Does anyone have any info on named Pullman Cars? Specifically “Washington Monument” Abigail Adams" and “Nelly Curtis” I have these 3 that I recieved from my Uncle and would like any info I can get.
Thanks
Try the Pullman Project:
http://home.att.net/~pullmanproject/index.htm
Probably more info than you may want.
From Tom Madden’s “Pullman Project” databases accessible from http://home.att.net/~pullmanproject/:
“Washington Monument” blt by Pullman (lot #6386) to Plan 4001, Parlor car placed in service 28 Aug 1930, sold to Alton RR (C&A) 19 Jun 1944 for $15,000.
“Abigail Adams” blt by Pullman (lot #6032) to Plan 3416A, Parlor car placed in service 7 Feb 1927, sold to Pere Marquette (& leased back to Pullman) 31 Dec 1945, withdrawn from lease 1 Mar 1946.
No listing or record for “Nelly Curtis”.
I checked “A Century of Pullman Cars Volume 1: Alphabetical List” by Ralph L. Barger, and I couldn’t find a Nelly Curtis, closest was Nell Gwyn.
Is the car lettered for Pullman as the owner - is “PULLMAN” spelled out in the middle of the letterboard?? If so, it was owned and operated by Pullman. If not, does it have a railroad name in the center and “PULLMAN” in smaller letters to the sides of the letterboard?? If so, it could be that this was a car owned by a railroad and operated by Pullman…which means the name wouldn’t be on any lists for Pullman names. Nelly may have been the daughter of the RR’s president or something.
Pretty much all Pullman sleeping cars had names (except a few tourist sleepers which used numbers)…thousands of names!!
Pullman named a few cars after colonial figures, “Abigail Adams” being one. “Nelly Curtis”, whether or not a Pullman-assigned name, may have been derived from this bit o’ googlery:
“The tradition of wearing a veil in the United States is attributed to Nelly Curtis, who wore a veil at her wedding to George Washington’s aid, Major Lawrence Lewis. As the tale goes, Major Lewis observed his soon-to-be bride as she stood behind a filmy curtain at a party, and later commented to her how very beautiful she appeared. It was because of this incident that Nelly Curtis veiled herself for their ceremony.”
Just below that passage, one learns that “A tribe of Native Americans once planned to boil Santa Anna and turn him into a giant tamale.”
Feliz Navidad.
The Nelly Curtis car is painted just like the other 2. Its dark green, Pullman Green? I’m assuming and lettered Pullman above the windows. I thought I saw that Abigail Adams was married to Goerge Pullman’s brother but I can’t rember where I saw it. Somewhere on the internet.