Page 19 - JOA8-21
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photo: tpjphoto
by Maxine Carter-Lome, publisher
eorge Mortimer Pullman was born on March 3, 1831, in Brocton, New York,
just four years after the “Laying of the First Stone” ceremonies that launched
Gthe construction of the first passenger and freight rail line in the nation. By
the time of his birth, tracks were being laid across the country at a frenzied pace, and
steam-powered locomotives were changing the speed and trajectory of rail travel.
As a young man, Pullman always regarded himself as a “businessman”—an early 19th
century word used to define a man who was neither merchant nor manufacturer but
a mobilizer of capital—and was drawn to the fast pace of opportunities transpiring
during the early years of the rail industry.
After spending an uncomfortable night sleeping on an overnight train trip from
Buffalo to Westfield, New York when he was in his early 20s, Pullman realized that
there was vast market potential for comfortable, clean, efficient passenger service. He
designed an improved passenger railcar that contained comfortable sleeper berths for
all its passengers and formed a partnership with former New York State Senator
Benjamin C. Field in 1857, a close friend and neighbor, to build and operate sleeping
cars based on his design.
PULLMAN PRODUCTION
In 1858, Pullman & Field secured a contract with the Chicago and Alton Railroad
Company to redesign and remodel two of their 44-foot-long passenger coaches based
on his design. During the day, the upper berth was folded up overhead similar to the
present-day airplane overhead luggage compartment. At night, the upper berth folded
down for sleeping, and the two facing seats below were converted to provide a
relatively comfortable lower berth. Curtains provided passenger privacy, and there
were washrooms at each end of the car for men and women.
These prototype Pullmans were a slight improvement over existing sleeper cars but
were not profitable given their cost to produce. This early venture did, however, put
Pullman’s vision on track with the growing popularity of passenger rail service after
the Civil War. While was not the first to create a sleeper railcar, he was the first to
imagine it could provide added comfort, something that people would pay extra to
have on longer travels.
Over the next couple of years, Pullman worked on the design challenges of
providing passengers with comfortable rail accommodations and developed his first
Original vintage Pennsylvania Railroad poster - A luxury fleet
featuring newest Pullman refinements at low travel cost! - showing railroad sleeping car, the Pullman sleeper, or “palace car,” in 1864. Pullman designed
smartly dressed passengers enjoying the inside of a Pullman train these after the packet boats that traveled the Erie Canal during his youth, and they
carriage with a waiter serving drinks to people seated at a booth table were the country’s first introduction to his brand of luxury rail travel, which he was
opposite a man smoking a cigar and holding a newspaper next to an continually refining.
elegant lady on the side and two fashionably dressed ladies talking in The Pioneer, built in 1865, was the first, truly grand car that Pullman created. It
front of men at a bar at the end of the carriage, the stylized lettering was the ultimate in sleeping cars with red carpeting, hand-finished woodwork, and
above and below with details of the trains and their service routes. silver-trimmed coal lamps. Cast iron wheel trucks topped with coil springs and rubber
Selling for $1,349.89 at 1stdibs.com blocks provided a more comfortable ride.
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