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Research Sources

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Bibliography

Listing of bibliographic information for the Northern Pacific.

​ResourceFormat​Description​
​Master NP Bibliography
​Searchable List​​This bibliographical listing has been compiled by many NPRHA members over the years. It contains more than 3,​000 entries. The list can be sorted or filtered by Publication, Author, Year, Total Pages, and many other columns.
​Mainstreeter Summaries Through 2022-4​

​​Searchable List
​​The NPRHA started publishing its quarterly history journal, The Mainstreeter, in 1981. This link takes you to summaries of the articles, columns, photos, diagrams and maps in each issue. This list is searchable using the column filtering or the phrase search functions. Compiled by Chuck Soule and Paul Curtiss.
Mainstreeter ContentDocument​Content from The Mainstreeter, the NPRHA's quarterly history journal, can be found here.

Information Sources​

Various articles and links to research material about the Northern Pacific. 

​ResourceFormat​Description​
GN-NP Joint Archive​Website​This site contains material preserved by the GNRHS and NPRHA at their joint archives at the Jackson Street Roundhouse and the Pacific Northwest Railroad Archive facilities.
Coal Dock Operations​Table​Coal dock locations and capacities on the Northern Pacific along with selected correspondences regarding coaling facilities. This information researched and presented by James Dick.
Northern Pacific in North Dakota History​Article​NP related articles from the Journal of the Northern Plains. Published by the State Historical Society of North Dakota and complied by Mike Borkan.
NP TellTale Discussion Group on YahooDiscussion Group​A wide-ranging discussion of all aspects of the Northern Pacific Railway's operation, facilities, equipment and history. All are welcome to participate in the discussions which should be about the NP and not stray from that theme. This site is not supported by the Northern Pacific Railway Historical Association, but most participants are members. Group monitored by John A. Phillips III and Frank Gabbard.
Genealogy & the Northern PacificPDF​This document provides guidance to those wishing to do genealogical research on employees of the Northern Pacific.

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​External Links​

​Links to research material about the Northern Pacific from other sites. 
        
​ResourceCompiled By​Description​
Baldwin Locomotive Collection

DeGolyer Library, Dallas TX

​Baldwin Locomotive Collection is devoted to the largest and most influential manufacturer of steam railroad locomotive engines in the world. This collection includes books, specifications, engineering drawings, blueprints for engines, advertising and corporate publications, manuscripts and photographs. Guides are available for the records, detail part drawings, and erecting card drawings.​
Camas Prairie Rails Website
Chris Atkins

This site has many photos of NP-related equipment used on the Camas Prairie Railroad, an operation jointly owned by the NP and UP until is was spun off as a short line​

Cass Gilbert NP Depots - North Yakima
Cass Gilbert SocietyThe North Yakima Depot carries to an extreme the notion of using the center portion of the building as a decorative element. The half-timbered design differs from the Little Falls Depot in that it seems to be German- or central European-inspired (the English did not build wood towers). The large chimney is for a fireplace in the waiting room, a common feature in depots of the era. The chimney does not reflect the Germanic influence of the depot's otherwise unified design. The depot was enlarged within a few years of its construction and was later replaced.
Northern Pacific Railway Corporate Records​Website​Corporate records of the St. Paul-based Northern Pacific, its predecessors, and its subsidiaries and affiliates, documenting their operations across the northern tier of western states for more than one hundred years, until the 1970 merger that formed the Burlington Northern. Records include minutes, reports, correspondence and subject files, financial and accounting records, photographs, engineering drawings, land records, engineering and valuation records, advertising literature, timetables, publications, and many other materials documenting the principal staff and operating departments. Preserved at the Minnesota Historical Society archive in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Northern Pacific Railway Museum - Toppenish WA​Website
The Toppenish Washington railroad depot, built by the Northern Pacific Railway in 1911, served as the transportation center of the community until 1961. Today, this depot serves as the center point of a rich NP collection, including steam locomotives 1364 and 2152, a wide range of rolling stock and collectibles being preserved and restored by Museum members. Consider joining and helping with the Museum's impressive work.
​​North Dakota Town Photos & Histories​Website
An alphabetical listing of the Institute photograph files organized by North Dakota city or town. The series represents individual items acquired by the Institute or very small collections associated with a particular town. Institute for Regional Studies and University Archives. Site operated by North Dakota State University at Fargo, ND.
South Bend Flyer - End of an Era​​​Pacific County Historical Society and Museum An article by Al McCready and photo essay by Allan deLay of the last NP passenger train to run on the Willapa Harbor branch of the Tacoma Division in March 21, 1954. The train No.596-591ran between Centralia and South Bend, Washington, and was scheduled as a daily except Sunday with a mixed consist.

