For approximately one year, from the March 2nd 1970 merger which created it until Amtrak took over on May 1st 1971, the Burlington Northern operated passenger trains. The two coach-diners were variously stored in St Paul or serving in the Pacific Northwest.
This came from a photocopy of four black & white prints Bob Moen found. The original photographer is unknown. It was taken in the BN's ex-NP coach yard down by Dayton's Bluff in St. Paul in the late summer of 1970. Notice the two cabinets for 100-lb propane bottles are still there, as are the weather-cock type kitchen vents. These were removed by Amtrak within a few years of this photo. Given the late date, this photo is probably proof that 1146 was never painted in Big Sky Blue. (And that the coach-diner which was painted blue was 1145.)
GNRHS reference sheet 307 "Portland Passenger Train Service 1879-1971" by John F. Strauss, Jr. lists 1145 in the July 2nd 1970 consist of BN train 21 (Spokane to Portland leg of the Empire Builder and North Coast Limited). The accompanying note says "GN 1145, which had replaced a dining car, provided Continental breakfast service into Portland Union Station. This car and GN 1146 had been reassigned to BN Nos. 21 and 22's consists from discontinued Lines East passenger trains in order to reduce food service expenses."
Reader Randall Davidson found this news item in the October/November 1970 issue of Extra 2200 South: BN trains 21 and 22, the Empire Builder between Spokane and Portland: Effective October 12th the lounge and diner were replaced by coach-diner.
Retired Amtrak station master John Goodman recalled that, “In late 1970 before Amtrak, BN gave out whitetrip passes (one trip only) to employee's that includedfree sleeper space. I rode BN#25 North Coast Limitedto the west coast via Portland. Our diner coming into Portland on the Pasco-Portland section of the trainwas 1146. For some reason the normal SPS diner was not in service on this trip. I do not know if your car had replaced the SPS car or not.”
Note that the published sources above disagree on the date when the two coach-diners began their service on trains 21 and 22. Not only that, the photograph was taken in St Paul and printed in August! Either the photographer waited a while before developing the film, or perhaps John Strauss' date is too early. Randall Davidson has been trying to figure this out, and offers this interesting theory:
I have a possible scenario that fits all the data from the BN years. Your car may have indeed been in the coach yard in St. Paul that summer. The other (Big Sky Blue) one could have been shuttling back and forth from Portland to Spokane, making a round trip each day and covering both sides of the schedule.
The schedule in late 1970 had the combined Empire Builder/North Coast Hiawatha leaving Portland daily at 3:00 pm. It gets to Pasco, Washington at 7:00 pm and the NCL cars are removed to wait until the NCL Seattle section arrives at 8:24 pm to attach these cars and depart combined at 8:49 pm. Meanwhile, the EB cars, including the coach-diner, continue on to Spokane, where the train arrives at 9:50 pm. The Seattle section arrives at 1110p and the combined train (without the coach-diner) departs for the east at 11:40 pm.
Now the coach-diner waits at the Spokane station. At 10:15 pm, the westbound Empire Builder arrives from the east and is split into two sections. At 10:50 pm, the Seattle section departs and ten minutes later (at 11:00 pm), the Portland section departs with the coach-diner added during the switching. There’s little chance it will miss the connection, as the eastbound train, having traveled over 1,800 miles, is the one more likely to be running late.
The Portland section of the EB arrives in Pasco at 2:15 am and adds the Portland cars of the NCL, departing as a combined train at 2:55 am. The train arrives in Portland at 7:00 am. This leaves eight hours to service the equipment, including the coach-diner. Even if the rest of the train turned in Portland after a day and eight hours, such a long time would not be needed for the coach diner, which hadn’t traveled 2,200+ miles.
This explains why the Big Sky Blue car was available for the first Portland-Seattle Amtrak train and why your car in Orange and Green is in the St. Paul coach yard. To cover more extensive servicing in Portland, a regular diner or other food service car could likely be found to fill in.
Question for my readers: Can anyone prove or disprove this theory? Hard evidence such as equipment assignements for specific trains, or photographs showing the date, location and car number would be very helpful.