Of all the U.S. Transcontinental railroads, when it came to the grandeur of the west, only the Rio Grande could challenge the Northern Pacific. Where it squirmed the ox-bow loops at the bottom of Yakima Canyon, the cool lime-green North Coast Limited was a startling contrast against the chocolate browns of the lava flows. In this tape you begin at tidewater in Seattle and wrestle up through majestic forest to Stampede Tunnel and then down the desert canyon to Pasco. Detailed diagrams, maps and black and white photos illustrate the standard gauge 5.5% switchback line that preceded the tunnel across the very tops of Cascade Mountains. The route of the "Portland Connection" is covered briefly. Except for the short B&W newsreel footage from the twenties, the whole shot on astonishingly clear commercial Ektachrome, not a single foot ever projected.

Closes with a 7 minute synopsis of: "Reopening of Stampede Pass" the first train thruogh the tunnel in 13 years. Photographed and narrated in pouring rain and blizzard conditions by veteran steam and diesel engineer, Jack Christensen. Provides insights into the building and operation of both tunnel and line.