Great Northern Seattle Engineering Department Authorization for Expenditure (AFE) Collection - King Street Station

Collection

Great Northern Seattle Engineering Department Authorization for Expenditure (AFE) Collection - King Street Station

• 1888-1974 (Creation)

25 boxes of documents

The "Authorization for Expenditure" files saved from the Great Northern Railway's Seattle Engineering offices cover "West End" locations in Washington, Oregon, British Columbia, Idaho and western Montana. They are identified in several SERIES CODES as follows:
AB - 1896-1898 Advisory Board (often called Additions and Betterments in error)
BS – code not deciphered
CP - 1918-1920 Corporate (non-United States Railroad Administration items)
EM – Eastern Railway of Minnesota (or Eastern Minnesota Railroad)
FOS – code not deciphered
GM - 1905-1907 General Manager Great Northern Railway (Lines West)
GP - 1925-1954 Glacier Park Company
GX - 1890-1896 Great Northern Railway, General Manager
IE - 1907-1919 Inland Empire System (Interurban and short lines near Spokane, Washington)
'I' (Roman Numeral) - 1896-1915 Great Northern Railway, Old Series
'II' (Roman Numeral) - 1915-1960 Great Northern Railway, New Series
KV - 1901-1902 Kootenai Valley Railway
MB - prior to 1890 - Saint Paul, Minneapolis & Manitoba Railway
PC - 1952-1970 Pacific Coast Railroad
RR - Great Northern Railway Assistant Chief Engineer
SC - 1927-1928 Spokane, Coeur d’Alene & Palouse Railway
SF - 1900-1907 Spokane Falls & Northern Railway (SF&N)
SG - 1906-1907 SF&N, General Manager
SL - 1905-1940 Somers Lumber Company
SN – Seattle and Northern Railway
VW - 1906-1907 Vancouver, Westminster & Yukon Railway
WO – code not deciphered
WT - 1905-1935 Washington Townsite Company

The collection was originally arranged by Authorization for Expenditure (AFE) series and number. During the initial cataloging process, the AFE files were re-arranged geographically, east to west, and placed in folders named for the nearest station to the work being completed. Division wide work files are grouped at the eastern beginning of specific Divisions.

Please see the Great Northern Railway Historical Society Collection Management Policy for further information.

Please see the Great Northern Railway Historical Society Reproduction Policy for further information.

• English

• Latin

The Great Northern Seattle Engineering Department Authorization for Expenditure (AFE) Collection was created by the Great Northern Railway Engineering Department and maintained at the King Street Station, Seattle, Washington. After the merger of the Great Northern Railway into the Burlington Northern Railroad, the collection was maintained by the Burlington Northern at various locations. Following a corporate decision to dispose of the documents, the collection was offered to James C. Mattson, representing the Seattle Museum of History and Industry (MOHAI), by a representative of the Burlington Northern. Eventually the collection was deaccessioned by MOHAI and offered to the University of Washington for accession, and after consideration was declined. At this point (2016) the collection was cataloged privately by Mr. Mattson and then separated into Authorizations for Expenditure directly pertinent to railroad operations, and to other documents either supplemental to AFEs or AFEs related to non-operational aspects of the railroad. Mr. Mattson privately maintained the documents and allowed researchers limited access until the retained AFE files were donated to the Great Northern Railway Historical Society records held at Pacific Northwest Railroad Archive (2024). It is reported that some of the supplemental documents were obtained by the Northwest Railway Museum, Snoqualmie, Washington.

Some additional documents from the Great Northern Railway Seattle Engineering Department Authorization for Expenditure Records are reported to be held by the Northwest Railway Museum, Snoqualmie, Washington.

• Great Northern Railway Company (U.S.) (Subject)