the Oriental Limited, 1909

Seen in Puget Sound, Washington. The Oriental Limited ran between Seattle and Chicago and was operated by the Great Northern Railway between St. Paul, Minnesota and Seattle; and by the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad between St. Paul and Chicago. The train's name was intended to evoke travel to the Far East, since trans-Pacific Great Northern steamships once connected with the railway's trains in Seattle. The train entered service in December 1905 between St Paul and Seattle and was extended to Chicago in 1909. Once the premier train on its route, it was downgraded to secondary status in 1929, when the Great Northern's Empire Builder passenger train was inaugurated. The Oriental Limited name disappeared in 1931 and the Great Northern operated only a single through train between Chicago and the West Coast until 1946, when the railway's secondary through train was resumed, but that train was renamed the Western Star in 1951.