Prairie Line HistoryBrian FerrisThe South Thurston County area of Washington State had the privilege of being located on the original NP mainline between Seattle and Portland. The segment ran from Tacoma, Washington to Tenino, Washington, was known in timetables as the "Prairie Line" and was the Fourth Sub-division of the Tacoma Division.
Lake Superior Railroad MuseumLake Superior Railroad MuseumThe museum is housed in the NP depot in Duluth, Minnesota, and displays a number of NP items.
Lewis County Historical MuseumJesse Clark McAbeeThe Lewis County Historical Museum is housed in the historic, 1912 the century, Northern Pacific Railway Depot. Operated by the Lewis County Historical Society, it is dedicated to preserving the history and heritage of Lewis County, Washington.

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Photo Sources​

Photo collections listed here have strong Northern Pacific content regardless of where they are preserved. Photo collections preserved at the NPRHA Archive are marked with (*) and copies of those photos may be purchased through the NPRHA Company Store. To purchase a photo, 1) Write down the PhotoIDs of the photos you want to purchase, 2) Return to the Home page of this site, 3) Open the Store site, 4) Select the Photo Purchase page and follow the instructions on the page.

 
​ResourceCompiled By​Description​
Ainsworth NP Steam Locomotive Photos​Walt Ainsworth​(*) Walt assembled this collection of NP steam locomotives starting in the 1970s from most of the master photographers who recorded the Northern Pacific over the decades of the steam era. Walt's collection is a mainstay of the photos at PNRA in Burien, Washington. To order copies of any of the

Ainsworth NP Location Photos

​Walt Ainsworth(*) 3,993 Photos from Walt's collection that show NP operations at locations​ through out the system. The photos are arranged in this collection by their physical location on the subdivision of the railway starting with the 1st subdivision of the Tacoma Division and proceeding numerically through the subdivisions. This collection was scanned and cataloged by Chuck Soule at PNRA.
BNSF Photo Collection​BNSF Railway
NP photo images from the BNSF photo archives. Many of these photos were used in NP advertising over the years and were taken by photographers F. Jay Haynes, Ronald V. Nixon and others.
Cal State RR Museum Photo Collections​California State RR Museum Library
California State Railroad Museum Library has the Gerald Best, Phillip Hastings and Robert Hanft NP photo collections.
Cass Gilbert NP Depots - North Yakima​​Cass Gilbert SocietyThe North Yakima Depot carries to an extreme the notion of using the center portion of the building as a decorative element. The half-timbered design differs from the Little Falls Depot in that it seems to be German- or central European-inspired (the English did not build wood towers). The large chimney is for a fireplace in the waiting room, a common feature in depots of the era. The chimney does not reflect the Germanic influence of the depot's otherwise unified design. The depot was enlarged within a few years of its construction and was later replaced.
Collection 59Anonymous​A Collection from a Unknown Donationof mostly early McGee & Nixon photos with a few by other Photographers and some non-NP photos.
Depot Photos of the NP​NPRHA Members
Northern Pacific depot photos taken throughout the operating life of the railroad and a searchable database. 
Don Roberts NP Photos​Oregon Historical Society
Oregon Historical Society has about 6,000 Don Roberts negatives. Many NP which can be located from the OHS web site.
Gene Hawk NP Photos​Hudson Leighton(*) ​This collection contains builder's photos of NP passenger and freight cars and of MOW equipment perserved at the NPRHA East-End Archive at Jackson Street Roundhouse in St. Paul, MN. To view all the data connected to a photo and a full screen image, click the link in the "Image No." column.
J. David Ingles NP Collection

