“Nova Scotia”

The Nova Scotia passenger coach, also known as the “Bride’s Car,” was built c.1838 for the General Director of the General Mining Association of Nova Scotia (GMA). For most of its active career, it was used to carry the director, company executives, and special guests between the Albion Mines of Stellarton and the shores of Pictou Harbor. Predating Queen Adelaide’s royal coach by about 4 years, the Nova Scotia is likely the oldest surviving private rail car in the world.  

After purchasing the private coach for his employer in 1883, B&O publicist J.G. Pangborn had the Nova Scotia featured in several railway exhibitions. It is possible that Nova Scotia first received its “Bride’s Car” nickname during the 1927 Fair of the Iron Horse. During the fair, it was declared that the passenger coach had once carried the Governor of Lower Canada (currently the Province of Quebec) and his bride immediately after their wedding reception. Some historians believe that this story is true, and that the wedding took place in 1840. Others argue that it was the General Director of the GMA, not the Governor of Lower Canada, who rode the passenger car enroute to his honeymoon. And then there are rail scholars who argue that the famous wedding story was entirely fabricated.  

In 1940, the Nova Scotia appeared at the World’s Fair in New York City, where it was used as a prop in a show entitled “Railroads on Parade.” During the show, two actors posing as newlyweds rode the passenger car as another set of actors (the “parents” of the “bride and groom”) bid them farewell. The Nova Scotia’s role in the performance was clearly informed by its “Bridal Coach” identity. Between showings of “Railroads on Parade,” the Nova Scotia was left open for the public. Young women were told that, if they sat in the passenger coach for five minutes without speaking, they would be married by the end of the year. It is unclear whether the New York World’s Fair was the origin of this game, but we do know that the game evolved over the years. One later document states that a person must sit in silence for 10 minutes, and that the odds of success will increase if the subject of the maiden’s affection witnesses the act.