Northern Pacific 1370

Heavyweight Deluxe Coach

A Brief History of Northern Pacific 1370

In 1915 the Northern Pacific Railway bought 33 new First Class Coaches from the Pullman Company. These cars, Nos. 1200 through 1232, were put into service on the Northern Pacific's top trains, the North Coast Limited and the Northern Pacific Express/Atlantic Express.

The new cars were just under 80 feet long and of all-steel construction. All-steel construction was a relatively recent innovation in railroad passenger cars but already the traveling public was demanding them. The primary reason was safety. Wood cars were much more likely to break up, burn, or be telescoped in the event of an accident. The new cars were heavy, weighing about 141,100 pounds each and rode on six-wheel trucks. The cars had electric lights and steam heat. Each car had arch windows and could seat 84 passengers.

After twenty years service that included the heavy traffic loads of World War I, these cars needed major overhaul. In 1935 the railroad began rebuilding the cars in its own Como Car Shops in St. Paul. Coach No. 1203 went into the shops in 1936. It was rebuilt into a Deluxe Coach and renumbered 1370. This was during the years of the Great Depression of the 1930s and passenger traffic was down significantly from twenty years earlier. Competition among the railroads was great and each one tried to outdo the others to attract customers. In this environment, the NP decided to install better seats, to give the passengers more room, and more significantly, to add air conditioning equipment.

When car No. 1370 came out of the Como Shops in July 1936, its seating capacity had been reduced from 84 to 53 passengers. It now had individual reclining seats. The old-style windows had been altered by closing off the arch windows. A smoking lounge occupied part of the front end of the car. More importantly, the car now had Pullman-built air conditioning installed. As a result of the changes, the car's weight had increased to 160,300 pounds. In all, nine cars, numbered 1370-1375 and 1377-1379, were rebuilt in this fashion into Deluxe Coaches in 1935 through 1937.

Deluxe Coach No. 1370 saw heavy use during World War II and the Korean War. It remained on the NP's roster until the 1960s. It was finally retired in 1966 at Como Shops.

Lorenz P. Schrenk - Northern Pacific Railway Historical Association

Additional Info

In 1967, Northern Pacific 1370 became the first piece of railroad rolling stock acquired by the Minnesota Transportation Museum, predating even Dan Patch 100. It was displayed on panel track, adjacent to the Milwaukee Road's Minnehaha Depot, near Minnehaha Falls in Minneapolis.

Many years later, (the author guesses in the mid-80's) the weather had caused enough deterioration that it was removed from display. Museum circumstances were such that it found itself in storage, along with much other MTM rolling stock, in a secured military facility.

In the fall of 2005, 1370 was trucked to the museum's Jackson Street Roundhouse. After 37 years of sitting outside without maintenance, NP 1370 is in desperate need of restoration.

Eight other coaches from this series survive! In 1960 the Denver and Rio Grande Western purchased eight for its Ski Train service from Denver to Winter Park. NP 1214, 1217, 1225, 1227, 1216, 1213, 1210, and 1218 became D&RGW 1011-1018. Then in 1987 they were traded to the Napa Valley Wine Train. Five have been completely rebuilt, given appropriate names like "Zinfandel" and "Chardonnay", and are in service today.

Sources:

• "The Wine Train," by Verne Alexander, from "The Mainstreeter" vol 11 no 1, published by the NPRHA.
• "The North Coast Limited In The Summer of 1939," by John Barry, Pat Egan and Dick Mossman, from "The Mainstreeter", vol 11 nos 2 and 3, published by the NPRHA.