Car No. 598 is a light-weight, Day-Nite Coach built by the Pullman-Standard Company and now owned by the Minnesota Transportation Musem. The car was built for service in the Northern Pacific (NP)'s most deluxe train, the North Coast Limited. It was one of a batch of 78 streamlined cars ordered by the NP in October 1944. However, wartime priorities delayed construction of the cars until 1946. Twelve of the cars were Day Nite Coaches.
The postwar, streamlined cars were significantly lighter in weight than earlier all-steel coaches. The Day-Nite Coaches each weighed about 59 tons. The steel coaches they were bought to replace, the 1300-series Deluxe Coaches, each weighed about 80 tons.
The North Coast Limited ran between Chicago and the West Coast cities of Seattle and Portland. Between Chicago and St. Paul, the train was handled by the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy (CB&Q). Between St. Paul and Spokane and between Spokane and Seattle, the train was operated by the Northern Pacific. However, on the west end, at Pasco, the NP switched the Portland cars out of the westbound North Coast Limited and into a Spokane, Portland, and Seattle Railway (SP&S) train operating between Spokane and Portland. Similarly, the NP switched Portland cars out of the eastbound SP&S train at Pasco and back into the North Coast Limited. The NP was half-owner of both the CB&Q and the SP&S.
Because the North Coast Limited was handled by three different railroads, ownership of the twelve Day-Nite Coaches was divided among the three companies. The NP owned nine of the twelve cars, the CB&Q owned two, and the SP&S owned one. Car No. 598 was one of the two CB&Q cars and was so marked in small lettering on the outside. Each of the cars cost $192,000.
When delivered, all twelve cars were painted in the NP's post-war color scheme of dark green with a yellow-striped light green band along the line of the windows and yellow stripes also along the top and bottom edges of the car's sides. Later, starting in 1953, the cars were repainted in the classic, Raymond Loewy-designed color scheme of dark green over light green with a white stripe in between.
Each of the cars had seats for 56 passengers. Doors for boarding the cars were located at the vestibule. When in service on the North Coast Limited, these cars normally operated with the vestibule end forward. These cars were reversible, however. Just inside the vestibule were rest rooms plus a luggage rack and a supply locker for use by the car attendant who took care of two adjacent cars. The seats were made by the Heywood-Wakefield Company and were fully reclining. Each seat had a leg rest that was stored in the seat ahead, except for the seats in the first row. Their leg rests were contained in a storage compartment in the front wall.
The seats also had more leg room than in ordinary coaches. These features made the seats more comfortable than regular seats for passengers to stretch out and sleep, which is why the cars were called "Day-Nite Coaches." Each seat had an individual reading light and an extra wide window. The seats at each end of the car also had brackets for mounting a table to allow the seat to be used as a desk by the train's conductor.
Each of the Day-Nite cars was equipped with air conditioning and steam heat. Floors were covered in rubber tiles. Overhead luggage racks ran the full length of the cars above the seats.
The car went through heavy maintenance every four years at CB&Q's shop in Chicago. This included replacement or refurbishment of everything on the car that could be removed, including seats, wiring and connections, plumbing, tanks (air and water), brake equipment, lights, all mechanical equipment including the air conditioner, and even the windows, so as to re-seal them. The car was completely stripped and sanded by hand, then it was repainted with a large spray rig on wide-gauge rails. Repainting alone took four to five days, one day per hue (four hues) plus usually an extra day for lettering. All this kept the car in the shop for a little over two weeks.
There was a mid-point, two-year maintenance program as well, but it involved about half the work of the four-year program. This mid-point one excluded painting unless the paint scheme was somehow significantly marred.
There also was in-service maintenance on car 598, at least when in North Coast Limited service. About every five to six months, all the wheels on it had to be replaced. This was done at the CB&Q's 14th Street Coach yard in Chicago during the train's 24-hour layover there. (Even the NP-owned cars in the North Coast Limited got this treatment at 14th St.) Wheels were changed that often on account of flange wear. There were LOTS of curves on the NP!! For example, in the 22.3 miles between Whitehall and Homestake, Montana, there were 79 curves, most of them at 12 degrees!
