Pay car

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A pay car was an official railway car operated as a mobile bank to disburse cash wages to railway employees in locations including North America and Australia. Railway company employees were widely dispersed with some maintaining track in relatively remote locations, while others moved from place to place with train crews. A railway pay car was typically attached to a train traveling over the line at fixed intervals to disburse wages to employees, who would assemble at every station and designated intermediate stopping points to be paid. The pay car was usually a converted passenger car fitted out with two doors allowing formation of a queue through the identification and disbursing procedure. The pay car also contained sleeping and eating facilities for the paymaster, armed guards, clerks maintaining pay records, and a cook.^[1]