PV&T 5TI #103 in blue & white

In 1925, the PV&T decided to retire the last of their 1890s-era trailers, but still needed pool cars for NYNH&H & LT&L joint trains. To do this, they ordered a handful of coaches, sleepers, and observation cars from Pullman. These cars served without fuss up until the mid-1950s, when they were almost all replaced with 9P class Budd trailers.

The only survivers were the observation cars, which had been used as business cars during the second world war, and which never went back to passenger service after that. After the three-way merger between the PV&T, LT&L, and TdM the railways folded their separate business trains into one, reducing the need for business cars down to just one.

X103 was in the best shape, so was kept on the roster when the other business cars were retired.

In the late 1970s, X103 was rebuilt to use head end power instead of steam heat, and has been in operation that way ever since.

  • Copyright © 2024 by Jessica L. Parsons (orc@pell.portland.or.us) unless otherwise noted
    Sun Dec 10 23:38:55 PST 2023