The Great Northern Railway in Northwest Montana 1951

1951, 05 January: G. N. Vice President Speaker At Chamber Dinner
Tickets for the annual banquet of the Chamber of Commerce to be held Wednesday, January 10, are now on sale at $1.75 each at the office of the organization under the First National Bank and may also be purchased from A. F. Evey, chairman of the ticket sales.
Speaker of the evening will be John M. Budd, operating vice president of the Great Northern Railway and former division superintendent here. The title of Mr. Budd's address is "It Doesn't Make Sense." The dinner will be held at seven o'clock at the Moose Hall, L. E. Scott, Oscar Knutson and Roy Arnold are in charge of dinner arrangements. The program has been planned by Shirley Lincoln, newly elected president of the Chamber, and H. B. Markus.
Mr. Budd began his railroading career with Great Northern in 1930 and, except for three years in the Military Railway service during World War II, served with this company until becoming president of the Chicago & Eastern Illinois, with headquarters in Chicago.
Starting in 1930 with Great Northern as assistant to the electrical engineer, Mr. Budd became assistant trainmaster at Wilmar, Minn., in 1933 and trainmaster there in 1934.
Two years later he was appointed trainmaster on the Spokane division and in 1940 superintendent of the Klamath division in Oregon. In early 1942 he became superintendent of the Kalispell division and in late 1942 entered the army.
He went into the Military Railway Service with the 704th Railway Grand Division, made up of Great Northern personnel, and later shifted to the 727th Railway Operating Battalion. He served in the European Theater of operations and gained the rank of colonel.
In late 1945 Mr. Budd returned to Great Northern as assistant general manager of lines east of Williston, N. D.
When named president of the Chicago & Eastern Illinois on June 1, 1947, at the age of 39, he became the youngest president of a Class 1 railway in the country.
On June 1, 1949, Mr. Budd became Great Northern's operating vice president, succeeding the late Thomas F. Dixon.