BONUS EPISODE: All Aboard the "Great Big Rollin' Railroad" Iconic 1970s Union Pacific TV Commercial

11/07/2025 25 min
BONUS EPISODE: All Aboard the "Great Big Rollin' Railroad" Iconic 1970s Union Pacific TV Commercial

Listen "BONUS EPISODE: All Aboard the "Great Big Rollin' Railroad" Iconic 1970s Union Pacific TV Commercial"

Episode Synopsis

On this BONUS EPISODE of CASCADE OF HISTORY, Feliks Banel speaks with Tim Lillethorup, a filmmaker in Omaha, Nebraska whose father Galen Lillethorup was one of the geniuses behind the classic "Great Big Rollin' Railroad" 1970s TV commercial for the Union Pacific Railroad.

The late elder Lillethorup also helped create the country artist C.W. McCall - a character with origins in a TV commercial for a regional bakery, who went to a series of hit songs - including the CB radio classic, "Convoy."

Links to the TV commercials discussed have been posted at the CASCADE OF HISTORY Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/cascadeofhistory

CASCADE OF HISTORY is broadcast LIVE most Sunday nights at 8pm Pacific Time via SPACE 101.1 FM in Seattle and gallantly streams everywhere via space101fm.org. The radio station is located at historic Magnuson Park - formerly Sand Point Naval Air Station - on the shores of Lake Washington in Seattle.

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