File:The story of the Pullman car (1917) (14737352216).jpg

Identifier: storyofpullmancahusb (find matches)
Title: The story of the Pullman car
Year: 1917 (1910s)
Authors: Husband, Joseph, 1885-1938
Subjects: Pullman Company Sleeping cars (Railroads)
Publisher: Chicago, A. C. McClurg & co.
Contributing Library: Boston College Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Boston Library Consortium Member Libraries

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Text Appearing Before Image:
his ideas the practical test. The story of this
first application of these revolutionizing ideas to the
railroad coaches then in use is best told in the words
of Leonard Seibert, who was at that time an
employee on the Chicago & Alton Railroad.
In 1858 Mr. Pullman came to Bloomington and
engaged me to do the work of remodelling two Chicago
& Alton coaches into the first Pullman sleeping-cars.
The contract was that Mr. Pullman should make all
necessary changes inside of the cars. After looking over
the entire passenger car equipment of the road, which at
that time constituted about a dozen cars, we selected
Coaches Nos. 9 and 19. They were forty-four feet long,
had flat roofs like box cars, single sash windows, of
which there were fourteen on a side, the glass in each
sash being only a little over one foot square. The roof
was only a trifle over six feet from the floor of the car.
Into this car we got ten sleeping-car sections, besides a
linen locker and two washrooms — one at each end.

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Text Appearing After Image:

Early type of sleeping car. The traveler rarely removed more than his outer clothing, and
offentimes kept his boots on.

EVOLUTION OF THE SLEEPING CAR

The wood used in the interior finish was cherry.
Mr. Pullman was anxious to get hickory, to stand the
hard usage which it was supposed the cars would receive.
I worked part of the summer of 1858, employing an
assistant or two, and the cars went into service in the
fall of 1858. There were no blue-prints or plans made
for the remodelling of these first two sleeping-cars, and
Mr. Pullman and I worked out the details and measure-
ments as we came to them. The two cars cost Mr. Pull-
man not more than $2,000, or $1,000 each. They were
upholstered in plush, lighted by oil lamps, heated with
box stoves, and mounted on four-wheel trucks with iron
wheels. There was no porter in those days; the brake-
man made up the beds.
In the construction of these first sleeping cars Mr.
Pullman introduced his invention of upper berth
construction by means of which the upper berth
might be closed in the day time and also serve as a
receptacle for bedding. Other improvements and
devices were worked out and tested, and from these

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