The engineer of the Rocket was also the fireman. When his steam was running low he reached over, grabbed a log from the pile along the platform, thrust it into the fire box, then again became an engineer. There was only one lever, and that was the throttle. All the way ahead there was one speed, same in reverse. There were only four wheels and no driving rods. There were no brakes on the Rocket. It had a kerosene bull’s eye and a pop whistle, and at night when it came crashing along at its twenty-mile clip, its bull’s-eye quivering, its stack emitting sparks, its whistle popping, it was the marvel of the countryside.
Of almost equal interest are the stories of the first day coaches and the Pullman cars. In the early days the coaches were very narrow, built to meet the conditions of the narrow-gauge tracks, as there was a row of double seats in one side of the aisle and a row of single seats on the other.
There were first and second class coaches, designated by the figure 1 and 2 on the sides of the car. Those of the first class were upholstered with black hair cloth, while the second-class had only plain wooden seats and backs. The windows were small and placed near the roof.
In the winter the cars were heated with wood stoves. The cars were lighted with candles. When a change from one line to another was made each passenger picked out his own baggage and attended to its loading on the new train.
At the dining stations the menu consisted of coffee and ham sandwiches and sometimes beef stew.
The first sleeping cars were the ordinary day coaches changed by adding sleeping requirements. They were usually divided into four compartments, in each of which three bunks were built against one side of the car, while in a corner of the rear end of the car were provided water, a towel and a basin. No bedclothes were furnished, and the passengers, fully dressed, retired upon rough mattresses with their overcoats pulled over them for covering.
Continued patronage by the public of the day coaches, parlor, sleeping and dining cars led, step by step to the facilities for comfortable and luxurious travel offered today, where there is nothing left to be desired and modern American railroad comfort is supreme.
Mary Jemison, White Woman of Genesee,
Captured April 5, 1758
