Vista DomeThe North Coast Limited was Northern Pacific’s service between Chicago and Seattle. It began operation in 1900 and continued through 1970. The Vista-Dome was probably added to the line in the 1950s.

Popular history states that the idea was dreamed up by Western Pacific president Harry Mitchell while he was riding in the cab of a diesel locomotive through the Rockies. He realized that the passengers on the train couldn’t share that view so he came up with a passenger car with an observation dome on top to allow passengers a full view of the scenery around the train.

Before we were all in such a hurry to get places and when travel was still civil, rail travel was the way to go. Trains generally afforded passengers plenty of room to move about and even a berth to lay down and sleep. Good food served in a dining car was also a given. While it may have taken 2-½ days to get from Chicago to Seattle, you got to see some of America’s most beautiful natural treasures doing it – the North Coast Limited crossed 28 individual mountain ranges and passed by over 1,400 miles of river.