Nostalgia & History > Scanning old slides and . . .

. . . came across these.  Amtrak's  Arrowhead in Superior, Wisconsin, in August 1976.  The BN office cars were returning home after having been in the consist of the "Bicentennial Friendship Train" the the museum in Duluth had organized and operated via the DM&IR and DW&P from Duluth to Fort Francis, Ontario, and return over two days.

Gordon  

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A rare picture of this Amtrak train - thanks.
Gary

Thanks Gordon.

Bob Krieger
Cheyenne, WY

That was my favorite BN OCS paint scheme, which sadly succumbed to the abominable ersatz Orient Express "Executive" Grinstein scheme later on.

Art House

Like this a lot, thanks

phthithu Wrote:
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> That's a great station love the lettering. 
>  

Station is still there but trackage all removed a number of years ago.

Gordon

Very cool! My late KS Gang pal John Arbuckle would have loved seeing these images, especially the BN varnish movement!

Lance/199

You really can up with some nice rare photos.
Thanks for your post.
ALLEN

The Red River was one of three sister Bussiness cars which came from I believe the NP. I also believe it is the car that is now the Texan owned by the Rio Grande Pacific parent company of the Nebraska Central RR. It was used for the whistle stop train when Tom Osborne ran for public office and I was lucky enough to be part of that trip.
Steve



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/19/19 16:15 by wpjones.

wpjones Wrote:
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> The Red River was one of three sister Bussiness
> cars which came from I believe the NP. I also
> believe it is the car that is now the Texan owned
> by the Rio Grande Pacific parent company of the
> Nebraska Central RR. It was used for the whistle
> stop train when Tom Osborne ran for public office
> and I was lucky enough to be part of that trip.
> Steve

Actually no, the Red River was a GN car.  It had been the Marketing Department car and was designed for entertaining.  The lounge and dining rooms were combined at the end of the car, hence the four large windows.  It was a rebuilt heavyweight though I don’t know it’s earlier history nor it’s GN number.

The NP cars that went to BN were Clark Fork River, Yakima River and Yellowstone River, all P-S lightweight cars.

Gordon

wpjones Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The Red River was one of three sister Bussiness
> cars which came from I believe the NP. I also
> believe it is the car that is now the Texan owned
> by the Rio Grande Pacific parent company of the
> Nebraska Central RR. It was used for the whistle
> stop train when Tom Osborne ran for public office
> and I was lucky enough to be part of that trip.
> Steve

The Red River was actually a former GN car.  It was built in 1930 as a tourist sleeper 1010, then rebuilt as GN business car A-1 in 1957.  It was given the "Red River" name by BN after the merger, and last I heard is still part of the BNSF fleet, with fluted siding installed and all.

The Rio Grande Pacific "Texan" was indeed one of the three Pullman business cars NP had built in 1955.  It was named the "Clark Fork River" on the NP.  I recall seeing it in Fort Worth in September, 1982 passing through on the FW&D, but I believe BN disposed of it not long after that for reasons I am not aware of.  Eventually it ended up in Rio Grande Pacific's fleet. 

The other two NP cars were 1) the "Yakima River" which BN renamed to "Missouri River" and it continues to operate in BNSF's fleet with stainless steel fluting. and 2) the "Yellowstone River" which is one of four business cars mounted in front of BNSF's headquarters in Fort Worth and used as conference space.  The Yellowstone River and the other three cars in front of the headquarters were sent to Topeka a few years ago to be remodeled inside and have BNSF standard stainless steel fluting applied on the outsides.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/19/19 18:33 by czephyr17.

