Passenger Equipment

The Pullman Company built car number 98 in 1917 as a private car for the president of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. It features a kitchen, crews’ quarters, dining room, three staterooms, and a lounge. The car also features mahogany paneling, brass fixtures, leaded glass interior windows, and an observation platform. The railroad updated the 98 in the 1955 to include sealed windows, climate control, an arch roof, and the current interior alterations. The 98 was sold in 1962 to the InterMountain Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society where it was used on excursions. It remained there until 1966, when it was sold into private ownership following a rollover derailment. The 98 arrived at the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum in 1977, and it quickly became popular among museum passengers. After seeing many decades of use as the most luxurious car in TVRM’s collection, the 98 is currently undergoing a restoration to restore it to operating condition. Once completed, the car will be available to the public for charter on TVRM’s various excursions, as it was before. The 98 is TVRM’s most luxurious car, and allows its passengers to ride in a true first-class style reminiscent of a bygone era.

Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum

This heavyweight coach was built in 1924 by the Pullman Company for the Central of Georgia Railroad. Originally numbered 528, it was used on passenger trains such as the Man ‘O War and the Seminole. It would have originally resembled coach 1683, having been built with adjustable windows that could be opened and a clerestory roof, before being modernized in 1937. It later served with the Central of Georgia Railroad’s successor, the Southern Railway, and was renumbered 906 at that time. 906 is unique among the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum’s collection due to the dividing wall in the middle of the coach, denoting it as a formerly segregated car, sometimes referred to as a “Jim Crow” car. The car included two sets of segregated restrooms, one set each for both ends of the car. The Central of Georgia Railroad continued to enforce segregation on the car until the end of that era on the railroads in the 1950s. Today, TVRM maintains this car in its original configuration as a reminder of a difficult time in our nation’s history. While unpleasant to remember, it is important to understand this past along with the other stories we preserve at TVRM. The 906 is believed to be the only formerly segregated car in operating condition with the segregating wall intact.

Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum

This heavyweight coach was built in 1925 by the Pullman Company for the Southern Railway, originally numbered 1653. It was built with adjustable windows that could be opened, 72 walkover seats, and a clerestory roof. However, the Southern Railway had the car rebuilt in 1940 at their Hayne Shops, sealing the windows, adding air conditioning, replacing the 72 walkover seats with 46 standard coach seats, adding large washroom lounges, adding a porter’s baggage area, and removing the clerestory roof in favor of an arch roof. It was during the modernization that the car was renumbered 1000. After the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum acquired the coach in 1968, the air conditioning systems were deactivated, and the windows were reopened to allow for a true 1920’s experience. Today, the 1000 is popular among passengers, allowing them to open the windows to enjoy the breeze, listen to the sounds of the locomotives, and listen to the sounds of wheels on jointed rail.

Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum

Dining Car No. 3164 was built by the Pullman Company in 1924 for the Southern Railway. It seats 44 passengers at 11 tables. The car worked both the Carolina Special (which ran through Blair, Tennessee) and the Tennessean through Knoxville. For many years 3164 was based at Knoxville working between Knoxville and Washington, D.C. On November 11, 1958, the 83-ton car was knocked into the Southern station in downtown Knoxville where it wound up inside the building. Despite damage to both the car and the building both were repaired and returned to service. Dining Car No. 3164 was retired by Southern Railway in 1970 and passed through the hands of a number of private collectors before being acquired by several members of SARM in 1996.

From 1996 to 1999 SARM volunteers worked to restore the interior (the tables and chairs are original), exterior, and running gear of 3164. The kitchen awaits future work. The car returned to service in April 1999 on the Secret City Scenic Excursion Train. It is also used by the Dinner Train at Oak Ridge for charter trips and regularly scheduled dinner trains.

Southern Appalachia Railway Museum