Built by Pullman Standard in 1956, NP #581 is a 48 Seat Day/Nite Coach and former Holiday Lounge car (numbered NP #487). When built it served as a lounge car for passengers on the Northern Pacific’s Mainstreeter train. It served as this from 1956-1962 when the Northern Pacific discontinued the Holiday Lounge cars. Shortly after, the NP rebuilt the Holiday Lounge cars into 48 Seat Day/Nite Coaches. It served as this from 1962-1970 under the NP and from 1971-1988 under Amtrak (renumbered 4890) when it was retired and sold to Mike Gelhouse, a private passenger car collector who was trying to rebuild the North Coast Limited. When Mike passed away in 2014 his collection of nearly 20 passenger cars were split up and auctioned off, in 2017 a private collector bought the car and transported it to Toppenish to store with the museums permission. After being stored for nearly 2 years owner and museum finalized an agreement to acquire the car. In July 2019 the passenger trucks were taken out from underneath the car and were transported back to Beech Grove, IN for the “NP #460“ dining car. Unlike “NP #588“ this car has not been modified, and is in original condition. Current plans are to find new passenger trucks and to do basic cleanup.
Presently the NP #581 on its current “Shop Trucks”. We hope to find new passenger trucks to replace the current ones.
Right: Condition of the #581’s interior, currently the floor is unstable and is not suitable for public display.
Due to efforts going into “NP #393“ and the more recent “NP #460“, this car will not see any restoration effort until manpower and funds are available.
The 581 behind the 426 crossing over the Palmer Junction Bridge over the Green River
