George M. Pullman explaining details of car construction
But perhaps one of the most interesting insights into the condition which the new Pullman cars were so quick to remedy, is found in the Chicago Tribune, June 20, 1865. After a veritable eulogy on the elegance and comfort of the Pullman car, the writer draws the following enviable contrast.
It leaves to others to ticket the actual transit, so many miles for so much money, and comes in with its cars as the Ticket Agent of Comfort, sells you coupons to rest and ease by the way. So you wish to go through to New York or Baltimore, yourself, Belinda, Biddy and the baby, baskets, bundles, etc? You think of changes of cars by night, and rushes for seats for your party by day, of seats foul with the scrapings of dirty boots, of floors flowing with saliva, of coarse faces and coarse conversation, of seats you cannot recline in, of the ordinary discomforts of a long journey by rail!
It is small wonder that the new Pullman cars found an appreciative welcome!
In 1866 five Pullman sleeping cars were put in operation on the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad, and late in May an excursion for several hundred invited guests was given from Chicago to Aurora, Illinois, and return. The new cars were named, "Atlantic," "Pacific," "Aurora," "City of Chicago," and "Omaha." Occasioned by the comforts which this new equipment disclosed a current newspaper remarked:
Pullman is a benefactor to his kind. The dreaded journey to New York becomes a mere holiday excursion in his delightful coaches, and, by the way, he will soon have a through line from Chicago to New York, in which a man need never leave his place from one city to the other.
The year 1867 marks the incorporation of Pullman's Palace Car Company, for the purpose of the manufacture and operation of sleeping cars. At the time of incorporation George M. Pullman owned all of the sleeping cars on the Michigan Central Railroad, Great Western [Canada] Railroad, and the New York Central Railroad lines, a grand total of forty-eight cars. In the operation of these cars he was ably assisted by his brother, A. B. Pullman, who held the office of general superintendent.
In forming the Pullman Company, the founder aspired to establish an organized system by which the traveling public might be enabled to travel in luxurious cars of uniform construction, adapted to both night and day requirements, without change between distant points, and over various distinct lines of railroads. In addition, such a service would provide the heretofore unknown asset of responsible employees to whose care might be entrusted women, children, and invalids. It was a service that was sorely needed, and indication pointed to its prompt acceptance by the railroads and the public.
In the same year a remarkable achievement in railroad travel was accomplished. Due to the different gauge tracks in use by the several railroads connecting Chicago and New York, the continuous passage of a car from one city to the other was impossible. But in 1867 the standardization of the gauge was effected by the completion of a third rail on the Great Western [Canada] Railroad, and to mark this opening of through communication, an excursion was arranged from Chicago to New York on the "Western World," the newest Pullman "hotel" sleeping car.