​Hudson Leighton​

James Turner NP Photo Prints​Craig Reese(*) ​James A. Turner, a Seattle street car motorman who was also a fine photographer, made these images of NP operations and equipment in and around Seattle and on Stampede Pass in the 1920s, '30s and '40s. The images were acquired by Walt Ainsworth from the collection of Warren Wing.
Jim Fredrickson Railroad Photos​James M Fredrickson(*) ​Jim Fredrickson is a well-known rilroad photographer who authored three books of Northern Pacific images and is an active member of the NPRHA. Photos from Jim's collection are perserved at the NPRHA West-End archive in Burien, Washington and are available by emailing the photo numbers you are seeking to: info@PNRArchive.org.
Jim Fredrickson Photo Categories​Walt Ainsworth
Category numbers are used to describe how the negatives are grouped in Jim Fredrickson's photo collection and are useful in searching by filtering on a category which may contain an image that you seek.  Image numbers are 5-digets preceeded by JMF and the category number.
Joe Caron NP Slide Collection​Dan Tomsky &
Gary Tarbox
(*) ​Joe Caron was a telegraph operator on the Tacoma Division in the 1950s and 1960s. As a railfan, he photographed NP operations in Washington and traded slides with others to make up this collection which is now owned by the NP Railway Museum in Toppenish WA.
John Henderson's Northern Idaho Collection
Chris Atkins

This site has many photos of NP-related equipment used on the Camas Prairie Railroad, an operation jointly owned by the NP and UP until is was spun off as a short line​

Lake Superior Railroad Museum​​Lake Superior Railroad MuseumThe Lake Superior Railroad Museum is housed in the NP depot in Duluth, Minnesota, and displays a number of NP equipment items in their collection.
​​Lewis County Historical Museum​​Jesse Clark McAbeeThe Lewis County Historical Museum is housed in the historic, 1912 the century, Northern Pacific Railway Depot. Operated by the Lewis County Historical Society, it is dedicated to preserving the history and heritage of Lewis County, Washington.
Nolan Northern Pacific Collection​Univ of Cal, Bancroft Library​The Edward Nolan Collection is here, about 1K views. Some very ra​​​re; all very expensive. Enter Nolan Northen Pacific Collection in the search box.​
NP Equipment Photos​George Elwood
NP photo collection. All photos are copyright by George Elwood, from my collection with credit to the photographer or by the submitter. The photos may be used by individuals for their personal non-commercial use (screen savers, modeling effort, photo albums) without restriction. Reposting or other use REQUIRES permission from the owner of the image or data.
Northern Pacific Images​Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture,​Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture of Spokane, Washington, has photos from the Wallace Gamble and Maynard Rikerd collections, and more.
Northern Pacific Images of King County​White River Valley Museum
Images of NP operations around Auburn, Washington, taken by Albert Farrow and others are found on this site. They may be purchased from the White River Valley Museum's web site.
NP Locomotives of the late 1930s​A. C. Kalmbach Memorial Library​The A. C. Kalmbach Memorial Foundation Library in Nashville, Tenn. shows images from the Dusty Miller collection from late 1930s.
Photo Subject List​NPRHA

​A list of the subjects used in the photo databases cataloged by the NPRHA for our photo collections on this web site.

