Railcars #90 and #91 - Henry Flagler's "Jets"

Flagler's FEC #91 at The Flagler Museum, Palm Beach, FL

As one might expect since he was building railroads, Henry Flagler had his own private railcars. Back in those days, owning a railcar, known as "private varnish", must have seemed a little like owning your own Gulfstream private jet today. However, in relative terms, railcars weren't that overly expensive then. They ran into the $70,000 range in the 1900s which is about $2.5 million in 2023 dollars. The more considerable expenses were the grand homes they built and the yachts. The steam yachts could run into the $500,000 range (or more) - approximately $18 Million in 2023 dollars.

FEC# 91 - 1886

Henry owned multiple railcars through the years. One favorite was FEC #91, which was his original railcar, can be see in the video below. Car FEC#91 was built in 1886 by the Jackson and Sharp Company in Wilmington, Delaware. There are some conflicting stories, but its likely this coach was named "Rambler". The Flagler Museum in Palm Beach, Fl acquired the car in 1959 and restored it to its original appearance.

FEC# 90 - 1898

One of his later cars was FEC #90 seen below. Car #90 was built in 1898 by Jackson & Sharpe in Wilmington, Delaware, and was Henry Flagler's personal private car. FEC and Flagler spared no expense in decorating the car, and the fine craftsmanship still shows today, inside and out. If this car could talk, I bet it could tell all about the history of railroads in Florida. Luckily this has been restored and is housed at the Monon Railway museum in Monon, Indiana. You can see some of that car here https://mononconnection.net/flagler-car-90/

A little trivia, what we know now as FEC#91 above was originally named FEC#90. It was built in 1886. When Henry bought a new car in 1898, he renamed the older car FEC#91 and then named the new car we see below FEC#90.

Flaglers FEC #90 at the Monon Railway Museum in Monon, Indiana.

Mary Lily's Car

We know Mary Lily Flagler had a Pullman car as well, delivered in July 1916. Unfortunately, Mary Lily would pass away just one year later in July of 1917. There are no known pictures of her railcar Whitehall. In 1936 Whitehall was converted to a less glamorous TC (tourist car), # 2121 and resold, possibly to Southern Pacific Railroad.

Harkness Railcars

The only Harkness family members that owned their own private varnish were:

1) Edward Harkness owned railcar Pelham built 1917.

2) A. Kingsley Macomber and Myrtle Harkness Macomber owned railcar Seminole, built 1915.

Built by the Pullman Co. to the Macombers’ design, the Seminole, now owned by the Old Smoky Railway Museum in Knoxville, carried the Macombers to annual horseracing and society events.

While the other Harknesses owned yachts, they usually just rented or had free access to private railcars. If you were a major stockholder or on the board of directors for a railroad, you were able to use their private cars for free. It was also common for owners to rent out their cars, much like NetJets today. They rented for around $100 a day. Of course, there were additional charges by the railroad for servicing the car and pulling it at a cost-per-mile rate. This was still likely much more cost-effective than owning your own railcar, though.

JD Rockefeller also eschewed yacht and private railcar ownership. He did however rent private railcars to travel. He traveled secretly to avoid the press and other interruptions.