Former NP shop supervisor Don Kjelberg stated that there was surprisingly little unscheduled maintenance that took cars out of service on the North Coast Limited. This was due in large part to the superb scheduled maintenance that the cars received at the the NP's Como Shops in St. Paul (for non-Pullman cars), the CB&Q's Calumet Shops (for Pullman cars), and the CB&Q's Chicago 14th St. Shops (for wheels, brakes, and air conditioning equipment on all car types). According to Kjellberg, there were a great number of in-service repairs--sometimes called "running repairs"--done on this equipment over the years, but that it was usually something that could be completed during layovers without taking the car out of service and, for that matter, with little or no delay to the train. The North Coast Limited had a 24-hour layover at Chicago, a six-hour layover at Seattle, and about a 25-minute station stop in St. Paul.
The NP also had carmen and electricians on-call, or who met the train, at various intermediate points. Plus there were the mandatory Interstate Commerce Commission 500-mile inspections. The NP routinely exceeded ICC requirements. For example, trains 25 and 26 got this "500 mile" inspection at both Spokane and Pasco, only 145 miles apart! As one might expect, most of the unscheduled maintenance had to do with air conditioning systems--and yet there was suprisingly little of even that kind of maintenance. Much of this the result of the efforts of NP employee Larry Ryan who made a round-trip on Trains 26-25 (the North Coast Limited) between Missoula and Livingston every day in summers, including weekends, and most days in winter, just to watch for equipment malfunctions and keep things running.
Day-Nite Coach No. 598 originally had clasp-type brake shoes. However, these caused problems in winters because of "shellout." This was a flaking off of part of the wheel tread due to alternate heating and rapid cooling. When brakes were applied the brake shoes clasped the wheels, heating them considerably. In very cold weather, when rapid cooling took place after heavy braking, part of the wheel treads would flake off. It was a big problem and one of the reasons why the NP spent much money during 1955-62 converting all Pullman-Standard lightweight cars to Budd discs.
Budd disc brakes were applied to car 598, replacing the clasp brakes, sometime during the period 1955-62. This eliminated "shellout" but introduced other problems having to do with ice accumulation on the discs in winters, causing erratic braking. This problem was partially solved by use of steel-toed brake shoes during wintertime (November through March), which wore the discs rapidly but helped solve the ice problem. Wheel change rates of Pullman-Standard cars prior to conversion to Budd discs were almost twice as high in winter, as the tread wear problem occurred more often than flange wear. Rates leveled out after conversion.
During its entire NP life this car was also equipped with anti wheel slide devices and, between 1956 and 1962, with special equipment for an electro-pneumatic brake system. The system saved time with each brake application (because of very rapid system response), but caused some controversy with engine crews who questioned its reliability. The braking system used on North Coast Limited cars was a matter of considerable concern on the NP. The railroad's operating profile of steep grades and many curves put it at a disadvantage compared to its major competitors. This is why the railroad's Mechanical Department pressed for use of the electro-pneumatic brake system. It saved seconds on each slow down, translating to minutes across a division and significant time-savings on a transcontinental run.
When delivered, car No. 598 had outside diaphragms (removed in about 1952); tightlock couplers (to minimize the risk of vertical uncoupling during derailments); belt-driven generators (typical for 1946 vintage cars); and inside hanger type four-wheel trucks, surpassed in design by the outside swing hanger type introduced on NP passenger cars built in 1954.
Car No. 598 was involved in one of the worst accidents ever to occur on the NP. This was at Evaro, Montana, on June 10, 1962 when the eastbound North Coast Limited derailed. Car 598 was the ninth car in the 17-car train. Although it did not tip over, it sustained considerable damage and was out of service for three or four months while being repaired.
A careful estimate of the service career of Car No. 598 from its delivery to the railroad in December 1946 until the BN merger in 1970 shows that the car ran more than 6.6 million miles on the NP. This total allows for the periods when the car was not in use because of scheduled and non-scheduled maintenance and repair.
When the Burlington Northern merger occurred in March 1970 car No. 598 was transferred to the BN along with other Northern Pacific passenger equipment. In 1971 Amtrak was created to take over passenger service on most U.S. railroads. The car was then leased to Amtrak and used in passenger service at least through 1974. Later it was acquired by the Minnesota Transportation Museum.
4/20/03