Nostalgia & History > Portland Oregon Area Passenger Cars Stored

As I recall, a number of years back there were several passenger cars stored in the Portland area. One was a C&EI observation, a GN baggage cars and a C&NW sleeper. I believe they were on the P&W or the W&P (not sure which one runs there) and were stored at the siding of a local lumber company. I do not recall the town they were in. Does anyone recall these cars and if so are they still there?  Any recent photos if they are would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

19eastcopy5



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/26/15 12:19 by 19eastcopy5.

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Wow, the third one's got HEP and a COM line so it was Amtrak approved?!  The smashed in windows don't look too good though...

WP-M2051 Wrote:
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> Wow, the third one's got HEP and a COM line so it
> was Amtrak approved?!  The smashed in windows
> don't look too good though...
You're right; this car probably operated with Amtrak; however it may have come up needing its 40 year inspection, a cost that some private car owners cannot afford, therefore their cars can no longer operate with Amtrak or the other Class one roads.  Just a guess on my part as I do not know anything about this or the other stored cars.  It's a shame when vandals break into any stored passenger car.

or maybe the third car never got all the work finished to run on Amtrak....

The first 2 cars I can identify, and I think I know the identity of the 3rd car:

The baggage car is former GN baggage-express #475.  It was built by Pullman in July 1912 in Lot #4014 to Plan #2410 as 12 section-1 drawing room (12S-1DR) sleeper Kenova, 1 of 20 such cars built in that Lot for the general service pool.  In March 1942, the Kenova was converted to tourist car #1439, with the drawing room modified into a 13th section.  Between 1948 and 1953, GN acquired 35 surplus Pullman sleepers, which were rebuilt to head end cars in four groups: postal storage cars #200-#207 (all of which were streamlined), messenger's desk-baggage-express cars #308-#313 (all streamlined), rider-baggage-express cars #475-#483, and messenger's desk-baggage-express cars #484-#495 (#487-#495 were streamlined).  #308-#313 had fish racks and are noted in the 1966 diagram folio as "may be used on entire NYC, PRR, and NH RR".  All cars in the #475-#495 range had fish racks, and #487-#495 are listed as having safes below the desks.  Tourist car #1439 was purchased by GN in February 1948, and the conversion to #475 was completed in November.  In March 1973, the #475 was transferred to the MofW department as BN #976060.  In August 1985, BN sold the #976060 to Standard Rail Service, and it was later acquired the Pacific Railroad Preservation Association (SP&S #700) as PRPX #475, with the name Kenny Prager.  In 2004, the PRPA sold the #475 to Jim Davis, who lives in St. Helens, OR.  http://www.greatnorthernempire.net/index2.htm?GNEPreservedGNPassengerCars_RPO.htm.  Of the 35 rebuilt head end cars, the #475 is one of three that I know of that are still extant.  The other 2 are the: #480 (ex-tourist car #2549, nee-12S-1DR sleeper Tasmania, Lot #4503, Plan #2410F, Jul-17/Mar-43/Dec-48) at the Minnesota Transportation Museum, donated by BN in 1979 (ret. Feb-79); and the #485 (ex-tourist car #1056, nee-12 section-1 drawing room-1 compartment [12S-1DR-1C] sleeper Epicurus, Lot #4624, Plan #2411C, Nov-21/Sept-41/Dec-48), to BN MofW #968060 in 1972, renumbered later that year to #950190, retired in March 1986 and donated to the Northwest Railway Museum in Snoqualmie, WA (formerly the Puget Sound Chapter NRHS).

