I’m from Benson Minnesota and own an 1889 Pullman Vestibule Car that has been converted to a Restaurant and coffee shop. It is a Northern Pacific car which was moved to its present location in 1935. In 1938 a portion of 1 wall was removed to make room for more seating and a kitchen. Both ends and the west wall of the car are intact as is the floor of the car.On the interior above the front entrance is the original Northen Pacific Logo which has writing around its perimeter which says"YELLOWSTONE PARK SPECIAL" I’m wondering if anyone can help me find which line this car ran on.Or does anyone know where I can find the car designation number if there was such a thing? I am not able to view the intact side of the car from the outside because of an adjoining building. Loads of people come in and wonder how we decorated to such a true railcar style and are more than surprised when we tell them it is actually a vintage car. Most of the arched stained glass upper windows are intact and the veneer on both ends along with the brass hardware is in great shape. Even the Leather pull down shades are present in the end windows.Along the rear section of the car are brass light fixtures affixed to the ceiling.We are adding authentic Pullman antiques as well as other Rail memorabilia.Anyone that knows where an archive of car information is located please reply.Anyone who loves these old Rail Cars reply also.Stop in if you pass through west central Minnesota and have a cup of coffee and some chat.Thanks…Rod
It seems highly likely your car ran on the Northern Pacific on a train that people took to visit Yellowstone Park. I would suggest you start at your local library and see what information they have about local railroads. If you look in libraries in your area, especially in the terminal city, you may find old timetables and similar things. This whole project sounds fascinating.
Since the car has the Northern Pacific herald (as far as I can tell, the word “logo” was coined in the late 20th century) inside, it obviously was operated on the Northern Pacific Railway, but it may well have been owned by the Pullman Company. The NP ran from St. Paul to Seattle and Tacoma, but the Yellowstone Park Special was operated to Gardiner, Montana, leaving the mainline at Livingston, and it may have had through cars from Chicago at that time (possibly over the Chicago and North Western at that time; in later years, the Chicago Burlington and Quincy provided the connecting service).
It may be difficult to determine more about the original service the car provided, since the Pullman records were destroyed in a fire (I do not remember in what year, and almost all of my railroad books are packed in preparation for moving). Someone else may have more information available than I have.
The original question was posted 12 years ago or so. We’re resurrecting some pretty old stuff here.