What is a "partition coach"

[NW Mailing List]

Frank,

Just a little info to go with what has been furnished by others.

In 1949 Pullman-Standard furnished three coach versions for the re-equipped 
Powhatan Arrow.

The Class P1 coaches, NW 501 and 502, originally had a smoking section with 
individual chairs for eight people, seats in the coach section for 40 
people, and quarters for the train steward and dining-car crew.   This would 
have been the "Dormitory Coach" on your consist sketch.  Later N&W diagrams 
show that the smoking section was re-equipped with double seats for 12 
people and that the quarters were replaced by double seats for 16 people and 
the type changed to "Three Compartment Coach" (2 partitions).  Indications 
are that this change may have occurred as early as 1952 or 1953, although 
someone else may have better info.

The Class P2 coaches, NW 511 and 512, seated 42 people in one section and 24 
in the other section (1 partition).  These were designated "Two Compartment 
Coach."  This would have been the "Partition Coach" in your consist sketch.

The Class P3 coaches, NW 531 thru 540, seated 58 people and were designated 
"Full Coach."  This would have been the "Straight Coach" in your consist 
sketch.

As to why the vestibules were arranged as shown on your consist sketch, I 
can only speculate.  The vestibule on the first car was probably placed away 
from the steam locomotive to help avoid startling boarding passengers if the 
pop valves on the locomotive should open unexpectedly and also to minimize 
exposure to any cinders that might be coming out of the loco stack and 
blowing toward the coaches.  The adjacent vestibules on the second and third 
cars could have allowed one trainman to direct the passengers to their 
reserved seats.  This would result in directing the two races to the 
designated coaches in Virginia, which I believe was the only state on the 
N&W main line with a Jim Crow law. The two adjacent vestibules would also 
allow the trainman to direct local passengers to their seats in the forward 
coaches.  I remember that this was done, and I suspect the reason was to 
avoid disturbing the long distance passengers by people getting on and off 
for a short ride.

Gordon Hamilton

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "NW Mailing List" <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org>
To: "N&W Historical Society" <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org>
Sent: Tuesday, January 22, 2008 4:55 PM
Subject: What is a "partition coach"


Good afternoon:

I was looking at the attached page from a 1953 N&W
Consist Book.  Trains 25 and 26 included a "partition
coach" which I am unfamilar with.  It is also the only
train which included a schematic for aligning
vestibules.  Also, unlike other pages, it is missing
the notes A through F.

I'd welcome information about what a partition coach
was or other aspects about the car alignment in the
consist.

Thank you,

Frank Scheer
f_scheer at yahoo.com


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