Great Northern 265 is a streamlined baggage car. In service on the Osceola & St Croix Valley, it provides a concessions stand, restrooms, electricity for train lighting, room for wheel chairs, and open/gated baggage doors for viewing the scenery.
In March 1926, 7109 was renumbered 1008. This probably coincides with its being rebuilt with a steel underframe and steel sheething. This rebuild allowed the wooden dining cars, which were fairly fragile in wrecks, to be safely used in trains with heavier steel-framed cars. The new steel underframe was most likely a Commonwealth conversion kit. It included large castings for each end, and a railroad-supplied I-beam center sill cut to the right length. Truss rods were used in lieu of a fish-belly center sill. The wooden body's underside was stripped clean, and the whole thing secured to the new frame. The steel sheathing was typically 1/8" steel sheet secured with wood screws.
As the GN's main trains were re-equipped with brand-new equipment (such as the Empire Builder in 1929,) the old rebuilt diners became surplus. 1008 became one of 89 cars rebuilt into baggage cars during the 1920s and 1930s. In September 1929, it was rebuilt into baggage car 426. This included gutting and remodelling the interior, plating over the existing doors and windows, and cutting new baggage doors into the sides. When finished, it measured 76' 5 13/16" in length and weighed 136,800 lbs. It was painted Pullman green. The authorization for expenditure recorded this as the business reason: "These cars can be used to good advantage as baggage cars in passenger service. Work to be done at Jackson Street Shops. cars to be retired from work equipment under monthly retirement AFE. When completed these cars will be numbered 420 to 426 inclusive. Cars being released by new diners for new service."
In March 1946, 426 was again rebuilt, this time into lightweight, streamlined baggage car 265. The work was done at the St. Cloud shops. In reality, this rebuild was money-saving accounting magic. 426's trucks were removed and refurbished. The body was probably stripped of usable parts and scrapped. In the meantime, the shops fabricated an entirely new carbody, from the center sill up. When finished, it was set on 426's trucks and painted in the Empire Builder colors of Omaha Orange and Pullman green. It measured 73' 10 1/4" long and weighed in at 125,600 lbs. Brake equipment was the HSC electric system with pneumatic backup. (Glorified D-22.) It had no. 263 universal wheel-type handbrakes on each end. The trucks kept their clasp brakes, but were upgraded with truck-mounted brake cylinders and slack adjusters, and 5 1/2x10" Timken roller bearing journals. The equipment diagram notes "Special Axles," which might indicate 5 1/2x10" axles specially machined to fit 5x9" trucks. (Speculative - not verified.) It had controlled-slack couplers and Miner A5xB draft gear. Inside, it featured a fish rack in one corner (for parcels which might drip water) and a small desk, stove, and toilet. On each side, one baggage door opened 6' wide and the other 5'. In service, it graced most GN main-line trains at one time or another. Equipment diagram.
265, and sisters 262-264, stand out in the Great Northern roster as first attempts at home-built streamlined passenger cars. (Many railroads resorted to this in the years immediately after World War II, when demand was high and the car builders were swamped with work.) Except for the recycled heavy-weight trucks, they were completely modern and up-to-date.
From Feb 23, 1947 until Feb 25, 1950, 265 was assigned to Spokane Portland & Seattle trains 1 & 2 - the Seattle section of the 1947 Empire Builder. As such, it displayed "Empire Builder" on the letterboard, with "Great Northern" in small letters at each end. The car number was centered above each truck in the lower green band, and marked "Railway Express Agency" in the orange window band, between the baggage doors. In 1950 265 was displaced from the Empire Builder by new equipment, and probably went back into the GN's general baggage car pool. At that time the letter board was probably changed to simply read "Great Northern".
GN 265 became BN property in the 1970 merger. When Amtrak started up in 1971, 265 was not among the cars they purchased, and went into storage. It was eventually pulled for conversion into a maintenance of way car. In June 1977, it became BN 976146, tool car in the Northtown-based wreck train. The diaphragms were cut off, one (redundant) handbrake removed, and the D-22 passenger air brake control valve was replaced by an ABD freight-car valve, J1 relay, and supplementary reservoir. It was painted MOW mineral red with silver roof. Inside, an electrical generator was installed (air intake cut into the car side) which supplied electricity to the whole wreck train, and it was outfitted with several large tool cabinets. Two wash rooms with caboose toilets were installed in one end. Two Vapor-Caban caboose stoves were installed in the other end.
In the mid-1980's, the BN retired their big derricks in favor of side-boom equiped Caterpillar bulldozers. 976146 was again surplus. In June 1987, it came to the Minnesota Transportation Museum.
Circa 1991 or 1992, the finished floor was removed. (It was saturated with spilled oil.) The cabinets found homes in the shop tool room, and other hardware was saved for re-use in other restorations.
In about 1994, it was decided to renovate 976146 into a concessions car. The sub-floor, which had significant rot problems, was removed. The bottom 12" of exterior skin were also removed, to fix side sill rust damage. But these projects have a way of getting interrupted...
In 2002, the museum needed a backup to Northern Pacific 1102, which was the sole handicap access, electrical power, RPO exhibit, and concessions car on the Osceola & St Croix Valley. The renovation resumed, and by the 2004 season GN 265 was once again operating in Empire Builder colors. Renovation work included wheel truing, a new floor, completion of the side sill repairs, installation of gates over the baggage doors, a generator (donated by Onan,) restrooms, a concessions stand, and new paint inside and out.
GN 265 is a member of the museum's fleet of GN streamlined cars.
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