GREAT NORTHERN RAILROAD

The Great Northern Railroad (GN) did keep a document called "Original Track Laying Record". It is a map showing the year each segment of track was completed. Helena to Butte was line segment 76 completed in 1888, 72.78 miles. A list of reference sheets is available for sale off the website IIRC.

TOBIN Railroad Siding Near Fort Harrison, MT ~  This is a signal shed or signal hut. It has electronics inside that interface the dispatcher's commands from the wires on the right, through the box to the power switch machine shown in the photos and the absolute signals not included in the photos. Communication goes both ways with the field apparatus telling the dispatcher when it has completed the action commanded.  Photo taken by Karylyn Bliss, August 2009.  Helena is located south in the background.

Photo taken by Karylyn Bliss, August 2009, looking north towards Birdseye, MT.



RAILROAD SIDINGS:  From about 1898 forward, changes to the GN capital investment acounts were approved and entered into the accounts through the Authority For Expenditure (AFE) process. If the Tobin siding was not part of the original construction, it was built under an AFE. These records were maintained for a very long time. Many have been destroyed, some are in the possession of the GNRHS, some are in the hands of individual members, some have been retained by the BNSF. The Society is in the process of building an index in St Paul.

The vast majority of AFEs related to Wenatchee WA and the WO branch are single page documents with one or two sentance justification for the proposed changes. The justification for a new siding would be something like "To reduce train delay, or to allow handling of increased traffic."

Attaching the local section foreman's name to the siding is a strong and unusual acknowledgement of long and good service. For example "Walong", the siding at the SP's Tehacapie (spelling) Loop, is the name of long time section foreman W. A. Long. The name of a siding needs to be distinctively different that other sidings and junctions on the subdivision, contain few letters, and be easy to spell and say. The AFE may or may not state why the name was applied.

The railroad ran/runs on paper; engineering records, timetables, train orders, payroll records, and pay checks for example. The GN in the late 1800s into the early 1900s probably generated 100's of tons of paper records each year. Only what was needed to support ongoing operations was retained. The files were purged regularly to make room for the new records, which were themselves purged. Any payroll records of that era are long gone.

[Reference:  Mac McCulloch, gngoat@yahoogroups.com]