by Mika Jarmusz

With the great big baked potato  (railstograils.org) advertising with gusto to increase ridership, NP’s brand new uniform button was introduced in 1913. It is the button “12/1” in the Transportation Uniform Buttons Volume No. I Railroad by late Don VanCourt.  Don notes that this button’s face design die set dates back to 1913 in the Scovill Manufacturing Company’s archive.
3 years later, circa 1916, NP commissioned Waterbury Button Company to make another die set of the same face design, according to Don. This NP button design was used in the ensuing years with various back marks until NP merged to become part of Burlington Northern in 1970 (Wikipedia).

Here’s a jingle from the Northern Pacific Railway.

The 1913 NP Uniform Regulation dictates that the nickel silver color buttons were for brakemen and electricians.

The vintage NP brakeman cap above shows 2 smaller silver-color NP buttons on both sides, holding the knotted decorative cord. This white cord was supposed to be black in 1913, according to the 1913 NP Rules and Specifications Governing Uniforming of Employes (collection at PNRA, Burien WA).

In passenger service, the brakeman (called trainman or assistant conductor) collects revenue, may operate door “through switches” for specific platforming needs, makes announcements, and operates trainline door open and close controls when required to assist the conductor. (Wikipedia: Brakeman)

Passenger service conductor typically starts out as brakeman, assisting train operations for some years before promoted to become a conductor or train auditor who then wear gold-colored buttons on the uniform.

Jimmie Rogers, a popular singer in the 1930s as The Singing Brakeman, served as a breakman in his early life. He took the job formerly held by his older brother when the brother was promoted to become a conductor. (Wikipedia: Jimmy Rogers)

Brakemen in the earlier years had the dangerous work of slowing down the moving train, sometimes on downgrades or on sharp curves, as the brake wheels were located on the top of each car.

The braking effort achievable was limited and it was also unreliable, as the application of brakes by [breakmen] depended upon their hearing and responding quickly to a whistle for brakes.^[1]
(Wikipedia: Railway Brake)

Contributors: Bruce Cole, Johnson Frazier, William Hentges, Barb Johnson, Steve Rippeteau, Paul Hubbard, The Northern Pacific Railway Historical Association.

Reference: NP Rules and Specifications Governing Uniforming of Employes, from the collection of the Pacific Northwest Railroad Archive in Burien, WA.

Transportation Uniform Buttons Volume No. I Railroad by Don VanCourt

Railroad Signatures Across the Pacific Northwest by Carlos A. Schwantes

Recommended read: “The Great Northern Railway Meets Glacier National Park” Idaho State Button Society Bulletin, Nov. 2021[/restrict]

The Route of the Great Big Baked Potato is the first installment of the 4-part Northern Pacific series in the WRBA Button Aerogramme. Stay tuned for more.

• 1883- All American Railroad
• 1887- Boom and Bust
• 1913: Hard Rubber on Uniform
• 1913–1970 The Route of the Great Big Baked Potato

This nickel silver NP button, with Waterbury’s back mark, is likely from the late 1960s.