The Story of the Pullman Car

by Joseph Husband

As early as the middle of the sixteenth century, and actually contemporaneous with the inception of the stagecoach, railways, or wagon-ways, had their origin. At first these primitive railways were built exclusively to serve the mining districts of England and consisted of wooden rails over which horse-drawn wagons might be moved with greater ease than over the rough and rutted roads.

The next step forward was brought about by the natural wear of the wheels on the wooden tracks, and consisted of a method of sheathing the rails with thin strips of iron. To avoid the buckling which soon proved a fault of this innovation, the first actual iron rails were cast in 1767 by the Colebrookdale Iron Works. These rails were about three feet in length and were flanged to keep the wagon wheels on the track.

For a number of years this simple type of railroad existed with little change. Over it freight alone was carried, and its natural limitations and high cost, compared with the transportation afforded by canals, seemed to hold but little promise for future expansion.

As early as 1804 Richard Trevithick had experimented with a steam locomotive, and in the ten years following other daring spirits endeavored to devise a practical application of the steam engine to the railway problem. But in 1814 George Stephenson's engine, the "Blucher," actually drew a train of eight loaded wagons, a total weight of thirty tons, at a speed of four miles an hour, and the age of the steam railroad had begun.

The first railroad to adopt steam as its motive power was the Stockton & Darlington, a "system" comprising three branches and a total of thirty-eight miles of track. On the advice of Stephenson, horse power was not adopted and several steam engines were built to afford the motive power. This road was opened on September 27, 1825, and preceded by a signalman on horseback a train of thirty-four vehicles weighing about ninety tons departed from the terminus with the applause of the amazed spectators.

The novelty of this new venture soon appealed so strongly to popular fancy that a month later a passenger coach was added, and a daily schedule between Stockton & Darlington was inaugurated.

This first railway carriage for the transportation of passengers was aptly named the "Experiment." Consisting of the body of a stagecoach it accommodated approximately twenty-five passengers, of which number six found accommodations within, while the others perched on the exterior and the roof of the vehicle. The fare for the trip was one shilling, and each passenger was permitted to carry fourteen pounds of baggage.

This early adaption of the stagecoach to the rapidly developed demand for passenger service necessitated the coinage of a new terminology, and it is not surprising that many words of stagecoach days remained. Among these "coach" is still preserved, and in England the engineer is still called the "driver"; the conductor, "guard"; locomotive attendants in the roundhouse, "hostlers," and the roundhouse tracks the "stalls."

In 1829 a prize of five hundred pounds ($2,500) for the best engine was offered by the directors of the Liverpool & Manchester Railway which was to be opened in the following year, and at the trial which was held in October three locomotives constructed on new and high-speed principles were entered. These were the "Rocket" by George and Robert Stephenson, the "Novelty" by John Braithwaite and John Erickson, and the "Sanspareil" by Timothy Hackworth. Due to the failure of the "Novelty" and the "Sanspareil" to complete the trial run and the successful performance of the "Rocket" in meeting the terms of the competition, the Stephensons were awarded the prize and received an order for seven additional locomotives. It is interesting to learn that on its initial trip the "Rocket" attained the unprecedented speed of twenty-five miles an hour.

In 1819 Benjamin Dearborn, of Boston, memorialized Congress in regard to "a mode of propelling wheel-carriages" for "conveying mail and passengers with such celerity as has never before been accomplished, and with complete security from robbery on the highway," by "carriages propelled by steam on level railroads, furnished with accommodations for passengers to take their meals and rest during the passage, as in packet; and that they be sufficiently high for persons to walk in without stooping." Congress, however, failed to call this memorial from the committee to which it was referred.