The sleeper was built by Pullman in August 1928 in Lot #6183 to Plan #3974A as the Minneapolis, a 6 single bedroom (6SB) sleeper-lounge solarium observation, 1 of 4 such cars built in that Lot for the C&NW.  2 of the cars, the Milwaukee and the Minneapolis, were built for the overnight North Western Limited between Chicago and the Twin Cities.  The other 2 cars, the Fort Dearborn and the Fort Omaha, were built for the Omaha Limited.  Originally, the single bedrooms in these cars had stationary beds, rather than the more typical convertible sofas.  There were only 6 cars built to Plan #3974: the other 2 were the Minnehaha and the Minnetonka, built in 1927 in Lot #6045 for the Milwaukee Road's Pioneer Limited, rival train to the North Western Limited.  In July and August 1934, the Milwaukee and the Minneapolis were renamed to the Mission Dolores and the Mission Santa Ynez respectively for reassignment to the SP, and in March and April 1936, these 2 cars were reconfigured to Plan #3974F, with 6 single bedrooms and 2 double bedrooms (6SB-2DB), and still listed as having a lounge solarium observation.  As part of this rebuild, the stationary beds in the single bedrooms were replaced by convertible sofas.  These 2 cars were sold to the SP at the 12/31/1948 Pullman divestiture, and the names were removed in 1956 in favor of numbers, as SP #8001 and #8002 respectively.  Interestingly, the #8001 and #8002 numbers are listed by the SP Historical & Technical Society, while Wayner lists that these cars were numbered as the #8000 and #8001.  In December 1956, SP withdrew these 2 cars from Pullman lease, and they were subsequently transferred to the MofW department as SPMW #7020C and #7025B respectively.  Meanwhile, the 2 Fort-series cars were reconfigured in April 1935 to Plan #3974D, also with 6 single bedrooms and 2 double bedrooms, but are listed as having lounge observations after the rebuild, instead of sunrooms (solariums).  Again, like the Mission-series cars, as part of this rebuild the stationary beds in the single bedrooms were replaced by convertible sofas.  In May 1936, the Fort Omaha was renamed Cadwallader C. Washburn, and at the 1948 divestiture, these 2 cars were acquired by the C&NW, which withdrew them from Pullman lease in September 1957, afterwhich they were modified to coaches #313 and #314.  Back to the 2 SP cars, the former Mission Santa Ynez, SPMW #7025B was later renumbered to SPMW #7117, and remained on the property through the SP-UP merger.  UP later sold (or donated) the #7117 to the Pacific Northwest Chapter NRHS, and the Chapter later sold the car to the Aberdeen, Carolina & Western RR as ACWR #150.  AC&W is currently in the process of refurbishing and restoring the Mission Santa Ynez, as seen here: http://www.acwr.com/rolling-stock/passenger-cars/mission-santa-ynez

The last car I believe is the #800147 Jo-Vi-La, which was built by Pullman in November 1926 in Lot #4998 to Plan #3521A as the Mt. Peale, a 10 section (10S) sleeper-lounge open platform observation, 1 of 20 such cars built in that Lot.  8 were built for the AT&SF, while the other 12, including the Mt. Peale, were built for the general service pool.  The Mt. Peale was sold to the Chicago & Eastern Illinois on July 31st, 1948, and was rebuilt to business car #354.  The #354 was later sold to Crow-Woodbridge Enterprises, Incorporated, of Olympia, WA, which lettered the car as IC #28, with the name Jo-Vi-La.  During the 1970's, Amtrak required that any private cars that were to be moved via their trains be painted in the Amtrak scheme.  The Jo-Vi-La was one of a number of cars that were so painted, and the only photographs I've seen of the car before now show it in said scheme.  These photos were taken by John Hill at Amtrak's Midway Station (Twin Cities) in August 1978: http://rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=1714586 and http://rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=1714585.  While your photos of the car show that the extra roofing from the car's 1948 rebuild have been removed, the window arrangement and style (particularly the rear observation windows), the Mars light, platform railing/posts, and the placement of the kitchen pocket door tell me that this is indeed the Jo-Vi-La.  I've been trying to track down this car, and seeing these photos confirm that the car was still in the PNW in the last several years.  Does anybody know this car's current owner(s) or location?  Thanks in advance!

Sources:

1. "The Complete Roster of Heavyweight Pullman Cars" by Robert J. Wayner (Wayner Publications, 1985)

2. "Passenger Car Catalog: Pullman Operated Equipment 1912-1949" by William W. Kratville (Kratville Publications, 1968)

3. Tom Madden's Pullman Project CCR database: http://pullmanproject.com/Database.htm

4. Ben Ringnalda's Great Northern Empire Builder website: http://www.greatnorthernempire.net/GNEThisMonthsFeature.php

5. Jerry LaBoda's photo links database: http://passcarphotos.info/

6. SP Historical & Technical Society's resource page: http://www.sphts.org/resources/

Posting from Estes Park, CO



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/29/15 23:42 by Rainier_Rails.