Treasures at the MOT - March 2008
By Fred Blank

# 3600 Anheuser-Busch "Beer Car" 1904

Produced in 1904 by the St. Louis Refrigerator Car Company, this was one of the first Anheuser-Busch cars designed to transport draught beer. Although it incorporates a steel frame, it is wood-bodied and is insulated with horsehair, shredded paper, and wood shavings. Pre-cooled beer was loaded into the car, whose insulation kept the A-B products cool in warm weather and from freezing in winter. It is one of the oldest surviving examples of "billboard" advertising on railroad freight cars. Number 3600 was donated to MOT in April 1958. Records indicate #3600 transported 6,277,500 gallons of beer between the St. Louis brewery and Texas distribution points before it was removed from service.

Did You Realize: Pullman Cars gained popularity after being used in the funeral train that transported the body of President Abraham Lincoln from Washington, D.C. to Springfield, IL?

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