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Go back to Afternoon Train Replaced by "Studemotive"
KV Represented at NY Worlds Fair
The KV brought recognition to
Belleville by being represented in a railroad exhibit
at the World's Fair of 1939, held in New York City. That year the Pennsylvania
Railroad formed a committee to locate examples of PRR
engines and cars that were considered streamlined fifty years ago for an exhibit. As a
local newspaper reported:
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Combine No.2 designated to storage detail behind the engine house in 1937. (David Cope collection from the Railroad Museum of PA, PHMC)
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"A committee in charge of a railroad exhibit at the fair decided to display three
types of, or styles of coaches or trains, the ancient, the medial and the modern.
The two latter types were not hard to procure since many are in use at the present time.
But an ancient coach, one used in the early history of American railroading is hard
to find... In some manner the committee learned that the
KVRR had some ancient
stock and came to Belleville to investigate. Representatives made several trips
here and finally contracted with the KV
management to purchase a number of parts."
It is believed that the items purchased, were from old combine
No.2. This is the car that the railroad bought used
in 1895, and had served the railroad in one capacity or another for 45 years. Officially, it
left the rolling stock roster in 1932, less than four years after being put on standby duty.
Upon leaving the roster, the car was dragged behind the engine house and used for storage.
Although not considered ancient, as the paper implied, No.2
(and all of the coaches the KV owned at that time) did represent the type of coach typically
used during the turn of the century. The parts taken included seats, door locks, handrails,
brake valves and toilet fixtures, among others. The pieces were used to equip a reconstructed
coach in Altoona. This coach, along with several other cars shown at the World’s Fair, is on
display at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania (www.rrmuseumpa.org)
in Strasburg.
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