Great Northern Railway (U.S.)
GN system map, c. 1918; dotted lines represent nearby railroads. | |
| Overview | |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Railroad and Bank Building Saint Paul, Minnesota |
| Founders | |
| Reporting mark | GN |
| Locale | |
| Dates of operation | 1889–1970 |
| Successor | Burlington Northern Railroad |
| Technical | |
| Track gauge | 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) |
| Length | 8,368 miles (13,467 km) |
The Great Northern Railway (reporting mark GN) was an American Class I railroad. Running from Saint Paul, Minnesota, to Seattle, Washington, it was the creation of 19th-century Canadian-American railroad entrepreneur James J. Hill and was developed from the Saint Paul & Pacific Railroad. The Great Northern's route made it the northernmost transcontinental railroad in the U.S.
In 1970, the Great Northern Railway merged with three other railroads to form the Burlington Northern Railroad, which merged in 1996 with the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway to form the Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway.