Bangor & Aroostook Railroad Passenger Coach Replica

This recreation of a Civil War era Bangor and Aroostook day car offers insight into both railroad engineering and social interaction in nineteenth-century America. The car is almost completely constructed from wood the cheap, lightweight, and easily worked building material of choice in that period. Essentially one long room mounted on two swiveling four wheel trucks, it enables maximum passenger accommodation in a stable structure capable of negotiating the tight curves found on railroads in the United States. Open cars (in contrast to the small stagecoach-like compartments of European railroad vehicles) are frequently interpreted as embodying American democratic values. From a practical standpoint however, such cars not only allowed passengers to move about on long journeys but also greatly simplified railcar construction.