Mt. Broderick Pullman Car

Mt. Broderick
10-section buffet-lounge
ManufacturerPullman Company
Order no.Lot 4998
Constructed1926
DiagramPlan 3521A, later 3521L
Capacity20 in 10 sections
Specifications
Weight93 short tons (84 t)
BogiesType 2410A
Track gauge4 ft 8+12 in (1,435 mm)
MT. BRODERICK Pullman Lounge-Obs-Sleeping Car
Mt. Broderick Pullman Car is located in Kentucky
Mt. Broderick Pullman Car
Mt. Broderick Pullman Car is located in the United States
Mt. Broderick Pullman Car
Location136 S. Main St., New Haven, Kentucky
Coordinates37°39′22″N 85°35′34″W / 37.65611°N 85.59278°W / 37.65611; -85.59278
Built1926
ArchitectPullman Company, Chicago, IL
Architectural styleRailroad Car
NRHP reference No.97001345 [1]
Added to NRHPNovember 18, 1997

The Mt. Broderick Pullman Car is a historic railcar on the National Register of Historic Places, currently at the Kentucky Railway Museum at New Haven, Kentucky, in southernmost Nelson County, Kentucky. It has been described as a "four-star hotel" on rails.[2]

Mt. Broderick was built in two months in late 1926 at the Pullman factory in Chicago, Illinois. It was one of thirty cars built on Lot 4998 to Plan 3521A.[3] It had ten sections (numbered 1 to 10) and a 12-seat lounge area (numbered 11 to 22).[4] In its normal overnight-mode, it could sleep 20, although in day-mode, it could seat a maximum of fifty-two passengers. It weighed 93 tons, due in part to its poured concrete floor; a feature unique to the Mt. Broderick. Passengers enjoyed the solarium lounge at its rear, as well as its buffet area. Polished brass fixtures were in the restroom area. Modifications to the car in 1935 included redoing the solarium, and replacing its crude blown air onto ice method of cooling to a then-modern air conditioning system.[5] It ran the "Southland" Route of the Louisville and Nashville Railroad in the 1940s and 1950s; Atlanta, Chicago, Cincinnati, Fort Wayne, and St. Louis were regular stops of the route.[6]

The Kentucky Railway Museum purchased the Mt. Broderick from the Pullman Company in 1958. It replaced the paint and carpet of the car with paint and carpet from the Pullman company, to keep it looking as it did during its active days. The car was also restored in late 1997.[7]

The Mt. Broderick Pullman Car is one of four artifacts at the Kentucky Railway Museum on the National Register of Historic Places. The others are the Louisville and Nashville Steam Locomotive No. 152, the Louisville and Nashville Combine Car Number 665, and the Frankfort and Cincinnati Model 55 Rail Car.

  1. ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. April 15, 2008.
  2. ^ Parrent p.7-1
  3. ^ Madden, items 9617–9646 of Excel file
  4. ^ Pullman Co. list of cars 1950, pp.31, 63
  5. ^ Parrent p.7-1, 8-2
  6. ^ Parrent p.8-2
  7. ^ Parrent p.7-2