Burlington Northern Adventures

Back Cover: Burlington Northern F-7 diesel 716 and GP-7 diesel 1532 were awaiting their next freight assignments at Grand Forks, North Dakota, in February 1979. Photo by Steve Glischinski.

Front Cover: Burlington Northern freight train 132 created a flurry while traversing a snow-packed grade crossing at Harwood, North Dakota, February 18, 1979. Photo by Steve Glischinski.

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Contents 5 Acknowledgments 7 Foreword 9 lntroduetion 15 Chapter 1: Hopping Freights and Other Adventures Almost Killed by the Silver Comet/ C'mon Gang, Let's Go Get Em!/ A Trip to Winder/ A Stop in Virginia/ I Try To Hire On The Southern Railway 43 Chapter 2: Grand Forks, North Dakota Green Block/ My First Trip as a Brakeman/ A Guilty Conscience in Walhalla/ Asleep in the Locomotive/ Jumping for My Life/ My Stints As Engineer/ The Crookston Switch 71 Chapter 3: Furloughed Winter in Minot/ A Friendly Invitation in Alliance Turns Bad/ The Race at Crawford Curve/ The 39 Dodge/ A Trip with the Milwaukee Queen/ My First (And Last) Trip As A Conductor/ 103 Chapter 4: Back to Grand Forks A Locomotive Burns in Edmore, North Dakota/ Venison Steaks and the Blizzard Party/ Boxing in the Locomotive/ Chicken/ Manitoba Junction Revisited/ Stick to the Switchlist!/ Lunch On The 124/ Battle of the Beaters 133 Chapter 5: A Promotion to Trainmaster Furloughed Again/ The Assessment Center for Future Trainmasters/ The Legend of Pisser Bill/ Drunk and Disorderly!/ The DNM (Denver to Memphis) Must Leave On Time!/ The End of The Track

Railroading in the Days of the Caboose copyright 2004 by William J. Brotherton South Platte Press digest size, 159 pages, adhesive binding Burlington Northern Adventures relate the personal experiences of the author, William J. Brotherton, who went "railroading" as a brakeman, conductor and trainmaster for the Burlington Northern Railroad system during the 1979-1982 period. Through his many interesting short stories, Brotherton illustrates what it was like to work for a major railroad company before branch lines, vintage diesel locomotives and cabooses were phased out. His accounts show what has changed within the railroad industry since then−and what has not. Brotherton, who grew up around trains in Georgia, takes the reader along on his personal encounter with a railroader's life in North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Minnesota and Colorado.

GN & BN Nelson Line in British Columbia

Railways of Western Canada Series Volume 5, Railways of the West Kootenay part 3
- Red Mountain Ry. -- Nelson & Fort Shepperd Ry. -- Spokane Falls & Northern Ry. -- Great Northern Ry. -- Burlington Northern Rd. -
copyright 1988 by Gerry & Corwin Doeksen, letter size, 48 pages, saddle stitch

back cover: BN F9A's #818, #812 and #808 were going over Beaver Falls when the author took this photo in 1981.

cover photo: Southbound BNR #2214 (GP30) & #2516 (GP35) are crossing Beaver Creek Falls, photo by Corwin Doeksen

Introduction
Volume 5 depicts the operations of the Great Northern Railway and the Burlington Northern Railroad in British Columbia. The small railroad map, timetables and schedules include all of the operations in B.C.. However, in volume 5 the emphasis is on the West Kootenay. Operations of the Spokane Falls and Northern Railway, Nelson and Fort Sheppard Railway and the Red Mountain Railway are included. Many of the steam and early diesel engines served on all of the B.C. branchlines.
　The S.F.& N.R. was chartered in 1888 and construction came to 15 miles of the Canadian border by 1889. Daniel Chase Corbin, the builder, eventually managed to obtain a charter in Canada and the N.& F.S.R. to Nelson was completed by December of 1893. During 1895/96 he built the Columbia and Red Mountain Railway from Northport to Paterson at the International border and the Red Mountain Railway further to Rossland. In 1898, the same year the Canadian Pacific Railway bought most of the assets of the Columbia and Western Railway to Trail and Rossland, the Great Northern Railway bought up stocks of the Spokane Falls and Northern Railway. By 1905 the G.N.R. built a line into the Grand Forks smelter and into the Pheonix mines. By 1907 the SF&N. Division was dissolved as a subsidiary. By 1921 the Rossland line was abandoned. Today the Nelson line is still serviced by two weekly return trips out of Kettle Falls. Only the first trip goes through to Nelson.
　Between Waneta and Nelson, there are at least 34 bridges and trestles. The siding rail at South Nelson is 66 pounds per yard made in 1893. A lot of rail still in use is 77, 80 and 90 lbs. per yard. Rail from Salmo to Troup is 110 lbs. and the oldest ties are from 1949. Rail from Columbia Gardens to Fruitvale is 132 lbs. and the oldest ties are from 1954. Also all of the rail on the line appears to be relay rail taken from other G.N.R. locations. Original rail was 56 lbs. per yard.
　We would like to acknowledge the encouraging help received from our friends. We will mention in particular Norman C. Keyes Jr., Ron Nixon, Richard L. Meyer and others of the Great Northern Railway Historical Society for the photos and diagrams included.

