Nostalgia & History > Northern Pacific Business Car "Jefferson River"

Heavy Weight business car, a former Pullman private car leaser named "Boston" built in 1914 to "Plan 2502". The car was sold to the Northern Pacific in December 1941 and retired and sold to a private owner about the time of the BN merger. I found her in St. Paul June 9, 1964. Looks like the NP coach yard near SPUD.


What a beautiful car! Enjoy,
Marty Bernard



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 11/29/21 11:22 by MartyBernard.

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Nice model, except for those posts. Don't think any prototype had them. :-)

MartyBernard Wrote:
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> What a beautiful car! Enjoy,
> Marty Bernard

I whole-heartedly agree! Thanks for posting the picture, Marty.

Greg

clem Wrote:
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> Nice model, except for those posts. Don't think
> any prototype had them. :-)


I'm about to guess why it has its corner posts. I searched the net for Plan 2502 to no avail. The window spacing does not say business car. My guess it was a sleeping car without an open vestibule. The doors and end panels were removed and a railing with gates substituted. Removing the corner posts would weaken the car, so they remained. Anybody buy that argument?


Marty Bernard

I'll buy. The posts also provided a convenient place to hang the marker lamps (brackets visible)

clem Wrote:
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> Nice model, except for those posts. Don't think
> any prototype had them. :-)


There were cars built that way. The earned the
nickname "Four Posters" named after the four
poster beds (the kind that sometimes had a
canopy. Most cars with this appearance were
indeed rebuilds from sleepers as is previously
mentioned.

Does anyone know what the ultimate disposition of this car is/was?

Thank you for sharing a great photo of a very interesting car!

rrhistorian Wrote:
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> Does anyone know what the ultimate disposition of
> this car is/was?
>
> Thank you for sharing a great photo of a very
> interesting car!

According to Jerry LaBoda's Passenger Car Photo Index, the
NP "Jefferson River" formerly the Pullman Lease Car "Boston"
later in private ownership named "Alexauken" was languishing
in disrepair on a siding in Logan, Ohio in 2010.

You must get a better version of Jerry's site because the version I get has nothing about current status. :-}


Marty Bernard