Who has the oldest passenger car in the U.S?
Who has the oldest freight car in the U.S?
What shape are they in? What percentage of the cars would you guess are original?

denmeg_hogan@msn.com

> Who has the oldest passenger car in the U.S?
> Who has the oldest freight car in the U.S?
> What shape are they in? What percentage of
> the cars would you guess are original?

For passenger, thwo candidates I hear listed most often are the B&O Museum's Nova Scotia "Directors Car" of 1838, built by General Mining Company of Nova Scotia, and the Smithsonian's Camden and Amboy passenger car, which also dates to sometime in the 1830s.

Wouldn't hazard a guess as to how much of either is original, but I'd give the nod to the Smithsonian car knowing how much the B&O PR department tended to tinker with things.



http://www.epa.gov/swerosps/bf/html-doc/sc_kansa.htm
eledbetter@mail.rypn.org

For freight I'll nominate the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Iron Boxcars No. 17000 and 17001,
built by the B&O Railroad at Mt. Clare about 1863, also in the B&O Museum, substantially original.


http://www.epa.gov/swerosps/bf/html-doc/sc_kansa.htm
eledbetter@mail.rypn.org

> As far as a steam engine goes the oldest American built engine is an export engine built for the sugar cane operations in Cuba. It has been displayed for many years in the Havana station.

This from an article years ago by John White.


ted_miles@NPS.gov

The Museum of Transportation in St. Louis has the 4-wheel Boston & Providence stagecoach-style car built for the opening of the line in 1833. The coach body is original, and was stored for years before the running gear was recreated for display at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair, along with our B&P inside Connected 4-4-0 "Daniel Nason." The car is in good condition but is in storage as it can not be exhibited outside and we currently have far too little indoor space available. White calls it the only surviving original stagecoach-style passenger car on pages 3-4 and 52 of his book. Photos and illustrations follow on pages 54-56. White gives the date of the car as 1834-36. He dates the Nova Scotia car at about 1838

Museum of Transportation
rdgoldfede@aol.com

> The Museum of Transportation in St. Louis
> has the 4-wheel Boston & Providence
> stagecoach-style car built for the opening
> of the line in 1833. The coach body is
> original, and was stored for years before
> the running gear was recreated for display
> at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair, along with
> our B&P inside Connected 4-4-0
> "Daniel Nason." The car is in good
> condition but is in storage as it can not be
> exhibited outside and we currently have far
> too little indoor space available. White
> calls it the only surviving original
> stagecoach-style passenger car on pages 3-4
> and 52 of his book. Photos and illustrations
> follow on pages 54-56. White gives the date
> of the car as 1834-36. He dates the Nova
> Scotia car at about 1838

I believe that IRM's horse car from 1859 is the oldest surviving horsecar.


Kevinmccabe@avenew.com