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THE STORY OF THE
PULLMAN CAR
[Illustration: GEORGE MORTIMER PULLMAN
1831-1897]
The Story of the
Pullman Car
BY
JOSEPH HUSBAND
Author of "America at Work" and "A Year in a Coal-Mine."
_ILLUSTRATED_
[Illustration]
CHICAGO
A. C. McCLURG & CO.
1917
Copyright
A. C. McCLURG & CO.
1917
Published May, 1917
W. F. HALL PRINTING COMPANY, CHICAGO
To
George Mortimer Pullman
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
Of the many books from which information was drawn for the preparation
of this volume the author wishes to make particular acknowledgment to
_The Modern Railroad_, by Mr. Edward Hungerford, to the article "Railway
Passenger Travel," by Mr. Horace Porter, published in _Scribner's
Magazine_, September, 1888; and to _Contemporary American Biography_,
as well as to the many newspapers and magazines from whose files
information and extracts have been freely drawn.
J. H.
Chicago, April, 1917
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I The Birth of Railroad Transportation 1
II The Evolution of the Sleeping Car 19
III The Rise of a Great Industry 39
IV The Pullman Car in Europe 61
V The Survival of the Fittest 73
VI The Town of Pullman 89
VII Inventions and Improvements 99
VIII How the Cars are Made 123
IX The Operation of the Pullman Car 133
Index 159
ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
George Mortimer Pullman _Frontispiece_
One of the earliest types of American passenger car 8
First locomotive built for actual service in America 9
Early passenger cars 11
American "Bogie" car in use in 1835 12
Cars and locomotive of 1845 14
Car in use in 1844 20
Car of 1831 21
Midnight in the old coaches 23
"Convenience of the new sleeping cars" 24
Early type of sleeping car 28
J. L. Barnes, first Pullman car conductor 32
One of the first cars built by George M. Pullman 42
The car in the daytime 42
Making up the berths 42
George M. Pullman explaining details of car construction 46
One of the first Pullman cars in which meals were served 52
The first parlor car, 1875 58
Interior of Pullman car of 1880 64
The rococo period car 68
More ornate interiors 74
The latest Pullman parlor car 76
First step in building the car 84
Fitting the car for steam and electricity 90
Work on steel plates for inside panels 90
Preparing the steel frame for an upper section 94
Sand blasting brass trimmings 94
Machine section, steel erecting shop 100
Fitting up the steel car underframe 100
Making cushions for the seats 104
Making chairs for parlor cars 104
Making frame end posts 106
Assembling steel car partitions 106
The vestibule in its earliest form 108
Axle generator for electric lighting 110
The sewing room, upholstering department 114
Forming steel parts for interior finish 118
Forming steel shapes for interior framing 118
Punching holes for screws 124
Shaping steel panelling 124
Riveting the underframe 126
Steel end posts in position 126
Type of early truck 128
Modern cast-steel truck 128
Ready for the interior fittings 130
Interior work 130
Pullman sleeping car, latest design 134
Front end of a private car dining room 136
Rear end of a private car dining room 136
Robert T. Lincoln, ex-President 138
Bedroom of a private car 142
Observation section of a private car 142
Modern Pullman steel sleeping car ready for the night 146
Modern Pullman steel sleeping car during the day 146
Cleaning and disinfecting the Pullman car 152
John S. Runnells, President 156
THE STORY OF THE PULLMAN CAR
CHAPTER I
THE BIRTH OF RAILROAD TRANSPORTATION
Since those distant days when man's migratory instinct first prompted
him to find fresh hunting fields and seek new caves in other lands,
human energy has been constantly employed in moving from place to place.
The fear of starvation and other elementary causes prompted the earliest
migrations. Conquest followed, and with increasing civilization came the
establishment of constant intercourse between distant places for reasons
that found existence in military necessity and commercial activity.
