The Louisville and Nashville Combine Car Number 665, also known as the "Jim Crow Car", is a historic railcar on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

, currently at the

Kentucky Railway Museum The Kentucky Railway Museum, now located in New Haven, Kentucky, United States, is a non-profit railroad museum dedicated to educating the public regarding the history and heritage of Kentucky's railroads and the people who built them. Originall ...

at New Haven, Kentucky, in southernmost Nelson County, Kentucky. The Combine car was built at the American Car and Foundry Company located in

Jeffersonville, Indiana Jeffersonville is a city and the county seat of Clark County, Indiana, Clark County, Indiana, United States, situated along the Ohio River. Locally, the city is often referred to by the abbreviated name Jeff. It lies directly across the Ohio River ...

in 1913; a custom design given to it by the

Louisville and Nashville Railroad The Louisville and Nashville Railroad , commonly called the L&N, was a Class I railroad that operated freight and passenger services in the southeast United States. Chartered by the Commonwealth of Kentucky in 1850, the road grew into one of the ...

. It was number 865, later numbered 665.Parrent p.7-1 It served at least three different branches of the L&N: Maysville Branch, Glasgow Branch, and Springfield Branch.Parrent p.8-2 Its nickname, the "Jim Crow Car", relates to the

Jim Crow laws The Jim Crow laws were state and local laws enforcing racial segregation in the Southern United States. Other areas of the United States were affected by formal and informal policies of segregation as well, but many states outside the Sout ...

of pre-1965 United States, which allowed for separate facilities for blacks under the policy of separate but equal. A law passed on May 24, 1892, called the

Separate Coach Law Separate or separates may refer to: *Soil separates, three kinds of soil mineral particles: sand, silt, and clay *Separate (song), 2016 song by South African songstress Amanda Black *Separates (clothing), Mix-and-match separates, clothing * ''Sep ...

, specifically declared that railroad passenger cars must be segregated. It is the only preserved two wood side steel car; one of only two ever made. The car is by and weighs . It has a central baggage section separating two passenger sections. Each passenger section has a cast-iron stove and a bathroom. Waste from the bathrooms was deposited directly on the rails. In 1919 the L&N was forced by law to have a separate coach for blacks; often white drunks would be placed in the black car instead of one of those for whites. In 1958 the car was given to the Kentucky Railway Museum by the Louisville and Nashville Railroad. When '' The General'' of Great Locomotive Chase fame was undergoing restoration in 1962 by the L&N, the Combine Car was hooked up to ''The General'' to test how well the engine was repaired. During the trips the Combine Car held several different artifacts related to the Chase for its passengers to admire.Herr p.323

References

* * {{Authority control Louisville and Nashville Railroad National Register of Historic Places in New Haven, Kentucky Railway vehicles on the National Register of Historic Places in Kentucky American Car and Foundry Company Vehicles introduced in 1913