“Mount Royal” Pullman Lounge-Observation Car

Plan 2521, Originally built 1911 as “Malatha”, 10-section buffet-lounge observation, with open platform. Rebuilt by Pullman in 1930 to current appearance with solarium observation end. Used in B&M-CV-CNR service between Boston and Montreal on the “New Englander”, it was sold by Pullman in 1948 to the Kansas City Southern Railway. The 10 sleeping sections were replaced with 48 coach seats and the buffet kitchen was replaced by vending machines. The car was later used as temporary railroad offices by KCS, and was sold in the late 1960s. Purchased in 1971 by museum member Robert Sherwood, it was moved from Houston, Texas to storage in Middletown, PA in 1981. It was donated to the Museum by Mr. Sherwood in 1992, and arrived at Saybrook Yard in 1994. In March 2008, the "Mt. Royal" was safely moved to the Naugatuck Railroad.

Cars like these were built by the Pullman Company in Chicago, and are of a type known as “heavyweight” cars, due to their massive steel construction. Ready to roll, the 83-foot long cars weigh about 85 tons each. In 1948, Pullman sold off most of its 8000+ car fleet in a Federally-ordered divestiture move (similar to AT&T in the 1980s), and the remaining fleet was operated by individual railroads until replaced by newer "lightweight" equipment in the postwar years.