One-Millionth Pullman-Standard Freight Car
Bessemer, Alabama
A 1,000,000th of anything is important. It's not surprising that there might be several claimants to such a momentous title. But a boxcar? In fact, three different boxcars in three different states claim to be the one-millionth built by Pullman-Standard. One is at the Railway Museum in Union, Illinois; another is near Gibson Woods Park in Hammond, Indiana; and then there's this one.
Bessemer's boxcar should be the favorite, since it was built here and it's the only one of the three outfitted as an attraction. But the curator at the Bessemer Hall of History Museum across the street wasn't sure if this was boxcar 1,000,000 or 1,000,001 (The word "commemorating" on its side sounds evasive). A club from Birmingham named "The Wrecking Crew" has filled it with a working model railroad display, depicting downtown Bessemer circa 1950 from the perspective of the spot currently occupied by the boxcar.
The Pullman-Standard factory in Bessemer closed in the early 1990s, apparently before it could build boxcar 2,000,000.