For centuries the sea offered the easiest highway, and the fleets
of Greece and Rome carried the culture and commerce of the day to
relatively great distances. Then followed the natural development
of land communication, and at once arose the necessity not only for
vehicles of transportation but for suitable roads over which they might
pass with comfort, speed, and safety. Over the Roman roads the commerce
of a great empire flowed in a tumultuous stream. Wheeled vehicles
rumbled along the highways--heavy springless carts to carry the
merchandise, lightly rolling carriages for the comfort of wealthy
travelers.
The elementary principle still remains. The wheel and the paved way of
Roman days correspond to the four-tracked route of level rails and the
ponderous steel wheels of the mighty Mogul of today. In speed, scope,
capacity, and comfort has the change been wrought.
The English stagecoach marked a sharp advance in the progress of
passenger transportation. With frequent relays of fast horses a fair
rate of speed was maintained, and comfort was to a degree effected by
suspension springs of leather and by interior upholstery.
An interesting example of the height of luxury achieved by coach
builders was the field carriage of the great Napoleon, which he used
in the campaign of 1815. This carriage was captured by the English at
Waterloo, and suffered the ignominious fate of being later exhibited
in Madame Tussaud's wax-work show in London. The coach was a model of
compactness, and contained a bedstead of solid steel so arranged that
the occupant's feet rested in a box projecting beyond the front of the
vehicle. Over the front windows was a roller blind, which, when pulled
down admitted the air but excluded rain. The _secrétaire_ was fitted up
for Napoleon by Marie Louise, with nearly a hundred articles, including
a magnificent breakfast service of gold, a writing desk, perfumes,
and spirit lamp. In a recess at the bottom of the toilet box were two
thousand gold napoleons, and on the top of the box were places for the
imperial wardrobe, maps, telescopes, arms, liquor case, and a large
silver chronometer by which the watches of the army were regulated. In
such quarters did the great emperor jolt along over the execrable roads
of Eastern Europe.
The stagecoach was established in England as a public conveyance
early in the sixteenth century, and soon regular routes were developed
throughout the country. Now for the first time a closed vehicle
afforded travelers comparative comfort during their journey, and in the
stagecoach with its definite schedule may be seen the early prototype of
the modern passenger railroad. For three centuries the stagecoach slowly
developed, and its popularity carried it to the continent and later
to America. But by a radical invention transportation was suddenly
transformed.
As early as the middle of the sixteenth century, and actually
contemporaneous with the inception of the stagecoach, railways, or
wagon-ways, had their origin. At first these primitive railways were
built exclusively to serve the mining districts of England and consisted
of wooden rails over which horse-drawn wagons might be moved with
greater ease than over the rough and rutted roads.
The next step forward was brought about by the natural wear of the
wheels on the wooden tracks, and consisted of a method of sheathing the
rails with thin strips of iron. To avoid the buckling which soon proved
a fault of this innovation, the first actual iron rails were cast in
1767 by the Colebrookdale Iron Works. These rails were about three feet
in length and were flanged to keep the wagon wheels on the track.
For a number of years this simple type of railroad existed with little
change. Over it freight alone was carried, and its natural limitations
and high cost, compared with the transportation afforded by canals,
seemed to hold but little promise for future expansion.
As early as 1804 Richard Trevithick had experimented with a steam
locomotive, and in the ten years following other daring spirits
endeavored to devise a practical application of the steam engine to the
railway problem. But in 1814 George Stephenson's engine, the "Blucher,"
actually drew a train of eight loaded wagons, a total weight of thirty
tons, at a speed of four miles an hour, and the age of the steam
railroad had begun.
The first railroad to adopt steam as its motive power was the Stockton
& Darlington, a "system" comprising three branches and a total of
thirty-eight miles of track. On the advice of Stephenson, horse power
was not adopted and several steam engines were built to afford the
motive power. This road was opened on September 27, 1825, and preceded
by a signalman on horseback a train of thirty-four vehicles weighing
about ninety tons departed from the terminus with the applause of the
amazed spectators.
