Western Star (train)

The Western Star was a named passenger train operated by the Great Northern Railway between Chicago and the Pacific Northwest via Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota. Between Chicago and St. Paul the train used the route of the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad; in later years eastbound passengers were accommodated on Burlington trains east of St. Paul. Through cars from the train operated between Spokane, Washington and Portland, Oregon via the Spokane, Portland and Seattle Railway. It operated from 1951 to 1971.

Western Star

Western Star in the Cascades, 1951
Overview
Status	Discontinued
Predecessor	Oriental Limited
First service	June 3, 1951
Last service	May 1, 1971
Successor	Empire Builder
Former operator(s)	Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad Great Northern Railway Spokane, Portland and Seattle Railway Burlington Northern Railroad
Route
Termini	Chicago, Illinois Seattle, Washington/Portland, Oregon
Route map Legend 2312 mi 3721 km Portland Columbia River OR WA 2302 mi 3705 km Vancouver 2288 mi 3682 km Camas 2257 mi 3632 km Stevenson 2236 mi 3598 km Bingen-White Salmon 2226 mi 3582 km Lyle 2205 mi 3549 km Wishram 2080 mi 3347 km Pasco 2021 mi 3252 km Washtucna 2261 mi 3639 km Seattle 2243 mi 3610 km Edmonds 2228 mi 3586 km Everett Cascade Tunnel 2106 mi 3389 km Wenatchee 2070 mi 3331 km Quincy 2054 mi 3306 km Ephrata Train divides at Spokane 1932 mi 3109 km Spokane 1928 mi 3103 km Hillyard 1886 mi 3035 km Newport WA ID 1880 mi 3026 km Priest River 1858 mi 2990 km Sandpoint 1836 mi 2955 km Naples 1824 mi 2935 km Bonners Ferry ID MT 1793 mi 2886 km Troy 1775 mi 2857 km Libby 1720 mi 2768 km Rexford 1711 mi 2754 km Eureka 1699 mi 2734 km Fortline 1695 mi 2728 km Trego 1689 mi 2718 km Stryker 1676 mi 2697 km Olney 1658 mi 2668 km Whitefish 1651 mi 2657 km Columbia Falls 1644 mi 2646 km Coram 1636 mi 2633 km Belton 1609 mi 2589 km Essex 1579 mi 2541 km Glacier Park 1566 mi 2520 km Browning 1533 mi 2467 km Cut Bank 1508 mi 2427 km Shelby connecting train Great Falls Fort Benton Big Sandy 1404 mi 2260 km Havre 1382 mi 2224 km Chinook 1361 mi 2190 km Harlem 1316 mi 2118 km Malta 1289 mi 2074 km Saco 1277 mi 2055 km Hinsdale 1251 mi 2013 km Glasgow 1201 mi 1933 km Wolf Point 1180 mi 1899 km Poplar 1147 mi 1846 km Culbertson MT ND 1095 mi 1762 km Williston 1067 mi 1717 km Ray 1055 mi 1698 km Tioga 1028 mi 1654 km Stanley 974 mi 1568 km Minot 933 mi 1502 km Towner 914 mi 1471 km Rugby 887 mi 1427 km Leeds 875 mi 1408 km Churchs Ferry 856 mi 1378 km Devils Lake 832 mi 1339 km Lakota 821 mi 1321 km Michigan 795 mi 1279 km Larimore 768 mi 1236 km Grand Forks 728 mi 1172 km Hillsboro 689 mi 1109 km Fargo Red River of the North ND MN 688 mi 1107 km Moorhead 643 mi 1035 km Wahpeton 642 mi 1033 km Breckenridge 585 mi 941 km Morris 560 mi 901 km Benson 529 mi 851 km Willmar 503 mi 810 km Litchfield 451 mi 726 km Wayzata 438 mi 705 km Minneapolis Mississippi River 427 mi 687 km Saint Paul St. Croix River MN WI 326 mi 525 km Winona Junction 299 mi 481 km North La Crosse 297 mi 478 km La Crosse 239 mi 385 km Prairie du Chien Wisconsin River 184 mi 296 km East Dubuque 145 mi 233 km Savanna 98 mi 158 km Oregon Rock River 83 mi 134 km Rochelle 38 mi 61 km Aurora 14 mi 23 km La Grange Road 0 mi 0 km Chicago This diagram: view talk edit

History

The Western Star was inaugurated on June 3, 1951, replacing the Oriental Limited as the secondary train along the Great Northern's transcontinental route. The Great Northern's primary train was the famed Empire Builder, which made the run in 45 hours. The Western Star required a more leisurely 58 hours, making more intermediate stops and serving branches the Empire Builder bypassed, such as Grand Forks, North Dakota and Great Falls, Montana.^[1]: 91 The Star used equipment from the Empire Builder, which had been completely reequipped.^[2]: 245

On March 7, 1966, the westbound Star crashed head-on with the eastbound Empire Builder ^[3] at Buelow, 5 miles (8.0 km) east of Chester, while Great Northern's then-president John M. Budd road along in the Empire.^[4] The engineers of each train died and 79 were hurt with 29 of those having to be hospitalized.^[5] The accident became known as the Great Northern Buelow wreck.^[6]

The Western Star and a connecting train between Havre and Great Falls continued operating until May 1, 1970.^[7] Amtrak did not retain the Western Star as part of its national route network and the train was discontinued, although it did re-route the Empire Builder to serve Grand Forks.^[8]: 158

Equipment

The 1951 Western Star required six sets of equipment to operate; it inherited five of these from the faster Empire Builder. Each set of equipment consisted of fourteen cars:

• Baggage-mail car
• Baggage car
• Coach (60 seats)
• Coach (48 seats)
• Coach (48 seats)
• Coach (48 seats)
• Lounge car
• Dining car
• Sleeping car
• Sleeping car
• Sleeping car
• Sleeping car
• Sleeping car
• Observation lounge

Each set could carry 330 passengers.^[9]

References

1. Yenne, Bill (2005). Great Northern Empire Builder. Voyageur Press. ISBN 0760318476.
2. Hidy, Ralph W.; et al. (2004). The Great Northern Railway: A History. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. ISBN 0-8166-4429-2.
3. "Head-on Crash Kills Engineers". Chester, Montana: Great Falls Tribune. Associated Press. 1966-03-08. pp. 1, 10.
4. Langel, Ruby (1994). A history of Chester Montana and surrounding communities from 1890 to 1994. pp. 30–31. Retrieved 2024-08-30.
5. Snyder, Jon (2024). "Accident, Buelow, MT, 1966". Great Northern Archive. Archived from the original on 2024-08-30. Retrieved 2024-08-29.
6. The Anatomy of Great Northern Buelow Wreck - March 7, 1966. [Exhibition]. Whitefish Museum, Whitefish, Montana, USA. https://www.stumptownhistoricalsociety.org/whitefish-museum
7. Edmonson, Harold A. (1972). Journey to Amtrak. Kalmbach Publishing. pp. 102–104. ISBN 978-0890240236. as mentioned in "Passenger trains operating on the eve of Amtrak" (PDF). Trains. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2021-02-24.
8. Sanders, Craig (2006). Amtrak in the Heartland. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press. ISBN 978-0-253-34705-3.
9. "Western Star Replaces Oriental Limited On Great Northern Line". Mouse River Farmers Press. May 31, 1951. Retrieved August 25, 2013.

External links

• 1966 timetable