The ''Oriental Limited'' was a named passenger train that ran between

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

and

Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region ...

. The train was operated by the Great Northern Railway between

St. Paul Paul; grc, Παῦλος, translit=Paulos; cop, ⲡⲁⲩⲗⲟⲥ; hbo, פאולוס השליח (previously called Saul of Tarsus;; ar, بولس الطرسوسي; grc, Σαῦλος Ταρσεύς, Saũlos Tarseús; tr, Tarsuslu Pavlus; ...

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over t ...

and

, and by the

Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad The Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad was a railroad that operated in the Midwestern United States. Commonly referred to as the Burlington Route, the Burlington, or as the Q, it operated extensive trackage in the states of Colorado, Illin ...

between St. Paul and Chicago. The train's name was intended to be evocative of travel to the

Far East The ''Far East'' was a European term to refer to the geographical regions that includes East and Southeast Asia as well as the Russian Far East to a lesser extent. South Asia is sometimes also included for economic and cultural reasons. The t ...

and

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...

, since trans-

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contine ...

Great Northern

steamships A steamship, often referred to as a steamer, is a type of steam-powered vessel, typically ocean-faring and seaworthy, that is propelled by one or more steam engines that typically move (turn) propellers or paddlewheels. The first steamships ...

once connected with the railway's trains in Seattle. The ''Oriental Limited'' started in December 1905 as a St. Paul–Seattle train; the route was extended to Chicago in 1909. In summer 1926 it was scheduled Chicago to Seattle in 70 hours. It was the premiere train on its route until 1929 when the ''

Empire Builder The ''Empire Builder'' is an Amtrak long-distance passenger train that operates daily between Chicago and either Seattle or Portland via two sections west of Spokane. Introduced in 1929, it was the flagship passenger train of the Great Northe ...

'' started. The ''Oriental Limited'' name disappeared in 1931, and during the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

and beyond the Great Northern operated only one through train between Chicago and the coast. The ''Oriental Limited'' name returned in 1946, when the railroad's secondary through train was resumed, but that train became the '' Western Star'' in 1951.

Gallery

File:Great Northern Oriental Limited 1912.JPG, Observation platform, 1912 File:Oriental Limited maid service circa 1920s.JPG, Maid service in the Ladies' Lounge car File:Great Northern Railway Oriental Express telephone.JPG, Passenger telephone service File:Oriental Limited observation car tea.JPG, Afternoon tea in the train's observation car File:Parlor car-Oriental Limited circa 1910s.JPG, The train's parlor car. A porter is shown vacuuming the carpet. File:Oriental Limited womens shower.JPG, One of the train's many luxury features was a shower for passengers. Seen here is the shower for women. File:Great Northern Railway Oriental Limited Cascade Tunnel 1918.JPG, Exiting the

Cascade Tunnel The Cascade Tunnel refers to two railroad tunnels (original and its replacement) in the northwest United States, east of the Seattle metropolitan area in the Cascade Range of Washington, at Stevens Pass. It is approximately east of Everett, wit ...

in 1918 being pulled by an

electric locomotive An electric locomotive is a locomotive powered by electricity from overhead lines, a third rail or on-board energy storage such as a battery or a supercapacitor. Locomotives with on-board fuelled prime movers, such as diesel engines or g ...

File:Oriental Limited in Rocky Mountains.JPG, The train in the Rocky Mountains File:Oriental Limited dining car.JPG, Dining car circa 1927 File:Great Northern Railway Docks in Seattle with Steamships Minnesota and Dakota.JPG, Great Northern's Seattle docks circa early 1900s

References

*Dubin, Arthur D. ''Some Classic Trains.'' Milwaukee: Kalmbach Publishing Co., 1964. . *Hidy, Ralph W., et al. ''The Great Northern Railway: A History.'' Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2004. . {{GN named trains Passenger trains of the Great Northern Railway (U.S.) Named passenger trains of the United States Railway services introduced in 1905 Railway services discontinued in 1951