Thanks for the correction. The story I was told was the Clark Fork River was assigned to someone that had no interest in using a Bussiness car so it was sold to the Rio Grande Pacific. When I was in it all they had done was repaint the outside a dark green and renamed it. Still had the yellow shag carpet in it from BN days and it seems like the rear door was aluminum framed like the entrance to a Grocery store.
I know the first car of the three in the photo was also sold by BN or BNSF. I saw it at KCUS once in private owner ship.
Steve

czephyr17 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> wpjones Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > The Red River was one of three sister Bussiness
> > cars which came from I believe the NP. I also
> > believe it is the car that is now the Texan
> owned
> > by the Rio Grande Pacific parent company of the
> > Nebraska Central RR. It was used for the
> whistle
> > stop train when Tom Osborne ran for public
> office
> > and I was lucky enough to be part of that trip.
> > Steve
>
> The Red River was actually a former GN car.  It
> was built in 1930 as a tourist sleeper 1010, then
> rebuilt as GN business car A-1 in 1957.  It was
> given the "Red River" name by BN after the merger,
> and last I heard is still part of the BNSF fleet,
> with fluted siding installed and all.
>
> The Rio Grande Pacific "Texan" was indeed one of
> the three Pullman business cars NP had built in
> 1955.  It was named the "Clark Fork River" on the
> NP.  I recall seeing it in Fort Worth in
> September, 1982 passing through on the FW&D, but I
> believe BN disposed of it not long after that for
> reasons I am not aware of.  Eventually it ended
> up in Rio Grande Pacific's fleet. 
>
> The other two NP cars were 1) the "Yakima River"
> which BN renamed to "Missouri River" and it
> continues to operate in BNSF's fleet with
> stainless steel fluting. and 2) the "Yellowstone
> River" which is one of four business cars mounted
> in front of BNSF's headquarters in Fort Worth and
> used as conference space.  The Yellowstone River
> and the other three cars in front of the
> headquarters were sent to Topeka a few years ago
> to be remodeled inside and have BNSF standard
> stainless steel fluting applied on the outsides.

wpjones Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

> I know the first car of the three in the photo was
> also sold by BN or BNSF. I saw it at KCUS once in
> private owner ship.
> Steve
>

I can't read the name of that car in the photo, but it would have been one of the former GN 6-5-2 sleepers that BN had three of in their business car fleet that were basically unchanged inside.  I believe BNSF still operates one of those three cars, the "Stevens Pass".  The other two were "Jefferson Pass" and "Big Horn Pass", which are no longer in the BNSF fleet, so one of those is probably what you saw at KCUS. At the time of the merger, BNSF inherited several "Regal" sleepers from the Santa Fe side, so that probably obviated the need for the BN cars.

These look very, very familiar, Gordon!  I believe I sent them to you for your Lexington presentation.  I was on that train, riding with Mr. Lamphier.  Bruce Heard

Bruce

If those shots are yours, apologies for not acknowledging and thanks for having sent them.  I honestly couldn’t remember whether I had taken them myself or not as I know I was physically present.  We were all exhausted at that point, having pulled off a fan trip the scope of which I think could not be duplicated today.  The DW&P sure looks different today than in 1976.

Gordon

czephyr17 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> wpjones Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
>
> > I know the first car of the three in the photo
> was
> > also sold by BN or BNSF. I saw it at KCUS once
> in
> > private owner ship.
> > Steve
> >
>
> I can't read the name of that car in the photo,
> but it would have been one of the former GN 6-5-2
> sleepers that BN had three of in their business
> car fleet that were basically unchanged inside. 
> I believe BNSF still operates one of those three
> cars, the "Stevens Pass".  The other two were
> "Jefferson Pass" and "Big Horn Pass", which are no
> longer in the BNSF fleet, so one of those is
> probably what you saw at KCUS. At the time of the
> merger, BNSF inherited several "Regal" sleepers
> from the Santa Fe side, so that probably obviated
> the need for the BN cars.

The first BN car was St Croix River, a former-GN 16-4.  In the early 60s, or maybe earlier, GN had removed half the sleeping accommodations and replaced them with a buffet-lounge in this and one other car.  They then spent the rest of their careers on the Winnipeg Limited.   I can’t remember but I don’t think St Croix River was its in-service name. [added]  Actually I think it operated in service as Manitoba Club.

Gordon



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/20/19 05:55 by gbmott.

Thanks for posting passenger car photo's.

Yes, John Arbuckle would have been interested, just this Friday I was filing slides taken in Mexico 1987, when John was part group.

Ed