Coach number 2972 was built for the Long Island Railroad during 1955-56 by the Pullman Standard Car Manufacturing Company of Chicago, IL. This was one of a series of cars numbered from 2901 through 2980.

In 1967 the ownership of the Long Island Railroad became a part of a New York State Agency called the MTA (Metropolitan Transportation Authority). During this time the car was painted a platinum mist with blue stripes and lettering.

This series of cars was originally built with 3 person and 2 person walkover seats that could be flip flopped to change the direction the passengers faced depending on the direction the train was traveling. These seats were changed out during the early 80’s to the more modern style you see in the car today. The new seating was vastly more comfortable than the original seating although the passengers were relegated into sitting facing whatever direction the car happened to be when it was put in the train.

During this rebuild, the car was equipped with safety escape windows and the blue stripe on the exterior was lowered. At this same time the green tinted windows that were added in the 1960s were changed out to the standard tint windows you see now. The green windows gave the passengers the feeling of looking through murky water.

An interesting note on the paint scheme of these cars is that in 1964 all of these cars were painted for the 1964 World’s Fair that was held in New York. The cars were also painted on the exterior with the motto “Ride The Long Island - Travel Easy”. This was done to encourage the many visitors to the Fair to use the Long Island Railroad as their mode of travel while in New York.

The car was acquired from a private individual in 2005. That individual had bought the car directly from the MTA when the cars were retired. While he had the car the seating was altered and some seats were turned to face one another and some removed for more leg room. This was done to make the car conducive to the type trips that he was running and that we run today.

Car History By: Jeff Murphree