What is a "partition coach"

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A "partition coach", a.k.a. "segregated coaches" and "Jim Crow" coach, was a coach used to segregate negro and white passengers, with the negro passengers typically restricted to "their" half of the car, which usually, but not always, also included separate bathrooms.  
   
  While most cars had a physical partition somewhere in the middle of the car there may have been examples that didn't.  On some lines, for branchline service, a coach typically would be converted into a triple combine or "Jim Crow" combine, with the center of the car being converted into a small baggage - express room, creating a physical barrier between the two passenger sections.
   
  As laws were reviewed and changed it became "law" that accommidations were to be "separate but equal", meaning that the same type of seats and other facilities were required for both black and white, but in actuality this did not always occur.
   
  Some of the best segregated coaches ever constructed were the Southern Railway's 1200-series modernized heavyweight segregated coaches, which featured all welded side construction, thermapane streamline windows and more comfortable seating for both groups of passengers (including AC), though the bathrooms with a lounge remained a "whites only" feature.  Southern also purchased some lightweight segregated coaches as well.
   
  Also, along the lines as the 1200-series coaches were the SOU 3100-series dinette - coaches.  Modernized with the streamlined thermapane windows and all welded side construction, a separate dining area was provided "behind" the kitchen for negro passengers.  Indeed, so well received were the cars in service that Southern was forced to discontinue their use... the cars were profitable with its reduced staff and heat-n-eat meals and this was not what the railroad wanted as it tried to discontinue lesser patronized trains.  The dinette - coaches were replaced with full modernized heavyweight diners and dining car crews, which in turn, contributed to the earnings being in the red, and eventually the trains that they use to run on being discontinued.
   
  Hope this helps... sorry I have been so long winded!!!


        jerry 
<jmlaboda2 at yahoo.com>

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