40-page GNRHS article (Reference Sheet #386) is now available for purchase

The day has finally arrived. My 40-page “Reference Sheet” (article), published by the Great Northern Railway Historical Society, has been distributed to all its members. For those who are not members of GNRHS, but who have an interest in the article, it is now available for purchase online, in downloadable PDF form, at this link:

https://gnrhs.myshopify.com/products/g6386?_pos=11&_sid=50110f4ed&_ss=r

My article is published as GNRHS Reference Sheet #386. 

GNRHS is set up to accept your purchase requests online, and accepts payment by PayPal, Shop Pay (using a Shopify account), or Google Pay.

Just for the record, my contribution was researching and writing the article, for which I am not paid in any way. I get nothing from any additional sales of the article. I am providing information on how to order it only as a service to those who may want a copy but who are not members of GNRHS.

I really don’t recall how long I’ve been working on the Empire Builders story. It has to be since at least 2008. Most of this time was spent ferreting out every scrap of information I could find about the series. I began actually writing the article about three years before it was published as this Reference Sheet by GNRHS.

 

My research on the article has included study trips to the following locations and collections, not in any particular order:

Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul, MN

               Great Northern Railway corporate records

Library of Congress, Washington, DC

               Recorded Sound Reference Center

University of Maryland, College Park, MD

               Library of American Broadcasting

University of Washington, Seattle, WA

               Special Collections

Spark Museum of Electrical Invention, Bellingham, WA

Skykomish Historical Society, Skykomish, WA

Glacier National Park archives (NPS), West Glacier, MT

Great Northern Railway Historical Society, St. Paul, MN

               Jackson Street Roundhouse archives

I have encountered and interviewed some really fascinating people in their own right, who are descendants of principals of the Empire Builders series. These include descendants of the following key individuals:

• Bob and Betty White, actors
• Harry Edison, sound engineer
• O.J. McGillis, GN Railway Advertising and Publicity manager
• Bob McGimsey, harmony whistler

There are many more people connected with Empire Builders whose descendants I hope to make contact with. If you are such a person, or know of someone who meets that description (and you know how to contact them), please get in touch with me. I would be very grateful to learn from you.

My email address is:

 

 

I do owe a debt of gratitude to quite a number of people. I'm sure I will forget someone, because I didn't take very good notes on that score along the way. But here are a few of them, in no particular order, who deserve at least a "shout-out" for their generous input and support:

 

Jan Tanner (okay, my wife comes first), Ray Djuff, R.R. "Bob" King, Michael Henry, Bruce Barsness, Bill Lundgren, Bob Kelly, Jerry Haendiges, John Thomas, Rich Samuels, Ben Kibler, Stuart Holmquist, Deirdre Shaw, Karl Schadow, Gordy Spiering, and Craig Neros.