad companies--Tacoma; Offices--Tacoma--1950-1960; Ticket offices; Great Northern Railway Co. (Tacoma);
Firemen Wally Johnson, of the Milwaukee Road, poses with the grateful woman that he rescued. Johnson scooped her up off the track, saving her life. The pair pose standing in front of a train. Chicago Milwaukee St. Paul Railways had made Tacoma its chief manufacturing point in the west. They had 300 acres with an extensive work shop and terminals, located near the tideflats. They offered transcontinental service and daily departures to Chicago.
Railroad employees; Aged persons--Tacoma; Railroad locomotives--Tacoma; Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific Railroad Co. (Tacoma);
This photograph, which dates from around 1890, was reproduced by Richards Studio in March of 1946 under the direction of Ernest G. Heinrich, the owner of Heinrich Locker & Ice Co. It is a view of a man with two boys, wearing hats, sitting by railroad tracks. Ernest Heinrich is the boy seated on the lap of Bill Plummer. Mr. Plummer was the bridge watchman for the St. Paul & Duluth Railroad Bridge across the St. Croix River in Rushseba Minnesota, Chisago County. The other boy is unidentified. The trio are at the ferry landing. TPL-3566
Railroad tracks; Children & adults; Smokestacks; Heinrich, Ernest G.--Family;
Northern Pacific Railway was awarded the President's Safety Plaque for 1945 for practicing the virtues of safety. G. L. Ernstrom, General Mechanical Superintendent for the company came from St. Paul, Minnesota to present the award. View of ceremony with Northern Pacific shop employees gathered to celebrate the honors (T. Times, 5/9/46, p. 5).
Northern Pacific Railway was awarded the President's Safety Plaque for 1945 for practicing the virtues of safety. Northern Pacific employees were paid compliments for their safety consciousness. View of ceremony with Northern Pacific shop employees gathered to celebrate the honors (T. Times, 5/9/46, p. 5).
Interior of office, Great Northern. Employees help individuals including two nuns and a soldier with tickets and travel plans. Other employees handle other work at their desks. (alternate address 112-18 So. 9th)
Railroads--Tacoma--1940-1950; Great Northern Railway Co. (Tacoma); Ticket offices--Tacoma--1940-1950;
Televed, Inc., Railway Exchange Building, Chicago, Illinois, for Mr. D.A. Highet. A gasoline-powered generator, on a movable housing made for riding on railroad tracks sits on one set of track while an engine and railroad cars head toward the camera from the opposite direction.
In June 1946 Northern Pacific Railway decided to expand their freight depot and add modern offices to this location. This building remodeling was an important improvement for the railroad company, it gave Northern Pacific Railway modern facilities and became an important West Coast terminal. Throughout the years Northern Pacific has expanded in Tacoma and in the United States, making this railroad company one of the largest railroads in the country. Close up view of Northern Pacific's railroad caboose number 1627. TPL-5840
In March of 1949, 57 children from the morning and afternoon kindergarten classes of the Fern Hill school took a 40 mile roundtrip train ride from Tacoma's Union Station to Auburn. Ninety percent of the children had never been on a train before. After the ride, they were given a tour of the station by the stationmaster, and all 57 children climbed onto a giant scale in the baggage room. The entire group weighed 2,880 lbs. (T.N.T., 3/27/49, p. A-7). TPL-8804
Railroad stations--Tacoma; Children--Tacoma--1940-1950; Northern Pacific Railway Co. (Tacoma); Railroads--Tacoma; Railroad companies--Tacoma; Union Station (Tacoma); Railroad travel--Tacoma--1940-1950;
The Tacoma Afifi Shriners were boarding a special train at Union Depot and heading to Helena, Montana for the Pacific Northwest Shrine Association Annual Conclave. They would first travel to Spokane, where additional train cars would be added and Spokane Shriners would travel with them to Helena. The Shriners would be sleeping in the train cars during their trip, due to a shortage of lodging in Montana. View of Afifi Shriners with their families seeing them off at Union Depot (T. Times, 4/25/47, p. 1).
Railroad locomotives--Tacoma; Railroads--Tacoma; Fraternal organizations--Tacoma; Ancient Arabic Order of Nobles of the Mystic Shrine (Tacoma); Union Station (Tacoma); Railroad travel--Tacoma--1940-1950;
Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad's "Hiawathian" would make daily round trips between Tacoma and Avery, Idaho. This new train had a modern diesel engine, with two pistons to each cylinder, which came together on compression and separated on explosion. The two crankshafts are geared together at one end, and the lower crankshaft is the main one that drives the generator and air compressor on the same shaft (T. Times, 2/26/47, p. 3-A).
Railroad locomotives--Tacoma; Railroad cars--Tacoma; Railroads--Tacoma; Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific Railroad Co. (Tacoma);
Window Display at Union Pacific Railroad ticket office. Promotion for Streamliner Passenger Rail Service from Tacoma to Portland in center, small World War II poster at right. The office was housed in the Drury building. The main address for the office was 112-18 So. 9th St. Known as Transportation Row, it housed the offices of the Northern Pacific, Great Northern, Union Pacific and Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul railroads from 1926-1975. The office had been remodeled in May of 1942.
Railroad companies--Tacoma; Union Pacific Railroad Co. (Tacoma); Offices--Tacoma--1950-1960;
