One of our uniformed crew members putting the final touches on a lower berth on a Fall 2022 Charter.

Photo by David Splitt

Recalling the opening of a classic American folk song by Woody Guthrie…

“This land is your land

This land is my land

From the Californias to the New York island

From the redwood forests

To the gulf stream waters…”

See this land, by Pullman, aboard DOVER HARBOR.

Interested in a private charter in 2023? Let’s talk. We are now booking adventures with clients for 2023. Whether you want to give your family trip of a lifetime, enjoy travel with a group of friends, or hold a unique incentives and rewards activity or business meeting event for your company, a DOVER HARBOR journey will not disappoint. Talk with our Charter Agent for more information.

Photo by J. Lilly

Over the next few days, our fall trip line up of public DOVER HARBOR trips will be announced. The first four trips are now posted. For more information visit our Upcoming Public Trips page.

Here is a vintage Pullman Company advertisement from a brochure that touts “heart of town” convenience. Know what, that’s still true! Go Pullman. Go DOVER HARBOR.

Here is a vintage Pullman advertisement showing two gentlemen in a men’s washroom. Very nostalgic. This is grand, but aboard DOVER HARBOR your experience is even better! Each bedroom has its own sink, razor outlet, toilet, and there are plenty of towels. So the next time you travel, go the way Americans have been doing it for more almost a century, travel with us aboard DOVER HARBOR. Avoid the hassles of the security, the cramped conditions on a plane, and those long drives. We don’t serve airport or fast food!

Safety, sleep in a real bed, service, privacy, and roominess were some of the great reasons that Pullman advertised as advantages to “Going Pullman” frequently in its advertising. Here is an advertising clip from a circa 1930s Pullman ad talking about these advantages, which you may still enjoy aboard DOVER HARBOR today.

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On September 17th, 2021 DCNRHS Member Mark Piotrowski took this spectacular photo as DOVER HARBOR sailed past Shenandoah Junction, West Virginia. DOVER HARBOR was bringing up the markers on Amtrak’s Capitol Limited train No. 30 eastbound. The car was on a charter.

Shenandoah Junction is in the eastern panhandle of West Virgnia. It derives its name as a former interchange point between the Norfolk and Western Railway and the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. The train is traveling on the tracks of CSX.

We immerse our passengers in the Pullman experience in an authentic environment. We strive to provide both charter and public trip passengers not just a ride in a historic railcar, but to recreate the Legendary first-class Pullman experience as every day travelers in the United States might have experienced in the 1930s and 1940s. All that said, we can of course tailor the experience to our travelers’ needs.

Expect to experience White Jacketed Porters and Stewards serving freshly prepared meals and drinks on Pullman China, carrying luggage, turning down the berths at night, waking sleepy-eyed passengers in the morning, and providing shoe shine service overnight. Expect to relax, rest, and revel in a fun and enjoyable travel historic environment as you see the nation in “America’s Pullman.”

Of the roughly 10,000 cars built by Pullman for regular service between 1910 and the mid 1930s (heavyweight cars), DOVER HARBOR is the last revenue car in its original Pullman configuration still traveling the main lines of America behind Amtrak trains unrestricted. We work diligently on maintaining and presenting this Pullman experience by providing an authentic environment. Recently we repainted and reupholstered all the bedrooms aboard the car with period appropriate 1930s materials and colors. The lounge was repainted, curtains removed, and new blinds installed. But its often the more subtle little projects we undertake that set the experience apart.

Most all the furnishings on the car are original Pullman fixtures. However, when our organization acquired DOVER HARBOR in 1979, there was not chair at the location below. The table top area is known as the “writing desk,” a location Pullman travelers could use to write letters, send postcards, or compose telegrams. DCNRHS placed a simple wooden chair was here in the 80s for travelers to use, but it was never truly appropriate. Then last December we replaced that chair with a reproduction Pullman writing desk chair. A multi-year project, the chair was custom designed, built, upholstered, and installed based upon photos of 1930s writing desk chairs Pullman from lounge cars after extensive research. The effort was managed by our volunteer cadre and funded by a grant from the Amherst Railway Society.

Telegrams may have been replaced by email, but this location remains an authentic, relaxing, and comfortable location for our passengers to communicate with the outside world.