Northern Pacific 50

Beginning in 1955, Northern Pacific assembled a varied fleet of double-door 50' boxcars at its system car shop in Brainerd, Minnesota. Northern Pacific always did things its own way, and this fleet of double-door cars were no exception. Unlike the vast majority of double-door 50' boxcars, Northern Pacific's all featured the doors nearly centered, rather than staggered. After NP's initial series of all-steel cars, a fleet of 1900 riveted side double sheathed cars assembled starting in 1955, and a follow up of 500 similar (but welded) double-sheathed cars delivered in 1960-61, the railroad switched exclusively to outside-post 50' double door boxcars--an early supporter of this type of car construction. All cars used the R3/4 Improved Dreadnaught End.

Brainerd shops mixed components of several freight car suppliers to truly create "kitbashed" prototype cars. Painted in freight car brown or dark green and sporting massive "NP" initials on one side of the double doors and an equally-impressive 8-foot diameter Monad on the other, these cars were the signature freight cars of the Northern Pacific in the 1960s.

Cars were popular in paper and lumber service, a mainstay of NP traffic. Some were equipped with "damage free" interior crossbars to help secure loads; others had cushion under frames, and one series of cars even were outfitted with end-doors--a throwback to the early days of 50' automobile cars!

Here's a gallery of NP's steel 50' double door boxcars, built in Brainerd. Photos are the collection of Blair Kooistra; thanks to Jim Davis John Gillies, Dan Holbrook, and Morning Sun publishing's NP Color Guide by Todd Sullivan for information on the cars.

	6000-7899 NP's initial order of 50' double door steel cars, built at Brainerd from 1955-57, these 1900 cars had an interior length of 50'6", interior height of 10'7", and length over couplers of 54'5".Sides were six panel (on each side of the doors) riveted steel double sheathed construction. Roofs were Stanray diagonal panel. Doors were a pair of 7 1/2" X 9'10" Youngstowns. At 4901 cubic feet, they had a weight capacity of 100,000 lbs. Earlier cars, such as the 6079 pictured, had a straight side sill. Cars built later in this series (6500 and up) had a tapered side sill and a diagonal gusset rivet line on either side of the double doors. As of November 1968, 1782 were still in service. Some of these cars were delivered in the 1950s lettering scheme with a 4'foot herald right of the door and the arched "Northern Pacific" road name to the left, a scheme replaced by the one 6079 is wearing in this photo. Photo, 1975
	4000-4499 Northern Pacific followed up in 1960-61 with 500 identical cars, except these featured welded side panels (it's difficult to discern HOW MANY side panels there are!). Delivered in brown, the 4095 is wearing a dark green coat with the "pre-merger" letting scheme and no "North Coast" slogan near the monad. These is some question whether or not these cars were delivered with Youngstown doors, as on 6000-7899, or Superior doors such as 4095 wears. Dimensions were identical, however these cars were rated for 110,000 lbs. The car, like all NP steel double-door 50' boxcars, uses an R/3/4 improved dreadnaught end. Photo 1975.
	2000-2849 The first outside-post boxcars were assembled in 1961-63 with an 850 car order. These cars also featured two 7 1/2' Youngstown doors and 8 panel sides. The cars used Pullman-Standard "Bowtie" roofs with overhanging eaves. The cars shared basic overall dimensions with the earlier cars as well, although the last 200 cars were rated (in 1968) at 140,000 lb. capacity and 5079 cubic feet. The 2326 displays the as-built scheme; the car still carries full-height grab irons on the car side. The 2657 wears the "Pre-Merger" lettering, and what appears to be dark green paint (or dirty BN Cascade green, used on some NP cars delivered in 1969).
	3764-3999 Two-hundred and thirty combination door cars were delivered in 1963. Featuring a flush-fitting 8' plug door and a 6' sliding door, some have speculated these cars were purchased with an eye towards using them in grain service if necessary. The cars were rated at 140,000 lb. capacity and 5094 cubic feet. These cars sported a Pullman-Standard roof, and 6 panels left of the door and 10 to the right.
	5000-5295 Still more combo-door cars came in the red paint in 1964--296 cars an inch taller inside--10'8", and subsequently 5117 cu ft.--than the 1963 cars, but otherwise identical. The Official Railway Equipment Register for November 1968 shows a four-car 5296-5299 class, identical except for a SINGLE six foot door--does anyone know anything about these? The 5257 was photographed in 1979.
	5300-5699 A specialized design arrived in 1966, 400 cars identical to the 5000-5295, except equipped with "DF2" load-securing crossbars and "waffles" on the car body sides to recess the crossbar attachment points inside the car. These were the first double-door 50' cars to be delivered in the dark green scheme, used for years previously on RBL and DF-equipped single-door cars, and were rated at 75 tons capacity, 154,000 lbs. The slogan has been changed, too, to "Main Street of the Northwest."
	1700-1999 Three hundred combo door cars came in 1966-67, the first of the cars to be delivered with low brakewheels and no roof ladders, compliant with current FRA regulations. 55'6" overall in length, these shared the 14 foot combo door arrangement with earlier orders, but rated at 154,000 lbs. Note that 1801 sports the "Main Street" slogan; 1902 does not. Subsequent car orders omitted the slogan.
	4600-4699 The real oddballs of the NP fleet were these 100 cars built in 1967, the first order in several years for paired sliding doors, two 7 1/2' Youngstowns. What made these cars really bizarre were their 9'6" wide by 10' 1" high end-doors, a throwback to the days of automobile boxcars, apparently desired by some shippers of lumber. They also featured DF crossbar loaders. As with the earlier slider cars, they used an 8X8 panel side.
	1350-1499 Purchase of specialized boxcars continued with 150 double sliding door cars in 1968, which wore a "Ply Pak" medallion on one of their 8'4" doors (16'8" total door opening) . They were equipped with vertical load securing posts for use in shipment of plywood. Two feet shorter inside than the rest of NP's double door steel 50' boxcar fleet, they were overall the longest at 57'4" over couplers owing to their 10" travel Freight Master cushion under frame. Capacity was 4876 cubic feet and 153,000 lbs. These cars marked a return to the Stanray diagonal panel roofs.
	390000-390149 Closing the books on NP 50' double door cars assembled at Brainerd were 150 more Ply-Pak cars in 1969, identical to those built the year before. These are notable for their use of the "pre-merger" lettering scheme, where all dimensional data was clustered under the reporting mark. Note too the slightly different placement of the 8' NP Monad herald. These cars were painted in two colors when new--a portion of the order, at least up to 390056, seen in this photo, were delivered in the NP dark green; the rest were painted in what became BN "Cascade Green." These cars were numbered in what was thought to be the future BN number series, but after the merger, when repainted the cars were renumbered to 307200-307249.