The Railroad Commissary
Welcome to The Railroad Commissary's
Northern Pacific / NP supplementary information page. Please feel free to send questions or comments to: rrcomm@sonic.net Relevant information, and credits, will be posted.
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Northwest Pattern
Northwest was the pattern that preceeded the "Yellowstone Park Line" pattern. It was never marked for the NP, but is said to have been an "exclusive use" pattern. Just as the stripe colors were a little different between Monad and Yellowstone Park Line patterns, the colors for Northwest were also different, especially the light green belt - on the Northwest pattern is it very muted. Likewise the dark green stripe on Monad is black on Northwest. Northwest was apparently the standard pattern through most of the 1930's and '40's.
Villard Pattern
This pattern was a hoax perpetrated on the RR china hobby in the 1970's. Yes, it is marked "NP", but this is for the Netherlands Plaza Hotel in Ohio. This hoax was soon discovered, but it was so profitable that some dealers can't resist the temptation to try to scam another newby. Its a pathetic way to make money, but a well known dealer is doing just that as of the time of this writing (in 2009!!) If you intend to collect hotel china, then this is a fine pattern (see our hotel china page, we sometimes have a piece for sale), but don't get suckered by talk of a rare early Northern Pacific pattern.
