"The Olympian" was an all-steel, heavyweight car, first-class luxury passenger train on The Milwaukee Road (Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway) that began service in in 1911 and ended in 1947. Replaced by the steamlined "Olympic Hiawatha", the first "Olympian" and its partner train, "The Columbian", travelled between Chicago, St. Paul, Minnesota, Seattle, and Tacoma, Washington with a running time of 70 hours. The route was electric-powered between Harlowton, Montana, and Avery, Idaho beginning in 1914 because of the sub-zero winter temperatures and rugged mountain passes that made it very difficult for operation of steam locomotives. The route from Harlowton to Avery, 440 miles long, was considered to be the longest electrified rail line in the world at the time. Power was supplied by hydro-electric stations along the line providing 3000 volts DC through generators. Two separate electric lines were built in 1917 between Othello and Tacoma, Washington and between Deer Lodge and Three Forks, Montana, with an extension to Seattle constructed in 1927. New passenger cars, ordered from Pullman-Standard in 1926, came equipped with more efficient roller bearing wheels and were put into service in 1927. The up-dated "Olympian" also boasted of having the first radios for the passenger's entertainment. In the period cards below, we view this famous train as it sails through the mountains of America's West.
The General Electric Company built five gearless, bipolar-motor EP-2 class electric locomotives for The Milwaukee Road in 1919. These powerful, almost silent-operating locomotives proved to be more efficient than the earlier GE and Westinghouse electric boxcab locomotives used at the time. In this circa 1920s vard we see "The Olympian" passing through the Cascade Mountains. For more information on this revolutionary piece of motive power, click Here.
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