That last scene is so familiar to me. In August 1983, we moved to the east side of Washington near Spokane. Some time in July, some friends of my grandmother would invite us each year to pick some cherries off one of their trees in their orchard. They lived just up the hill from the famous GN Rock Island bridge. On our way there, We drove right through that spot where the highway comes down the hill and runs between the tracks and the rock cliff. I remember the rock slide fence well. It had all those antique glass insulators holding the cables. It's nice to get to see these things so familiar to my childhood.
Thank you for sharing the Harris films with all of us. I was born into railroading in northern Michigan in 1975. I knew the BN well, but I was never able to see Great Northern power in action.
Wow, I never realized that BN ran long hood forward. And seeing UP Geeps pulling mainline freight -- and with high noses! -- is something I never saw personally. Great collection of videos here.
Good catch on the Pacific Zip, BN's equivalent of the Santa Fe Super C. The UP trains at the beginning of the video are on the former Spokane International mainline which ran between Spokane, WA and Eastport, ID, where it interchanged with the Canadian Pacific Railroad. In the early 70's this line saw some of the last UP F units, including one with a humongous snow plow mounted on the nose. The SI, GN, and NP mainlines all converged on Sandpoint, ID, where I skied during high school and college. Interchanges were added between the GN and NP lines after the BN merger. The GN mainline was abandoned between Spokane and Newport, WA, located over the state line west of Sandpoint. SI trains later routed around "downtown" Sandpoint over the old GN line. I'm sure the locals do not miss long oil and phosphate trains from Canada tying up city street crossings while they crawled through town at 20mph.
Thanks for adding the narrative color from your knowledge and experience. I'm learning a lot and I hope other viewers read your comments to get more out of the video.
@@LeeWitten Thanks. I wish I had photographed trains in the area while I was a high school and college student in northern Idaho and eastern Washington from 1965-73.
@Lee Witten The more I watch these, the more I notice that me and Harris have something I common. We both focus more on the locomotives rather than the loads they carry.
@@AlikStansberry As a matter of fact during our joint convention banquet in 2019, an expert lectured on that. It was quite interesting. Unfortunately I've forgotten man of the details. I guess it comes down to bad management and disagreements.
@Lee Witten Well, I do know that SP continued to struggle financially after the merger failed. But it appears that Santa Fe still did well for a while before BNSF was formed. All I know is that SP fell to UP due to many years of financial issues and bad management. But we will always remember that ever so infamous Kodachrome paint scheme from that failed merger.
More BN trivia: The wide, white safety/visibility stripes were initially placed on the front end of pre-merger high hooded units when they were repainted into Cascade Green. For GN and SP&S units, this was the long end. For NP and CB&Q units, this was the short end. You can spot the difference on the repainted Geeps in Mr. Harris' videos of the BN from the early 70's. At the suggestion of train operators, the safety/visibility stripes were later applied to both ends of high hooded units as they spent much of their time running in reverse.
Lee, all of these so far have been amazing, but this one has to be the favorite, covering so much of Great Northern country. Eastern Washington between Wenatchee and Spokane was not frequently photographed as it is arid and considered less scenic than Stevens Pass to the west or Idaho and Montana to the east. But I think it is my favorite part of the GN. In 1973 all of the locomotives of the BN merger partners had been renumbered but not all of them would be repainted until 1977. We see SD45s in GN orange and green and big sky blue colors and NP paint, and F45s in GN paint. And what a potpourri of freight cars. Even though Mr. Harris concentrated on locomotives, fortunately he held the camera on some of the passing cars so we get a feel for the mix of home and foreign roads. At.3:45 the place name is correctly MOYIE Springs. Thanks again.
Douglas, thanks for the great comments. My ignorance prevents me to recognize the significance of some of these films. I appreciate learning more about them with comments like yours.
By the way I'm currently working on film 034 which takes place in the upper Columbia around Rock Island dam over to Steven's pass, Skykomish, the Cascade tunnel and such. Lots of 1974 Amtrak shots as well.
That last scene is so familiar to me. In August 1983, we moved to the east side of Washington near Spokane. Some time in July, some friends of my grandmother would invite us each year to pick some cherries off one of their trees in their orchard. They lived just up the hill from the famous GN Rock Island bridge. On our way there, We drove right through that spot where the highway comes down the hill and runs between the tracks and the rock cliff. I remember the rock slide fence well. It had all those antique glass insulators holding the cables. It's nice to get to see these things so familiar to my childhood.
I can relate. My dad was a UP freight conductor and I think of him often while editing these videos.
