



Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images
generously made available by The Internet Archive)







[Transcriber's Note: Underscores are used as delimiters for _italics_]




  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