Passenger Equipment

The Rebel cars, including the power cars, were built at ACF's Berwick, Pennsylvania, plant with Alco-Westinghouse traction equipment. The trains were not articulated, and their operation required switching cars in and out en route. The power car had mail and baggage compartments. A Jim Crow buffet-coach and an observation-sleeper made up the basic consist of the original two Rebels, with an extra coach switched in between Jackson, Mississippi, and New Orleans, where traffic was the heaviest. Power car #354, added in 1937, was distinguished by having about twice the radiator space in the roof as compared to the original two cars, though mechanically it was nearly identical. It handled a sing combination sleeper and coach from Mobile, Alabama, to Union, Mississippi, where the northbound car was cut into the mainline Rebel and a sister car was picked up from the southbound Rebel for return with #354 to Mobile.

Jerry Pinkepank, Second Diesel Spotter's Guide