Home > GN in the News > News > St. Nicholas Mountain

Bringing back one of the best...    

    The Great Northern introduced its 'Mountain' series observation cars as part of complete new train-sets for the Mid-Century Empire Builder. These tall window round end observation cars were arguably the nicest ever on the Great Northern and possibly the nicest of any long distance train across the nation. Configured with two roomettes, a buffet, lounge and observation room these cars provided a great way to thoroughly enjoy the beautiful scenery along the Empire Builder route, made possible by a splendid view through the car's twenty tall windows. Comfortable seating was provided for 36 who could admire the view while having a nice conversation and enjoying a refreshing drink served by the car's attendant. 

    Not only the elegant lines of the car and its beautiful paint scheme of Omaha Orange and Pullman Green separated by narrow imitation gold striping made these cars great but also the interior was something to behold. The Great Northern described the interior of the 'Mountain' series observation cars in its press release on the 1951 introduction of the Mid-Century Empire Builder as such:

OBSERVATION-LOUNGE:

    Ten states and two Canadian provinces served by the Great Northern Railway are intimately linked in the exquisite color and decorative treatment of the observation-lounge.

    Deep cushioned settees and lounge chairs in this luxurious car provide seating for 24 persons, with table accommodations for an additional 12.

    Soft drinks and spirituous liquors are available, subject to regulations applicable to the state through which the train is running at the time.

    COLOR SCHEME: The mountains and evergreen forests of the Pacific Northwest inspired the color scheme in the observation-lounge. It is based on shades and tints of purple, turquoise and yellow with natural gray.

    Upholstery is in needlepoint plush in mauve, woodtone and turquoise. Deep carpeting in rose beige covers the floor.

    Card tables for two triangular settees and a corner settee are covered with American Elm Truwood Micarta, a laminate. Magazine racks are of American Elm with bases covered in Sandalwood Kalistron, a durable synthetic simulating leather.

    Wainscoting through the observation-lounge section is covered in Red Birch Realwood Formica. This wood was molded in a high pressure laminate especially for these cars and marks the first time that red birch has been used this way.

    The upper ceiling deck is painted light armor gray. The lower deck, with indirect fluorescent trough lights around its perimeter, is in cream, as are the frieze panels.

    DECORATIONS: Silhouettes and seals of 10 states and two Canadian provinces served by Great Northern provide striking decorative spots for the panels between windows in the observation-lounge.

    The state and provincial silhouettes are in blue-green and the seals in full colors of each authentic state or provincial seal. The decorations are partially silk screen printed and partially hand painted on Gold Kalistron covering the panels.

    States and provinces represented are Illinois, Minnesota, Wisconsin, North and South Dakota, Montana, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, California, Manitoba and British Columbia.

    The gold pier panels are flanked by drapes in a solid blue-green with a gold thread.

    Partially separating the lounge and observation sections is a full height partition of half-inch safety glass, artistically "carved" with the sandblasted images of the official flowers of the same states and provinces.

    Mounted on the Gold Kalistron which covers the bulkhead at the forward end of the car is a decorative map of the Great Northern system. Especially designed for the railway, the map was first silk screen printed and then molded in plastic, in shades of brown, light and dark blue-green and beige, with red orange for the route of the railway.

    Clearly magnificent cars, inside and out!

    The Great Northern received six cars from American Car & Foundry in late 1950 and early 1951. They were numbered 1290-1295 and named after mountains found along the Empire Builder route; 'Appekunny Mountain', 'St. Nicholas Mountain', 'Going-to-the-Sun Mountain', 'Cathedral Mountain', 'Trempaleau Mountain' and 'Little Chief Mountain'.

     Placed in service in 1951 they served on the Empire Builder until 1955 when the 'Great Domes' were introduced and the (full length) dome-lounge took over the lounge function of the observation cars. The Mountain series observation cars were replaced by 'Coulee' series observation cars rebuilt from the original Empire Builder 'River' series observation cars. The 'Mountain' series cars were transferred to the 'Western Star', which ran as a companion train to the Empire Builder. Towards the end of the Great Northern era the 'Mountain' series observation cars were taken off the Western Star and were assigned to the 'International' where they stayed until Amtrak took over nationwide passenger travel in 1971. Amtrak decided that it had no use for these cars and elected not to acquire them. All were then retired and sold-off. Off the six cars, one was scrapped after a bad derailment, three went to private individuals and two ended up as part of Andy's Tukwila Station Restaurant in Tukwila, Washington. These two cars were largely gutted and had large holes cut in their sides to accommodate the new function of a restaurant. When the restaurant closed the cars were auctioned off and ended up in private hands.

    A couple of years ago, when searching the internet for information on surviving GN passenger cars, I came across a for-sale listing of GN 1291 'St. Nicholas Mountain', one of the cars that used to serve at Andy's Tukwila Station Restaurant. I couldn't help thinking how nice it would be to own one of these magnificent observation cars and 'St. Nicholas Mountain' was right there, available. Coincidentally at that time I was having an email exchange about surviving GN passenger cars with Eric Hopp who had shortly before contributed his list of surviving cars. Soon it became clear that he owned a car of his own; GN 1146, a diner/coach built for the 'International'. In our email exchange we discussed what is involved in owning and restoring a passenger car and the joys and headaches that come with it. Buying a passenger car sure is not something to be taken lightly. After thorough consideration I decided that owning and restoring a passenger car, especially a great car like 'St. Nicholas Mountain', would be feasible and something I would love to do. I contacted Ozark Mountain Railcar, through which the car was for sale, and started the process of acquiring the car. Then world events took a turn for the worst and common sense told me to postpone the purchase until things settled down and my job would prove to be secure (I'm an airline pilot).

    For over a year my plans lay dormant. Then a remark from Eric Hopp reminded me of my plans and made me evaluate the job situation again. I decided that things had settled down enough to look again into acquiring 'St. Nick', as 'St. Nicholas Mountain' was now affectionately referred to. 'St. Nick' was still for sale, so I started the process again and found Eric willing to accompany me to visit and inspect the car, this last May. A personal inspection is always a good idea but in this case almost a necessity as the car's side still had the (patched) 20' hole in it which it acquired at Andy's Tukwila Station Restaurant. With this in mind we went to check out the car wondering if and what else wrong we would find. Luckily, St. Nick turned out to be in a lot better condition than expected. Of course the hole is there, which will need to be addressed with some solid engineering, and some other smaller holes were discovered, but importantly the interior, although stripped, retained the curved ceiling decoration and lighting. All the interior window decoration was also found to still be in place, but the furniture, buffet and roomettes were all taken out. Conclusion; a car which will require a lot of work to get back to original condition, but also one that still has some important and hard to replace items in place.  

    One month later 'St. Nicholas Mountain' became mine and I'm now the proud owner of one of the best large-window round-end observation cars to ever roam the GN system. Currently located in central Pennsylvania, St. Nick is now being readied for a move to Iowa where she will join other private (GN) railcars at a private railcar storage facility. As soon as she arrives there, she will be readied for winter by sealing all holes and leaking windows. Future plans are to bring the car back to (near-) original condition as built for the Great Northern. Although 'St. Nicholas Mountain' was sold to the CB&Q in 1953 as part of an Empire Builder mileage equalization deal, she will eventually return to her original splendor of Empire Builder orange and green with Great Northern lettering. A lot of work needs to be done but one day we will be able to enjoy the beautiful interior again as passengers did when they enjoyed riding the Empire Builder across the vast plains and imposing mountain ranges on her trips between Chicago and Seattle. 

Stay tuned for more news on the restoration of 'St. Nicholas Mountain'...    

Click on image for a detailed floor plan.