Oregon Short Line 1903

Built in 1903 for $16,685 as an executive rail car for the Vice President of the Union Pacific, Oregon Short Line 1903 was named for the year of its construction. Some who rode on it, comparing it to E.H. Harriman's presidential rail car Arden, built in 1900, said, "We out bested old E.H. on this trip." Its wooden exterior and interior were typical of the period. The car was retrofitted in 1915 and renamed OSL 150. In 1935, it was given to E.C. Manson as a retirement gift, and he placed it on a stone foundation next to the forest three blocks west of here. After various owners used it as a summer home, Clyde and Linda Seely purchased it in 1975 and lived there that summer. Though many paint jobs had made it look like "just an old relic," its interior remained in immaculate condition. Its identity was finally confirmed when photographs were discovered in the Smithsonian Institute, including one showing the completed car in front of the Pullman Factory and another showing the interior with its original furniture. In 1995, the museum-quality rail car was placed here, and the Seelys and Howells built the Holiday Inn around it.

West Yellowstone, Montana · United States