The novelty of this new venture soon appealed so strongly to popular
fancy that a month later a passenger coach was added, and a daily
schedule between Stockton & Darlington was inaugurated.
This first railway carriage for the transportation of passengers was
aptly named the "Experiment." Consisting of the body of a stagecoach it
accommodated approximately twenty-five passengers, of which number six
found accommodations within, while the others perched on the exterior
and the roof of the vehicle. The fare for the trip was one shilling, and
each passenger was permitted to carry fourteen pounds of baggage.
This early adaption of the stagecoach to the rapidly developed demand
for passenger service necessitated the coinage of a new terminology, and
it is not surprising that many words of stagecoach days remained. Among
these "coach" is still preserved, and in England the engineer is still
called the "driver"; the conductor, "guard"; locomotive attendants in
the roundhouse, "hostlers," and the roundhouse tracks the "stalls."
In 1829 a prize of five hundred pounds ($2,500) for the best engine was
offered by the directors of the Liverpool & Manchester Railway which was
to be opened in the following year, and at the trial which was held in
October three locomotives constructed on new and high-speed principles
were entered. These were the "Rocket" by George and Robert Stephenson,
the "Novelty" by John Braithwaite and John Erickson, and the
"Sanspareil" by Timothy Hackworth. Due to the failure of the "Novelty"
and the "Sanspareil" to complete the trial run and the successful
performance of the "Rocket" in meeting the terms of the competition,
the Stephensons were awarded the prize and received an order for seven
additional locomotives. It is interesting to learn that on its initial
trip the "Rocket" attained the unprecedented speed of twenty-five miles
an hour.
In 1819 Benjamin Dearborn, of Boston, memorialized Congress in regard
to "a mode of propelling wheel-carriages" for "conveying mail and
passengers with such celerity as has never before been accomplished,
and with complete security from robbery on the highway," by "carriages
propelled by steam on level railroads, furnished with accommodations
for passengers to take their meals and rest during the passage, as
in packet; and that they be sufficiently high for persons to walk in
without stooping." Congress, however, failed to call this memorial from
the committee to which it was referred.
[Illustration: _One of the earliest types of an American passenger
car, drawn by Peter Cooper's experimental locomotive, "Tom Thumb." The
tubular boilers of the locomotive were made from gun barrels._]
The development of the locomotive in America approximates its
development in England. As early as 1827 four miles of track were laid
between Quincy and Boston for the transportation of granite for the
Bunker Hill Monument. Horses furnished the power, and the cars were
drawn over wooden rails fastened to stone sleepers.
[Illustration: _"The Best Friend," the first locomotive built for actual
service in America, hauling the first excursion train on the South
Carolina Railroad, January 15, 1831._]
But reports of the wonders of the new English railways soon crossed
the water, and in 1828 Horatio Allen was commissioned by the Delaware &
Hudson Canal Company to purchase four locomotives in England for use
on its new line from Carbondale to Honesdale, Pennsylvania. Of these
locomotives three were constructed by Foster, Rastrick, and Company, of
Stourbridge, and one by George Stephenson. The first engine to arrive
was the "Stourbridge Lion" and on the ninth of August, 1829, it was
placed on the primitive wooden rails and, to the amazement of the
spectators, Allen opened the throttle and in a cloud of smoke and
hissing steam moved down the track at the prodigious speed of ten miles
an hour.
One of the first railways in America was the old Mohawk & Hudson, which
was chartered by an act of the New York legislature on April 17, 1826.
The commissioners who were entrusted with the duty of organizing the
company met for the purpose in the office of John Jacob Astor, in New
York City, on July 29, 1826. One of their first official acts was to
appoint Peter Heming chief engineer and send him to England to examine
as to the feasibility of building a railroad. Mr. Heming's salary was
fixed at $1,500 a year. In due course of time he returned from his
European visit of observation and reported in favor of the project
under consideration. Notwithstanding that he was absent six months, the
expenses of his trip, charged by him to the company, were only $335.59.
