Great Northern 1947 Empire Builder
In 1947, the Great Northern purchased five completely new trains to streamline their flagship passenger train, the "Empire Builder." The train ran from Chicago to St. Paul on the Burlington, and from there to the pacific northwest on the Great Northern. This new streamlined equipment replaced 1929-vintage heavyweight equipment.
Train numbers were:
- 1 - Westbound.
- 2 - Eastbound.
Each train had twelve cars, all built by Pullman-Standard:
- One RPO-baggage car with 30' RPO section.
Chicago - Seattle.
Equipment numbers 1100-1103 and CB&Q 1104.
- One 60-seat coach for short-distance passengers.
Chicago - Seattle line number 160/260.
Equipment numbers 1110-1113 and CB&Q 1114.
- Three 48 reclining, leg-rest seat coaches for long-distance passengers.
Chicago - Seattle line numbers 100/200 and 101/201, and Chicago - Portland line number P102/P202.
Equipment numbers 1120-1131 and CB&Q 1132-1134.
- One coffee-shop, lounge, dormitory car.
Chicago - Seattle.
Equipment numbers 1140-1143 and CB&Q 1144.
- One 36-seat dining car.
Chicago - Seattle.
Equipment numbers 1150-1153 and CB&Q 1154.
- Two sleeping cars with four sections (upper and lower berths,) eight duplex roomettes, and four double bedrooms.
Chicago - Seattle line number 15/25, and Chicago - Portland line number P81/P28.
Equipment numbers 1160-1166, 1169 and CB&Q 1167-1168.
- Two sleeping cars with sixteen roomettes and four double bedrooms.
Chicago - Seattle line numbers 16/26 and 17/27.
Equipment numbers 1170-1177 and CB&Q 1178-1179.
- One round-end sleeper/observation with two double bedrooms, one drawing room, a buffet, and a lounge.
Chicago - Seattle line numbers 19/29.
Equipment numbers 1190-1193 and CB&Q 1194.
Because all five equipment sets were in use at all times, any equipment failure meant substitution of an older heavyweight car, which prompted complaints. Therefore, the GN added extra equipment on a piecemeal basis:
- RPO-Baggage 1108, home-built 12/48.
- Coffee-shop dinette dormitory 1148, home-built 7/49.
- 36-Seat diner 1155, home-built 7/49.
- 4-8-4 sleepers 1180 and SP&S 700, Pullman-Standard 1/50.
Total accomodations on the 1947 Empire Builder were:
- 60 short-distance coach seats.
- 144 long-distance leg-rest coach seats.
- 8 upper berths.
- 8 lower berths.
- 16 duplex roomettes.
- 32 roomettes.
- 18 double bedrooms, sleeping two. (Pairs separated by removable walls, could be nine sleeping four.)
- 1 drawing room.
- 44 dining seats. (36 in diner, 8 in observation.) Not sold.
- 10 lunch counter seats. Not sold.
- 29 lounge seats. (10 in coffee shop-lounge, 19 in observation.) Not sold.
Six coach seats and two roomettes were retained for crew use. Dining and coffee-shop lounge staff slept in the crew dormitory. Normal motive power was two E7's.
Reservations were sold by car line number and seat/section/roomette/bedroom number. Each car's equipment number was permanent, while its car line number was changeable. Thus equipment substitutions could be made without affecting the reservation system.
In Spokane, the Chicago - Portland cars were switched out to become part of the SP&S's "Empire Builder". Other equipment in the train included SP&S locomotives, a leased GN baggage car, leased 62-seats coach 961, and leased cafe-parlor-observation 1057. These were heavyweight cars home-rebuilt into "streamlined" cars, painted Empire Builder colors.
For accounting reasons (to "pay for" the St. Paul to Chicago mileage) one train was owned by the Burlington.
Named cars were:
- SP&S 700 "Indian Pass"
- 1140 "Waterton Lake"
- 1141 "St Mary Lake"
- 1142 "Two Medicine Lake"
- 1143 "Coeur d' Alene Lake"
- 1144 "Red Eagle Lake"
- 1148 "Devils Lake"
- 1150 "Lake Superior"
- 1151 "Lake McDonald"
- 1152 "Lake Chelan"
- 1153 "Lake Josephine"
- 1154 "Lake Michigan"
- 1155 "Lake Washington"
- 1160 "Gunsight Pass"
- 1161 "Ptarmigan Pass"
- 1162 "Dawson Pass"
- 1163 "Piegan Pass"
- 1164 "Logan Pass"
- 1165 "Triple Divide Pass"
- 1166 "Lincoln Pass"
- 1167 "Cut Bank Pass"
- 1168 "Red Gap Pass"
- 1169 "Swift Current Pass"
- 1170 "Blackfoot Glacier"
- 1171 "Ahern Glacier"
- 1172 "Grinnell Glacier"
- 1173 "Hanging Glacier"
- 1174 "Many Glacier"
- 1175 "Oberlin Glacier"
- 1176 "Sexton Glacier"
- 1177 "Harrison Glacier"
- 1178 "Speery Glacier"
- 1179 "Siyeh Glacier"
- 1180 "Stevens Pass"
- 1190 "Mississippi River"
- 1191 "Missouri River"
- 1192 "Flathead River"
- 1193 "Kootenai River"
- 1194 "Marias River"
In 1951, when the Empire Builder was upgraded again with completely new equipment, this equipment became the Western Star.