Thank you for sharing the Harris films with all of us. I was born into railroading in northern Michigan in 1975. I knew the BN well, but I was never able to see Great Northern power in action.
Glad this provided some memories for you.
Great nice to see the older classic locomotives
Leon
Wow, I never realized that BN ran long hood forward. And seeing UP Geeps pulling mainline freight -- and with high noses! -- is something I never saw personally. Great collection of videos here.
Thank you for the comment. Harris got some interesting shots from that decade of the 70's
Those are former GN geeps, they were configured that way for GN.
Good catch on the Pacific Zip, BN's equivalent of the Santa Fe Super C.
The UP trains at the beginning of the video are on the former Spokane International mainline which ran between Spokane, WA and Eastport, ID, where it interchanged with the Canadian Pacific Railroad. In the early 70's this line saw some of the last UP F units, including one with a humongous snow plow mounted on the nose.
The SI, GN, and NP mainlines all converged on Sandpoint, ID, where I skied during high school and college. Interchanges were added between the GN and NP lines after the BN merger. The GN mainline was abandoned between Spokane and Newport, WA, located over the state line west of Sandpoint.
SI trains later routed around "downtown" Sandpoint over the old GN line. I'm sure the locals do not miss long oil and phosphate trains from Canada tying up city street crossings while they crawled through town at 20mph.
Thanks for adding the narrative color from your knowledge and experience. I'm learning a lot and I hope other viewers read your comments to get more out of the video.
@@LeeWitten Thanks. I wish I had photographed trains in the area while I was a high school and college student in northern Idaho and eastern Washington from 1965-73.
Wow, it is an interesting site to see trains led by long hood forward geeps/units. I also really like seeing the F45s especially with Santa Fe.
Yes, he got some great train spotting during that trip north.
@Lee Witten The more I watch these, the more I notice that me and Harris have something I common. We both focus more on the locomotives rather than the loads they carry.
@Lee Witten While I’m at it, what are your thoughts on the failed SPSF(Southern Pacific Santa Fe) merger?
@@AlikStansberry As a matter of fact during our joint convention banquet in 2019, an expert lectured on that. It was quite interesting. Unfortunately I've forgotten man of the details. I guess it comes down to bad management and disagreements.
@Lee Witten Well, I do know that SP continued to struggle financially after the merger failed. But it appears that Santa Fe still did well for a while before BNSF was formed. All I know is that SP fell to UP due to many years of financial issues and bad management. But we will always remember that ever so infamous Kodachrome paint scheme from that failed merger.
Great video Lee, very enjoyable seeing the images of the past .Thanks for your dedication to restoring and preserving these treasured films.
- Balerio
Thanks. I'm working on part 2 now.
Great!
- Balerio
More BN trivia: The wide, white safety/visibility stripes were initially placed on the front end of pre-merger high hooded units when they were repainted into Cascade Green. For GN and SP&S units, this was the long end. For NP and CB&Q units, this was the short end. You can spot the difference on the repainted Geeps in Mr. Harris' videos of the BN from the early 70's. At the suggestion of train operators, the safety/visibility stripes were later applied to both ends of high hooded units as they spent much of their time running in reverse.
Lee, all of these so far have been amazing, but this one has to be the favorite, covering so much of Great Northern country. Eastern Washington between Wenatchee and Spokane was not frequently photographed as it is arid and considered less scenic than Stevens Pass to the west or Idaho and Montana to the east. But I think it is my favorite part of the GN. In 1973 all of the locomotives of the BN merger partners had been renumbered but not all of them would be repainted until 1977. We see SD45s in GN orange and green and big sky blue colors and NP paint, and F45s in GN paint. And what a potpourri of freight cars. Even though Mr. Harris concentrated on locomotives, fortunately he held the camera on some of the passing cars so we get a feel for the mix of home and foreign roads.
At.3:45 the place name is correctly MOYIE Springs.
Thanks again.
Douglas, thanks for the great comments. My ignorance prevents me to recognize the significance of some of these films. I appreciate learning more about them with comments like yours.
By the way I'm currently working on film 034 which takes place in the upper Columbia around Rock Island dam over to Steven's pass, Skykomish, the Cascade tunnel and such. Lots of 1974 Amtrak shots as well.
Also, it is fantastic to see these roll by w/o tagging all over them...
I miss the SKY BLUE COLOR, CASCADE GREEN color
Funny how all these years later we want to see the GN units behind the newly painted BN...
Lots of SD45's and C-30-7's and likely brand new SD40-2's. in shiny green paint.