The road first used horse power and later on adopted steam for use in
the day time, retaining horses, however, for night work. It was not
deemed safe to use steam after dark. At first the trains consisted
of one car each, in construction closely resembling the old-fashioned
stagecoach.
The road connected the two towns of Albany and Schenectady, and was
seventeen miles in length, but the portion operated by steam was only
fourteen miles in length, horses being used on the inclined plane
division from the top of one hill to the top of another.
[Illustration: _Early passenger cars, designed after the then prevalent
type of horse coach. These cars were part of the train that ran on the
formal opening of the Mohawk & Hudson Railroad (the first link of the
New York Central System) on July 5, 1831._]
Three years later a prize of $4,000 was offered by the Baltimore & Ohio
Company for an American engine, and the following year a locomotive
constructed by Davis and Gastner won the award by drawing fifteen tons
at the rate of fifteen miles an hour. In 1832, Matthias W. Baldwin,
founder of the Baldwin Locomotive Works in Philadelphia, designed his
first locomotive, "Old Ironsides," for the Philadelphia, Germantown &
Morristown Railroad; and soon after his second locomotive, the "E. L.
Miller," was put in service on the South Carolina Railroad.
[Illustration: _One of the first important improvements made by America
in passenger cars was the introduction of the "bogie," or truck; the
short curves of the American roads compelling the abandonment of the
English type of four-wheeled car with rigid axles. The illustration
shows a "bogie" car used on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad in 1835._]
The first passenger service to be put in regular operation in America
must be credited to the Charleston & Hamburg Railroad in the late fall
of 1830. The following year construction was begun on the Boston &
Lowell Railroad, and in the same year a passenger train, previously
mentioned, was put in service between Albany and Schenectady on the new
Mohawk & Hudson Railroad.
The journal of Samuel Breck of Boston, affords an interesting glimpse of
the conditions of contemporary railroad travel:
_July 22, 1835._ This morning at nine o'clock I took passage on a
railroad car (from Boston) for Providence. Five or six other cars
were attached to the locomotive, and uglier boxes I do not wish to
travel in. They were made to stow away some thirty human beings, who
sit cheek by jowl as best they can. Two poor fellows who were not
much in the habit of making their toilet, squeezed me into a corner,
while the hot sun drew from their garments a villainous compound
of smells made up of salt fish, tar, and molasses. By and by just
twelve--only twelve--bouncing factory girls were introduced, who
were going on a party of pleasure to Newport. "Make room for the
ladies!" bawled out the superintendent. "Come gentlemen, jump up on
top; plenty of room there!" "I'm afraid of the bridge knocking
my brains out," said a passenger. Some made one excuse, and some
another. For my part, I flatly told him that since I had belonged to
the corps of Silver Grays I had lost my gallantry and did not intend
to move. The whole twelve were, however, introduced, and soon made
themselves at home, sucking lemons, and eating green apples.... The
rich and the poor, the educated and the ignorant, the polite and the
vulgar, all herd together in this modern improvement in traveling
... and all this for the sake of doing very uncomfortably in two
days what would be done delightfully in eight or ten.
[Illustration: _Cars and locomotive in use on the Camden & Amboy
Railroad in 1845. The cars were heated by wood stoves, the glass sash
was stationary, and ventilation was possible only from a wooden-panelled
window which could be raised a few inches._]
To follow further the rapid development of the railroad in America would
require many volumes. As the canal building fever had seized the fancy
of the American public in preceding years, so a similar enthusiasm
was instantly kindled in the new railroad, and railroad travel became
immediately the most popular diversion. In a relatively few years a web
of track carried the smoking locomotive and its rumbling train of cars
throughout the country. Crude, and lacking almost every convenience
of the passenger coach of the present day, the early railway carriage
served fully its new-born function. To the latter half of the century
was reserved the development of those refinements which have rendered
travel safe and comfortable, and the perfecting of those vast
organizations that have placed in American hands the railroad supremacy
of the world.