The Pine series was a fleet of

sleeping car The sleeping car or sleeper (often ) is a railway passenger car (rail), passenger car that can accommodate all passengers in beds of one kind or another, for the purpose of sleeping. George Pullman was the main American innovator and owner of sl ...

s built by

Pullman-Standard The Pullman Company, founded by George Pullman, was a manufacturer of railroad cars in the mid-to-late 19th century through the first half of the 20th century, during the boom of railroads in the United States. Through rapid late-19th century d ...

in 1953. The cars were built according to Pullman plan 4183; each contained six sections, six roomettes and four double bedrooms (colloquially "6-6-4"). The cars were originally owned by the

Louisville and Nashville Railroad The Louisville and Nashville Railroad , commonly called the L&N, was a Class I railroad that operated freight and passenger services in the southeast United States. Chartered by the Commonwealth of Kentucky in 1850, the road grew into one of ...

(L&N), the

Chicago and Eastern Illinois Railroad The Chicago and Eastern Illinois Railroad was a Class I railroad that linked Chicago, Illinois, Chicago to southern Illinois, St. Louis, Missouri, St. Louis, and Evansville, Indiana, Evansville. Founded in 1877, it grew aggressively and staye ...

(C&EI), and the

Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway The Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway was a Rail transport company, railway company that operated in the U.S. states of Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, and Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It began as the Nashville and Chattanooga Railroad, ...

(NC&StL).

Design

Pullman-Standard surveyed over 2,000 passengers during the design phase of the Pine series, and based on their suggestions implemented several improvements to the exterior and interior design. The new cars rode more smoothly than their predecessors. On the inside, Pullman incorporated postwar improvements such as air-conditioning, fluorescent lighting, and sponge-rubber seats. A major improvement over the pre-war ''American'' series 6-6-4 sleeping car was the rearrangement of the accommodation: in the ''American'' series the premium-priced double bedrooms were at the vestibule end of the car over one of the trucks, the roomettes were in the middle, and the sections were at the blind (non-vestibule) end over the other truck; in the ''Pine'' series, the bedrooms were moved to the center of the car where the smoothest ride was. Consequently, the ''Pine'' series are sometimes referred to as "6-4-6" cars.

History

The

(L&N) ordered 22 of the cars in 1951, primarily to replace the pre-

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

heavyweight cars on the '' Pan American'', ''

Humming Bird A hummingbird is a member of a family (Trochilidae) of very small birds. Hummingbird or Humming bird may also refer to: Music *The Hummingbirds, an Australian jangle pop band *Gibson Hummingbird, an acoustic guitar *Humming Bird Records, a reco ...

'', and '' Georgian''. Each car cost $163,000. Additional orders were placed by the

(C&EI) (four cars) and

(NC&StL) (three cars). Both railroads interoperated with the L&N. Each of the sleeping cars had a name ending in ''Pine'' such as ''Georgia Pine'' or ''Whispering Pine'', reflecting the road's Southern heritage. The cars began entering service in 1953, and also saw service on such trains as the '' Gulf Wind'', ''

Flamingo Flamingos or flamingoes () are a type of wading bird in the family Phoenicopteridae, which is the only extant family in the order Phoenicopteriformes. There are four flamingo species distributed throughout the Americas (including the Caribbe ...

'', and '' Azalean''. The NC&StL's three cars became part of the L&N's fleet in August 1957 on the merger of the two railroads. All of the cars were retired in 1971 on the formation of

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak (; ), is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates intercity rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...

and the end of passenger service on the L&N. Several later saw service on the original

Auto-Train ''Auto Train'' is an scheduled daily train service for passengers and their automobiles operated by Amtrak between Lorton, Virginia (near Washington, D.C.), and Sanford, Florida (near Orlando). ''Auto Train'' is the only motorail service in t ...

Original owners

All 29 cars were part of Pullman Lot 6909:

Preservation

Several Pine series sleeping cars are known to exist, including at least one in operating condition: * ''Chickamauga Pine'', ex-NC&StL #200, is at the

Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum The Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum is a railroad museum and heritage railroad in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum was founded as a chapter of the National Railway Historical Society in 1960 by Paul H. Merriman a ...

. * ''Colorado Pine'', ex-L&N #3462 ''Plantation Pine'', is owned by

Iowa Pacific Holdings Iowa Pacific Holdings was a holding company that owned railroad properties across North America and the United Kingdom, as well as providing services such as railcar repairs, leasing, management and consulting services to other operators. The comp ...

. * ''Short Leaf Pine'', ex-L&N #3464, is under restoration at the

Florida Railroad Museum The Florida Railroad Museum is a railroad museum located in Parrish, Florida. The museum operates a heritage railroad and offers round-trip tourist excursions along six miles of the former Seaboard Air Line Railway, Seaboard Air Line Sarasota Su ...

. * ''Towering Pine'', ex-L&N #3467, is on display at The Historic Railpark and Train Museum in

Bowling Green, Kentucky Bowling Green is a city in Warren County, Kentucky, United States, and its county seat. Its population was 72,294 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of cities in Kentucky, third-most populous city in the stat ...

References

{{Pullman rolling stock Train-related introductions in 1953 Chicago and Eastern Illinois Railroad Louisville and Nashville Railroad Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway Pullman Company Rail passenger cars of the United States