![BigPlanDan](/img/default-banner.jpg)
- 12
- 53 983
BigPlanDan
United States
Registrace 29. 03. 2008
GT Testimonial Video
This is an unsolicited testimonial video done by the appreciative customer whose Santa Clarita house we helped build. GT work included rough grading, final grading, utility trenching, trenching and installation of the extensive landscape drainage system, installation of decomposed granite driveway and leach lines. Includes the customer's suggested criteria for selecting your earth-moving contractor.
zhlédnutí: 148
Video
Rancho Camulos Orientation Movie
zhlédnutí 435Před rokem
Located just north of Los Angeles near the town of Filmore, Rancho Camulos is an original Mexican Rancho that still exists and is open to the public. It is the only surviving Rancho still located in its original agricultural setting. I made this orientation movie two years ago for the Rancho.
Mysteries of the Bismarck Bridge
zhlédnutí 5KPřed 4 lety
Building the Northern Pacific's railroad bridge across the Missouri River in the 1880's in a then very remote location with no equipment to speak of is a truly amazing story. We explore how they built the pier foundations in the middle of one of America's largest rivers, the dangers involved and its tenuous situation today.
Chapter 2, Reassembling and Restoring the North Coast Limited Streamliner
zhlédnutí 1,9KPřed 4 lety
Chapter 2 of Mike Gelhaus' efforts to reassemble and restore the Northern Pacific Railway's premiere transcontinental passenger train, the North Coast Limited. Includes interviews with Mike and Norm Lorentzen, a former CEO & President of the Burlington Northern. We also take a look at a former NCL dining car Mike considered buying.
Episode 1, Northern Pacific Railroad History
zhlédnutí 13KPřed 4 lety
Volume 1 and Intro to the series. This was on the other channel and just now putting it up here after posting nine other videos. Discusses my interest in the Northern Pacific and shows train shots throughout the Northern Pacific route, from the Twin Cities (St. Paul & Minneapolis) 2,300 miles west to Seattle.
Rail Car Collector Mike Gelhaus and the Northern Pacific North Coast Limited
zhlédnutí 1,8KPřed 4 lety
A rail fan since boyhood, Burlington Northern Mike Gelhaus set out to collect the full train set of the Northern Pacific North Coast Limited luxury streamliner, which provided daily train service across 2/3 of the United States up to 1970, when the NP merged into the BN. This is not about model railroads. We're talking about real cars, original to the NCL!
Fatal Car-Train Accident in North Dakota, Northern Pacific Railroad History
zhlédnutí 3,3KPřed 4 lety
Railroad safety is the topic as we research a fatal car-train accident on Christmas eve in 1961 that killed four children. Included are a visit to the location as well as an interview with the engineer who was at the throttle that night.
Northern Pacific Railroad History: Longtime Railroad Conductor & Photographer Warren MGee
zhlédnutí 3,6KPřed 4 lety
Because of his photos and articles, Warren McGee has become one of the most famous veterans of the Norther Pacific Railway and one of the most recognized railroad photographers in America. He started his railroad career in the 1930's and mostly worked the beautiful Rocky Mountain area between Billings, Montana, and Helena and Butte, Montana. We feature an interview with Warren and look at some ...
Episode 5, North Coast Limited thru Idaho and Washington
zhlédnutí 5KPřed 4 lety
See the beautiful northwest as we trace the path of a 1960's transcontinental train trip. Imagining a ride on the Northern Pacific Railway's North Coast Limited superliner, we cross northern Idaho's panhandle, then climb the Cascade mountains to Stampede Pass and thru Stampede Tunnel, finally arriving in Seattle. See Episodes 2 thru 4 for the trip from New York's Grand Central Station thru the ...
Episode 4, North Coast Limited in western Montana
zhlédnutí 6KPřed 4 lety
This is the third of four videos examining the 1960's westbound transcontinental trip of the Northern Pacific Railroad's flagship passenger train, the streamlined North Coast Limited. This episode covers the area from Bozeman, Montana to the Montana-Idaho border. The North Coast Limited originated in 1900 with its final run under the NP being in 1970, when the NP merged with a few other railroa...