The Diesel Revolution: Railroad History

Millennium Special
copyright by The Railway & Locomotive Historical Society http://rlhs.org/
digest size, 160 pages, adhesive binding

Back: On a hazy summer day in 1978, a trio of B&O Geeps hustle a freight through the Potomac Valley alongside the ruins of the C&O Canal. In a few minutes, the diesels will clatter through the interlocking plant at Point of Rocks, Maryland. (Mark Reutter)

Cover: Restored Atlantic Coast Line No. 501 poses in December 1999 at its new home at the North Carolina Transportation Museum in Spencer. The 2,000-hp E-3 unit debuted exactly 60 years earlier on the streamlined Champions placed in service between New York and Miami. (Jim Wrinn)

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The Continued Neglect of the Diesel Locomotive 　By MAURY KLEIN 　Why so little scholarly attention? 6 The Revolutionary 　By MARK REUTTER 　Rudolf Diesel and the theory that shook the world 16 Business Strategies and Diesel Development 　By ALBERT J. CHURELLA 　Dueling philosophies in the erecting halls 22 Building a Better Iron Horse 　By MARK REUTTER 　Reinventing the passenger train for speed and profit 38 Industrial Design Speeds Forward 　By JEFFREY L. MEIKLE 　Streamlining and the revolution in design 62 Symbol of Progress 　By JOHN GRUBER 　Images of a futuristic age of trains 73 Railroads and the War 　By WALLACE W. ABBEY 　Steam and diesel roll up their sleeves 81 Culture Clash: Diesel vs. Tradition 　By ROBERT ALDAG 　Empowering management and standardizing labor 89 Getting to Know Her 　By DON L. HOFSOMMER 　Three railroads learn to like the diesel 100 Covered Wagons and Geeps 　By J. PARKER LAMB 　A parade of first-generation growlers 110 Learning from America? 　By COLIN DIVALL 　Technology transfer is not automatic 124 Diesel Railcar: A Look Ahead 　By WILLIAM D. MIDDLETON 　The rise, fall, and return of the RDC 143 Afterword: The Enduring Diesel 　By JAMES L. LARSON 　Will it dominate the next 50 years? 155 Worth Reading 158 End Marker 160

EDITOR'S SEATBOX 　This millennium special edition of Railroad History is devoted to the "machine that saved the railroads." The switch from smoke and reciprocating rods to oil and diesel-electric traction amounted to the greatest change in railroading in the twentieth century. Yet despite the importance and inherent drama of the subject, much of the writing about the diesel has been narrowly technical or submerged in elegiac accounts of the demise of steam power. As Maury Klein points out, the context of dieselization has been neglected. The aim of the following pages is to bring out the context by bringing together leading scholars and experts from various fields. 　 Most of the articles here originated from a symposium held at the John W. Barriger III National Railroad Library on April 23-24, 1999, "Railroad Revolution: How the Diesel Locomotive Changed America." The symposium was conducted at the new home of the Barriger Library at the St. Louis Mercantile Library at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. Papers from the symposium have been edited, amplified, and supplemented with source documents, photographs, and extensive bibliographic references, mostly centering on the pivotal years of 1930-1960. 　 Many people have helped make this issue possible. They include Gregory P. Ames, curator of the Barriger Library; John N. Hoover, director of the St. Louis Mercantile Library at the University of Missouri-St. Louis; and John P. Mulderig, a financial analyst at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. In addition, the issue has benefitted greatly from the talents of R&LHS members John Gruber and J. Parker Lamb, whose contributions are highlighted in two special photo inserts. I would further like to thank Cornelius W. Hauck, William F. Howes, Jr., and James L. Larson−plus the crack production team of Dian Post and Carolina R. Lofgren−for their support and hard work. 　 This "extra run" of RRH marks the 79th year of publication of a journal that began before the first diesel locomotive, Jersey Central No. 1000, trundled forth on the Hudson River docks in 1925. Our next regular issue, No. 182, will appear, per timecard, in July.