ILLUSTRATIONS
| PAGE | |
| George Mortimer Pullman | [Frontispiece] |
| One of the earliest types of American passenger car | [8] |
| First locomotive built for actual service in America | [9] |
| Early passenger cars | [11] |
| American "Bogie" car in use in 1835 | [12] |
| Cars and locomotive of 1845 | [14] |
| Car in use in 1844 | [20] |
| Car of 1831 | [21] |
| Midnight in the old coaches | [23] |
| "Convenience of the new sleeping cars" | [24] |
| Early type of sleeping car | [28] |
| J. L. Barnes, first Pullman car conductor | [32] |
| One of the first cars built by George M. Pullman | [42] |
| The car in the daytime | [42] |
| Making up the berths | [42] |
| George M. Pullman explaining details of car construction | [46] |
| One of the first Pullman cars in which meals were served | [52] |
| The first parlor car, 1875 | [58] |
| Interior of Pullman car of 1880 | [64] |
| The rococo period car | [68] |
| More ornate interiors | [74] |
| The latest Pullman parlor car | [76] |
| First step in building the car | [84] |
| Fitting the car for steam and electricity | [90] |
| Work on steel plates for inside panels | [90] |
| Preparing the steel frame for an upper section | [94] |
| Sand blasting brass trimmings | [94] |
| Machine section, steel erecting shop | [100] |
| Fitting up the steel car underframe | [100] |
| Making cushions for the seats | [104] |
| Making chairs for parlor cars | [104] |
| Making frame end posts | [106] |
| Assembling steel car partitions | [106] |
| The vestibule in its earliest form | [108] |
| Axle generator for electric lighting | [110] |
| The sewing room, upholstering department | [114] |
| Forming steel parts for interior finish | [118] |
| Forming steel shapes for interior framing | [118] |
| Punching holes for screws | [124] |
| Shaping steel panelling | [124] |
| Riveting the underframe | [126] |
| Steel end posts in position | [126] |
| Type of early truck | [128] |
| Modern cast-steel truck | [128] |
| Ready for the interior fittings | [130] |
| Interior work | [130] |
| Pullman sleeping car, latest design | [134] |
| Front end of a private car dining room | [136] |
| Rear end of a private car dining room | [136] |
| Robert T. Lincoln, ex-President | [138] |
| Bedroom of a private car | [142] |
| Observation section of a private car | [142] |
| Modern Pullman steel sleeping car ready for the night | [146] |
| Modern Pullman steel sleeping car during the day | [146] |
| Cleaning and disinfecting the Pullman car | [152] |
| John S. Runnells, President | [156] |
CHAPTER I
THE BIRTH OF RAILROAD TRANSPORTATION
Since those distant days when man's migratory instinct first prompted him to find fresh hunting fields and seek new caves in other lands, human energy has been constantly employed in moving from place to place. The fear of starvation and other elementary causes prompted the earliest migrations. Conquest followed, and with increasing civilization came the establishment of constant intercourse between distant places for reasons that found existence in military necessity and commercial activity.
For centuries the sea offered the easiest highway, and the fleets of Greece and Rome carried the culture and commerce of the day to relatively great distances. Then followed the natural development of land communication, and at once arose the necessity not only for vehicles of transportation but for suitable roads over which they might pass with comfort, speed, and safety. Over the Roman roads the commerce of a great empire flowed in a tumultuous stream. Wheeled vehicles rumbled along the highways—heavy springless carts to carry the merchandise, lightly rolling carriages for the comfort of wealthy travelers.
The elementary principle still remains. The wheel and the paved way of Roman days correspond to the four-tracked route of level rails and the ponderous steel wheels of the mighty Mogul of today. In speed, scope, capacity, and comfort has the change been wrought.
The English stagecoach marked a sharp advance in the progress of passenger transportation. With frequent relays of fast horses a fair rate of speed was maintained, and comfort was to a degree effected by suspension springs of leather and by interior upholstery.
An interesting example of the height of luxury achieved by coach builders was the field carriage of the great Napoleon, which he used in the campaign of 1815. This carriage was captured by the English at Waterloo, and suffered the ignominious fate of being later exhibited in Madame Tussaud's wax-work show in London. The coach was a model of compactness, and contained a bedstead of solid steel so arranged that the occupant's feet rested in a box projecting beyond the front of the vehicle. Over the front windows was a roller blind, which, when pulled down admitted the air but excluded rain. The secrétaire was fitted up for Napoleon by Marie Louise, with nearly a hundred articles, including a magnificent breakfast service of gold, a writing desk, perfumes, and spirit lamp. In a recess at the bottom of the toilet box were two thousand gold napoleons, and on the top of the box were places for the imperial wardrobe, maps, telescopes, arms, liquor case, and a large silver chronometer by which the watches of the army were regulated. In such quarters did the great emperor jolt along over the execrable roads of Eastern Europe.
The stagecoach was established in England as a public conveyance early in the sixteenth century, and soon regular routes were developed throughout the country. Now for the first time a closed vehicle afforded travelers comparative comfort during their journey, and in the stagecoach with its definite schedule may be seen the early prototype of the modern passenger railroad. For three centuries the stagecoach slowly developed, and its popularity carried it to the continent and later to America. But by a radical invention transportation was suddenly transformed.