The City of Memphis was a 239 miles (384.6 km) passenger train route operated by the Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway

Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway

The Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway was a railway company operating in the southern United States in Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia...

 connecting Nashville

Nashville, Tennessee

Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...

 and Memphis

Memphis, Tennessee

Memphis is a city in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. The city is located on the 4th Chickasaw Bluff, south of the confluence of the Wolf and Mississippi rivers....

, Tennessee

Tennessee

Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...

.

Background

The City of Memphis was powered by one of the last steam locomotive

Locomotive

A locomotive is a railway vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. The word originates from the Latin loco – "from a place", ablative of locus, "place" + Medieval Latin motivus, "causing motion", and is a shortened form of the term locomotive engine, first used in the early 19th...

s ever streamlined. The six cars were all rebuilt and streamlined by the NC&StL shops from heavyweight cars. The six cars were originally Pullman

Pullman Company

The Pullman Palace Car Company, founded by George Pullman, manufactured railroad cars in the mid-to-late 19th century through the early decades of the 20th century, during the boom of railroads in the United States. Pullman developed the sleeping car which carried his name into the 1980s...

 Heavyweight Parlor Cars before purchase by the NC&STL for conversion to coaches in June 1941.

Equipment

• 1040 ex Coach 733 originally Pullman Parlor Hawstone
• 1100 ex Coach 731 originally Pullman Parlor Loudonville
• 1101 ex Coach 732 originally Pullman Parlor Kewanna
• 1102 ex Coach 735 originally Pullman Parlor Lilly
• 1200 ex Coach 730 originally Pullman Parlor Wallaceton
• 1103 ex Coach 734 originally Pullman Parlor Greencastle

The six car consist had a revenue seating capacity of 204 and was built to operate on a fast five hour schedule between Nashville and Memphis a distance of 239 miles (384.6 km). The train set operated a daily round trip and lasted beyond the Louisville and Nashville Railroad

Louisville and Nashville Railroad

The Louisville and Nashville Railroad was a Class I railroad that operated freight and passenger services in the southeast United States.Chartered by the state of Kentucky in 1850, the L&N, as it was generally known, grew into one of the great success stories of American business...

 takeover of the NC&StL.

City of Memphis consist

• 535 Streamlined K-2d 4-6-2
  4-6-2
  4-6-2, in the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, represents the wheel arrangement of four leading wheels on two axles , six powered and coupled driving wheels on three axles, and two trailing wheels on one axle .These locomotives are also known as Pacifics...
  
  Pacific Locomotive and Tender
• 1040 Baggage 30-foot Railway Post Office Car
• 1100 44 Revenue seat Coach with 8 seat Dinette 10 seat Lounge
• 1101 56 Revenue seat Coach
• 1102 56 Revenue seat Coach
• 1200 24-seat Dining 24 seat Tavern Lounge Car
• 1103 48 Revenue seat Coach 21 seat Lounge Observation