Episode 3, North Coast Limited train trip thru eastern Montana
zhlédnutí 6KPřed 5 lety
Northern Pacific Railway path through eastern Montana, from the eastern border with North Dakota, going west to Bozeman, Montana. Follows the Yellowstone River. Video from one of only passenger trains to travel this track in the past 40 years.
Episode 2, North Coast Limited trip from New York to North Dakota
zhlédnutí 7KPřed 5 lety
First of four parts showing the route from Chicago to Seattle on the 1960's streamlined Northern Pacific Railway's North Coast Limited. A blend of old photos and more recent video of the route, showing a number of BNSF trains working the former NP mainline. See Episode 1 for background information on the Northern Pacific and the mission of this channel.
My ancestor was the second wife of Antoni Del Valle, Jacoba Feliz who lost her share of the ranch due to debt and court proceedings.
I’d love to see Amtrak or some other passenger rail operator reopen and restore Homestake Pass one day.
Me, too! A group called Big Sky Rail Authority is actually making serious progress on running passenger service on the former NP mainline. I don't know if they've designated either Mullan Pass or Homestake Pass as their route. The NP used both routes but limited Homestake to passenger service due to short sidings, radical track curvature and steep grades. Their website shows both routes although I have to think they would go over Mullan as it is already in use. It would take a pile of dough to get Homestake back in operation. I plan to check out Homestake next month.
Thanks great stuff
Really appreciate your effort into this series. I followed the entire Montana portion of my way up to Montana for my ongoing internship.
Great stuff thanks so much
The Amtrak North Coast Hiawatha was down to 3 or 4 days a week when discontinued. Had this train become a Superliner, it may have remained to this day. Hard to match the Montana scenery anywhere by rail in America.
Thanks very interesting stuff
I live in Riverside, Ca, and I'd love to know if the last rail car talked about is still in this area and possibly able to be seen? I have also come across somebody's collection of Vista dome cars and a Caboose located in an industrial park, on a spur line, in the city of La Mirada, Ca on Valley View Avenue. If anyone has any information to share, it would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!
Hi Steve. Thanks for dropping by! I haven't followed that rail car but I believe I did hear something about it going elsewhere. In any case, my visit to the car took place years ago and I doubt it could still be there. Of all vintage rail cars, a diner has to be one of the highest in demand. Your mention of the dome cars in La Mirada, CA sounds very interesting!
I boarded the North coast Ltd in prairie Du chien, Wisconsin en route to nozeman, MT to get .away from the searing heat wave in the midwest and join my parents who regulaarly summered in the Bozeman area to fish snd camp and get away from Iowa's heat
Keep this amazing videos coming!
Well done! Thank you for capturing the fascinating history of Rancho Camulos.
AMTRAC, boo hiss.
Rail passenger service worked, now government managed 😢, FUBAR
Thanks for the show. The town, now ghost town, on the west side of the tunnel was called Lester. My aunt, after graduating high school being 17, 1943/44 was hired by the NP to train as a telegraph operator. Her first job was in the town of Lester working third trick. She would have to walk out on the ice in the middle of the night to pass orders to the crew and throw a Mail bag on as they threw one off as the train passed by. I believe she worked at Kanaskat and Easton also. I believe I saw her picture on the screen in you intro video. She died a few years ago at 94. She was a real neat lady with lots of rail stories.
*The picture quality of this documentary is impressive!* 🎉🏆
Wheres episode 1
Just stumbled onto your ch. The North Coast Limited was one I missed although I had the privilege of riding the Super Chief and original California Zephyr. There’s one minor correction-the NP passenger trains traveled west of Missoula via Evaro Hill which were steeper grades but shorter distances to from the west.
No evasive action with a locomotive
Hey Dan! Amazing video, and the mention of Duluth MN got my ears up! I'm a volunteer at that railroad, and I hope to see you in Duluth sometime later on.
The NP used to run passenger service down one of their spur lines, well into the 1960's. South out of Spokane, through many small towns, to both Moscow, Idaho and Pullman, Washington. They used one of those all-in-one Budd cars. Engineer could drive from either end, and had a nice passenger compartment and baggage room. In Grade School, we even got to go on a class trip, riding from Pullman to Moscow. We always referred to it as The Bug. The farmhouse I grew up in, was up on a hillside above the Palouse River, and just across the river were the NP tracks, heading to and from Spokane. Big picture window in the living room, so I could sit next to the window while waiting for the school bus and count the cars on an NP freight going north. My loyalties were divided, however, because the Great Northern also came through, and also the W, I & M. And it seems as though all three were quite active in those days.
