The invention of the folding upper berth combination by Mr. Pullman was the first of many contributions by himself, and in later years by the Pullman Company and those associated with it, to the development of railway travel. Sleeping cars for a number of years had given night accommodations to travelers; there was nothing new in the idea that a night journey required sleeping accommodations. But in the new and radical berth construction devised by Mr. Pullman lay the difference between impracticability and practicability—between discomfort and luxury.
The earliest sleeping cars were mere bunk cars in which the male passengers might recline during the night hours. Later, bedding was furnished, but the necessity of storing it by day in a closet at the end of the cars created a situation in which order and cleanliness were far from practicable. By the Pullman invention, however, all this was changed. A type of car was developed that was not only comfortable and convenient for day travel, but one that might be quickly transformed into a comfortable sleeping apartment. Furthermore, the new upper berth construction made it possible to pack away by day the entire bedding, mattresses, curtains, and partitions necessary to convert each section into a double sleeping apartment.
With this simple mechanical innovation the inventor combined an idea characterized by a breadth of vision that ranks with the great ideas of the century. In few words, he conceived the thought that it would be possible at one stroke to supplant the inadequate and inefficient service of the day with a new service so complete in its comforts and conveniences that no one might express a wish that the service might be unable to fulfill.
View of machine section. Steel Erecting Shops
Fitting up the steel car underframe. Steel Erecting Shops
It is interesting, in passing, to consider the fact that up to the development of the Pullman car, night trains were patronized exclusively by men, for no woman would have considered subjecting herself to the inconvenience and lack of privacy of the ordinary sleeping car. The development of the Pullman car and Pullman service made continuous day and night travel practical for women and children; it created the comforts and privacies they naturally required. To be sure it was several years before the new order of things received general recognition, but the public quickly caught on. "Travel by Pullman" soon became a popular diversion.
The story of the early years of the Pullman sleeping car has been told in the foregoing chapters. Due in large measure to the comfort and convenience of the cars, continuous travel lengthened, and at once arose the necessity for eating as well as sleeping accommodations on the through long-distance trains.
For a number of years foreign travelers in America had praised the elaborate restaurant service afforded by certain station eating-houses. Towns developed keen rivalry in respect to the meals provided by their station "counters," and the station restaurants of certain towns developed among constant travelers a reputation for unusual culinary excellence. Our fathers will doubtless recall the glorious fame of dining rooms at Poughkeepsie, Springfield, and Altoona, and of certain dishes that enjoyed nation-wide reputation and might be had only at this or that particular station restaurant.