gn441 luxury locomotive lodge

Luxury Locomotive Lodge:

Great Northern 441

Izaak Walton InnEssex, Montana

Then: a roaring V-20 diesel engine. Now: a luxury lodge

with plasma TV, fireplace and sofa sleeper

Cooling fans in the roof are now skylights to welcome the Rocky Mountain sunshine

Masterbedroom

Picture windows open at the flick of a switch

Luxurious bathroom with shower and

Jacuzzi

Fully equipped kitchen

The cab has been restored to better-than-new

condition

Decked out with 400-year-old antique oak hardwood

floors, warm wood paneling and custom cabinetry, Great Northern 441 offers a rustic

and inviting interior.

It’s a comfortable refuge for a small family or two

couples in the midst of a Glacier Park adventure.

Built in 1968, this 3,600 horsepower General Motors F45

hauled transcontinental fast freights

After 33 years of service – and 7 years of catching rain – it was saved from the scrapper’s torch

In 2008-9 it was painstakingly restored by skilled craftsmen at

RELCO Locomotives, Albia, Iowa

It was the first locomotive in 40 years to be painted in

Great Northern’s stunning “Big Sky Blue”

In August 2009, BNSF Railway hauled GN 441 1,746 miles from Iowa to Montana

Sweetgrass Hills west of Etheridge, Montana

Massive sideboom bulldozers were needed to lift 441 onto its track

http://www.izaakwaltoninn.com/406-888-5700

The Izaak Walton Inn is a historic hotel at Essex, Montana, on the south border of Glacier National Park. It was built for the Great Northern Railway in 1939 to host tourists and fishermen in the summer and railroad workers in the winter. It is the only Glacier Park resort that is open year-round.

Photos © Tom Lambrecht & Bill Christopher