Back in 1959,,,Bevercreek , OHIO. A PRR train killed 10 at Factory rd. 2 Scout leaders and 8 6th grade girls. Everyone in the car were killed. To this day, this event haunts the greater Dayton area. There is a memorial. Plenty of links about this event on internet.
The NP first built a temporary switchback route over Stampede Pass to reach Tacoma. A few years later, Stampede Tunnel was bored from both ends using the switchback line for access. It took longer than one winter to bore these tunnels; the 1864 Pacific Railroad Act land grant requirement was satisfied earlier via the switchback route into Commencement Bay/Tacoma. And yes, there is a road over Stampede Pass. I've driven it many times. It just ends at the Tacoma Watershed border at Lester, so you can't continue into Tacoma.
RE: Your "The Northern Pacific was unique in that it had two color schemes." Unique means like no other. AT&SF, CRI&P, D&RGW, MP, N&W, SP, SSW, NYC, and other RRs all had one (or more) diesel color schemes for passenger service and another (or two other) diesel color schemes for freight service.
Nicely done video! I used to work at the Livingston Rebuild Center in the 90's, which facility has been closed for many years now. Sadly, the entire facility is likely to be closed up by the new business model. Rebuilding loco's there was probably one of the favorite jobs I ever had! It is a real kick in the pants to work the electrical problems and put the unit through it's paces!
Hi, Dan! Nice place here, that contractor did a very nice job. The house is sitting on a very good foundation, and looks amazing! I'm in construction as well, but I do the fine custom cabinet carpentry. Building a house is no easy job. I've built a few structures myself. By the way, are you going to the Northern Pacific Railway Historical Association 2023 convention?
Difficult to subscribe to your channel ,most videos have a subscribe symbol on the video, had to click on your channel to subscribe...great grandfather worked for NP for over 50 yrs out of the Staples Mn depo
Thanks for your persistence, John. I am not a techie...just happy to have some videos up here. Your grandfather's career of 50 years is startling. These days, not many people work 50 years, much less for a single company. I bet he was out there on some very, very cold days and nights.
Via Rail's "The Canadian" is the last of the original streamliners from Toronto/Montreal to Vancouver. Beautiful !
UPDATE: BNSF and the citizens of North Dakota have been in a legal battle since this video was posted on CZcams over two years ago. Part of this has regarded the ownership of the bridge, which seems to have been settled in BNSF's favor. Very little progress has been made in regard to resolving this issue. The new bridge is to be built about 20 feet away from the old one, which may be behind their reason for wanting to destroy the old bridge as soon as the new one is finished. I have subscribed to the Bismarck Tribune newspaper in order to keep current with this situation. Still, I have yet to hear BNSF''s reason for wanting to remove the old one. You'd think they would just give the bridge to the citizens' of North Dakota, especially as the NP and now the BNSF have relied on their graciousness for over 140 years of profiting from running trains thru the state, and doing much business with its farmers, ranchers and other businesses. The reason behind BNSF's demands seems to be the final mystery of the Bismarck Bridge. I'll keep you apprised as to the outcome.
My grandfather had just retired from the Glendive, MT, (Yellowstone) division NP in '61, he got several phone calls from his engineer friends about this accident. He sat at the kitchen table and wept. A senseless disaster.
I'm sure you remember what happened in Motley , Minn.
My grandfather worked on the NP, first as a fireman (shoveling coal into the engine’s furnace); then, after taking a home study course, worked in the Round House as a boiler attendant, Mandan, ND.
