The Frankfort and Cincinnati Model 55 Rail Car (also known as "''The Cardinal"'' and, colloquially to residents along it route, as The Dinky) is a historic

railcar A railcar (not to be confused with a railway car) is a self-propelled railway vehicle designed to transport passengers. The term "railcar" is usually used in reference to a train consisting of a single coach (carriage, car), with a dri ...

on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

. The railcar currently resides at the

Kentucky Railway Museum The Kentucky Railway Museum, now located in New Haven, Kentucky, United States, is a non-profit railroad museum dedicated to educating the public regarding the history and heritage of Kentucky's railroads and the people who built them. Originall ...

New Haven New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134,023 ...

, Nelson County,

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia ...

. It was built in 1927 by the Brill Company of

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

. It is a steel rail car, heavy four-cylinder gasoline mechanical drive train engine, that could hold 43 passengers and baggage, with measurements of long by wide. Weighing only , it was cheap to use, costing only 16 cents a mile. Due to always being painted red, it was called "The Cardinal", in tribute to the state bird. The Cardinal ran the "Whiskey Route" of the Frankfort and Cincinnati Railroad traveling from Frankfort, Kentucky to

Paris, Kentucky Paris is a home rule-class city in Bourbon County, Kentucky. It lies northeast of Lexington on the Stoner Fork of the Licking River. Paris is the seat of its county and forms part of the Lexington–Fayette Metropolitan Statistical Area. As ...

, with a major stop in

Georgetown, Kentucky Georgetown is a home rule-class city in Scott County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 37,086 at the 2020 census. It is the 6th-largest city by population in the U.S. state of Kentucky. It is the seat of its county. It was original ...

plus nine other rural towns and hamlets; a distance of . On December 31, 1952, when the F&C stopped passenger service, The Cardinal was retired; passenger trains could not compete with automobiles. ''The Cardinal'' broke an axle on Christmas Eve eight days before, and for the last week of passenger service the F&C Superintendent A.E. Parker used his own sedan to transport what few passengers the F&C still had from Frankfort to Paris. The Kentucky Railway Museum gained possession of The Cardinal in 1960. In 1997 it was one of a maximum of six known gas-powered motor rail cars left in the United States, and the only one in the

Southeastern United States The Southeastern United States, also referred to as the American Southeast or simply the Southeast, is a geographical region of the United States. It is located broadly on the eastern portion of the southern United States and the southern por ...

. The Frankfort and Cincinnati Model 55 Rail Car is one of four train vehicles at the Kentucky Railway Museum on the National Register. The others are the Louisville and Nashville Steam Locomotive No. 152, the

Louisville and Nashville Combine Car Number 665 The Louisville and Nashville Combine Car Number 665, also known as the "Jim Crow 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 Coun ...

, and the Mt. Broderick Pullman Car. The F&C had two Brill Railcars: M55-1 and #2. It was #2 that broke the axle while crossing the Southern Ry at Georgetown, Ky.

References

* * {{KentuckyHistoricalRR National Register of Historic Places in New Haven, Kentucky Railway vehicles on the National Register of Historic Places in Kentucky Petrol railcars Railcars of the United States Vehicles introduced in 1927 Transportation in Nelson County, Kentucky