The restoration will target its 1958 appearance, including the "Loewy" colors, narrow diaphragms, and existing mechanical systems.
The first priority is structural repairs. Windows and seats have been removed to enable access. Starting with the worst parts, the skin was stripped from the exterior wall framing where the Evaro wreck damage had been repaired. (The rusty region below the missing window.) This will receive framing repairs and new skin inside and out. The (soft) floor has been stripped for replacement, and some side sill exposed for repairs.
Shifting priorities in 2005 have moved 598 to an "alternate" project status. Work continues at a reduced pace.
Lee Tuskey has written a very interesting narrative about how 598 joined MTM's collection. Click here to read it.
598 was built by Pullman as part of lot number 6739 to plan 7509. The order was placed in October of 1944, and delivery made between June 1946 and January 1947. It is 85' 0" overall, and weighs 63 tons. 32vdc electricity is provided by a 25kw generator, driven off the axle through a "Spicer Drive" gear box, jack shaft, and torque convertor, or by 208-volt 3-phase shore-power windings. Steam from the locomotive provides baseboard and overhead heat, as well as hot water. A propane-powered Waukesha "ice engine" and wet-condenser "sub cooler" provide air conditioning. Brakes were WABCO D-22-P air brakes, with anti-lock "decelostats." The seats were made by Heywood-Wakefield. It's original colors were the "pine tree" scheme, with a dark-green body, "light"-green window area, and yellow pin stripes.
In a purely accounting arrangement, Day-Nite coaches 598 and 599 (and several other North-Coast Limited cars) were owned by and lettered for the CB&Q, to offset the Twin Cities-Chicago portion of the trip over CB&Q tracks.
In 1953, the Northern Pacific launched a "Passenger Car Exterior Colors Redesign Project," with industrial designer Raymond Loewy (famous for the Pennsylvania GG1 streamlining) selected as designer. The resulting "Loewy Colors" of olive-green below the windows, a white pin strip, and Pullman-green everywhere above were applied to the entire streamlined fleet. With "Northern Pacific" in white in the letterboard, and the NP's Korean-flag inspired "monad" logo centered below the windows, the look was striking. 598 still wears these colors, though they are badly faded.
Besides the North Coast Limited, the twelve Day-Nite coaches were used on the "Mainstreeter" - a new train inheriting the old North Coast Limited schedule, when that train was speeded up - and on the "Coast Pool Train," the UP/GN/NP cooperative Portland-Seattle service.
CB&Q 598 was retired in 1971 with the coming of Amtrak. It sat for a while in the old Omaha Road car shops in Hudson, WI, until aquired by MTM in 1985. Since then it has been in storage, first in a secured military facility, and since 1999 at Jackson Street.
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