Dan, here. I was born (1951) and raised in Bozeman (25 miles west of Livingston). Upon completing my final exam for a business degree from Montana State University, I left so fast that I was in California before the graduation ceremony took place. Not that I didn't love Montana, but there was not much opportunity in the state at that time (1973), And it was colder than all get out. And the bright lights & big city of Los Angeles beaconed. I made my mark here and am now retired. I did get thru the backdoors of many Livingston businesses when I helped my dad deliver laundry to motels, restaurants and other establishments (and Yellowstone Park in the summers). He made the drive from Bozeman to Livingston - over an often snow-covered Bozeman Pass on a busy and winding two-lane road - five or six times a week for around 25 years. What a sacrifice for his family! I tagged along to help him during summers and any other time I could do so. At that time, the Livingston Laundry occupied half the current Industrial Towel building. Dad and I would often have lunch at the Sport Bar which was at that time (1960's) a hangout for NP railroaders to play poker and cuss while they waited for their next assignment. What a treat for me that place was! There were card games on the left and (as it is today) the bar on the right. I never saw a woman in the place. Now, of course, it is a socially acceptable type of place. I'm told that some of the women who now dine there have even been to finishing school. Delivering laundry to the place so often, I was on a first-name basis with just about everyone at the old Murray Hotel (which had a good restaurant at the time). Anyway, I always loved Livingston and would have my eyes glued to the NP depot, shops and yard whenever possible. There were always handsome EMD F-units to be seen, and we'd often see the beautiful westbound North Coast Limited resting there while its domes were washed and the three-unit diesels were switched out for four-unit diesels to handle the upcoming grades in the Rocky Mountains and the Cascade Range.
My dad was an NP employee until the 1970 merger, but passed away several months later. Family had railroad pass which enabled free passage on NCL once a year. Last took the train from Seattle to St. Paul with mom and sis in December, 1970. North Coast Hiawatha was a shadow of the grandeur of original NCL (which began running in 1900) but Amtrak should have retained it, even if only 4 days a week. Politics in railroading and politics always wins. This is history that will never be repeated on this line. Thanks.
hi Dan - I am from Livingston and am wondering who you are..... thankyou,
Hi, see my reply below.
Wonderful information - thanks for the great video!
Great programs. I road both the NP North Coast Limited in 1967 and then Amtrak's North Coast Hiawatha in 1973 (I think). The greatest memories on this southern route were the badlands of eastern Montana and wild horses running along beside the dome car at sunset.
惡疫苗.
Grap he ne.
疫苗惡.
N0 MA$Ks.
M0r gel l0ns.
Hi Dan, I ran across your channel a few years ago, and I'm amazed at the history work you've done on the Northern Pacific. Are you with the NPRHA? I've got a lot of old Northern Pacific flyers, magazine advertisements, booklets, telltales, etc. Even got an old N.P. handbag that someone wrote their name and address in. (I expect an N.C.L. crewmember did it.) Very nice work here, thanks for the content.
In 1952 or 53, when I was three or four, we took the North Coast limited from Seattle to Spokane. Due to my early age my memory of it is a bit vague, but what impressed my little gray cells, the dinning car with white tablecloth and silverware. A bit of trivia, the Smith Tower is the tower to the left of King Street Station. At the time it was built, it was the tallest building west of Chicago.
Love it... Thank you... Rancho Camulos is simply magical...
Mike Gelhaus did write to Warren Buffet for financial assistance, he was hoping to get lucky. From the research I have done about Warren Buffet is his goal to increase his wealth and he has no interest in transportation history, railroad preservation or passenger trains. His focus on trains is he owns BNSF, because it's a money maker and he can't loose. Thanks for reading.
Dining car refurbishment would take two persons working fulltime one year, assuming they had funding for the entire project. Not two weeks!
Worked 25 and 26 from St. Paul Forsyth Mt on the baggage car beast job ever
Hi Robert, Thanks for dropping by. I would think that the baggage car would be a difficult job given the constant bumps and noise, as well as much of the run being at night and during some cold northern winters. On the other hand, you probably didn't have a lot to do between stops. That was a run of about 750 miles, one way. What made it such a great job? Also, Forsyth is a very small town compared to Billings, which isn't much further west. Why did they change out there? It would have been a kick to have made that trip.
Great job this video in every respect. I am almost more of a railroad structures fan than of the trains themselves. It would be great if the rr built its new rr bridge close to the old one, assuming that the trail idea goes through. Sep. 29, 2022, St. Joseph, MO, downstream just a little ways. Again--great video! Please make an update video.
Thats most likely A Butte Anaconda & Pacific caboose