​Richard A. Batie Images​Richard A. Batie​(*) Richard Batie, a now retired BNSF railroader, photographed and collected railroad pictures. His NP collection was the first collection donated to the Pacific Northwest Railroad Archive.
Ron V. Nixon Photo Collection

​Museum of the Rockies
R​on Nixon was a master photography of the Northern Pacific Railway and the other railroads of the northern tier states of the United States. He worked for the NP and GN over the years and acted as the "company photographer" in the late 1940 to the mid-1960s. Email Melissa Dawn with questions.
Ron V. Nixon Photo Collection Index​Ronald V. NixonA copy of the index for ​Ron Nixon's photo collection owned by the Museum of the Rockies, Bozeman MT.
Seattle's Terry Avenue Line Photos​Jim Lancaster​Some years ago Alan Winston created a website titled Seattle Spur and Spot which  a page on the NP street trackage along Terry Avenue in the area south of Lake Union and was last updated in 1998. With Alan Winston's permission, Jim reconstructed the web page and moved it to a new site. On a 2001 Seattle visit, Jim took a number of photos along the Terry Avenue street trackage and they appear, including a comparison with Alan's photos.
South Bend Flyer - End of an Era​​​Pacific County Historical Society and Museum An article by Al McCready and photo essay by Allan deLay of the last NP passenger train to run on the Willapa Harbor branch of the Tacoma Division in March 21, 1954. The train No.596-591ran between Centralia and South Bend, Washington, and was scheduled as a daily except Sunday with a mixed consist.

Stewart NP Steam Collection​Harold F. Stewart​Harold Stewart started working for the Pacific Electric Railway before WWII and continued working on the line as it was bought by the Southern Pacific and the Union Pacific untill 2002. He was an avid railroad historian and photography and traveled throughout the western United States. His NP steam photo collection of 174 images was donated by Stan Kislter to the NPRHA after his passing 2005.
Thompson NP Photo Collection​Steve Thompson​Hundreds of vintage images by Steve’s father, Frank Thompson an NP Tacoma Division conductor and Tom Miller, an NP engineer, both top notch photographers. In addition, there are Steve’s own images, starting in the mid 1960's and images from Jack Anderson of Mt. Rainier Scenic Railroad fame. Jack unknown to most folks, was a serious student of photography.  When Jack took on the restoration of steam locomotives full time, he gave Steve all his images.
Twin Ports Rail History​Jeff Lemke​Twin Ports Rail History sells historic photographs, slides, maps, and blueprints covering the railroads of Duluth Minnesota and Superior Wisconsin. This includes Northern Pacific, Great Northern, Burlington Northern, Missabe, Lake Superior Terminal and Transfer Railway, DW&P, Soo Line, and Omaha.
Wade Stevenson CollectionNPRHA​(*) Wade Stevenson's collection of Northern Pacific photos was donated by the Milwaukee Road Historical Association.
Warren McGee's Black & White Photo Index​Warren McGee
This is a searchable database of Warren McGee’s black & white photo collection owned by the Montana Historical Society, Helena, MT.  If you have questions or want order images, contact MTHS through their web site: https://mhs.mt.gov.
 
Terrence R. Wahl Bellingham Bay Railroad Photos​Kent Sullivan &
Dale Sanders
(*) Amateur photographer Terry Wahl was born in Bellingham on March 18, 1930. Terry's railroad photography interests informed his HO Scale model railroading hobby, and vice versa. As a hobbyist he used some photos in model-making. Specialized car functions, payloads and rail operations were of interest to Terry. The corporate and commodity themes of the collection reflect the economy of 1950's Whatcom County and Pacific Northwest
Werkema NP Photo Collection​George Werkema(*) ​The George Werkema NP Photo Collection focuses all aspects of the Northern Pacific, mostly taken during the 1960's and post-merger. You can MOUSE OVER any of the column headings and click the down-arrow to filter or sort for specific items. Scanning by Gregg Arndt and cataloging by George Werkema. Most photos by GJ Werkema, all rights reserved, reproduction prohibited without permission.

Wilbur Shannon Photos
​Gary Tarbox
(*) ​Wilbur R. Shannon was the last Chief Mechanical Officer for the NP. The collection includes over 900 photos from the NP, GN, BN, SP, UP and other railroads, plus some vintage non-railroad scenes. Originals are stored at JSRH.​


 









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