Re: accommodations in a NG Pullman/coaches
| August 19, 2019 06:29AM |
Brian Norden Wrote:
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> "Luxury accommodations in a NG Pullman" -- when
> you say that you better have a smile.
>
> This is a bare-bone emigrant car not a true
> Pullman of the era.
>
> BN
I can't help but notice the narrow aisle. In addition to the berths being short, did they expect to sleep pairs in each bunk? The first-class narrow gauge Pullman sleepers seemed to have a wider aisle and just 1 person per bed (giving a rather low capacity of 20 for such a car). I've seen the first-class bunks listed as 6 feet long, although that could also easily be an estimate and they may have used the same iron parts as the emigrant car. Could go either way, without hard information one way or the other.
Even the nominally first class day coaches had very narrow seats, often 35 inches for a supposedly double seat. This is partly a reflection of how much lighter the average American was back then and partly a reflection on greed on the part of railroads that wanted to squeeze 2-and-2 seating into coaches that weren't really quite wide enough for it. Realistically on an 8 foot width only the 2-and-1 seat "chair cars" or the single-seat sleeping cars (in day configuration) would be decently comfortable for a ride of any serious length. The Texas & St. Louis strikes me as more realistic in its coach dimensions with 8 foot 9 overall width. On that note, how wide are the White Pass coaches of modern construction? Most information sources are happy enough to list coach lengths whilst ignoring width.
From the inside this car looks like it has the same or similar paired windows that the first class n.g. Pullman cars had. Does that similarity extend to the exterior? The narrow gauge Pullmans are very distinctive in 19th century photography because of those paired windows. This particular car seems to use the double windows at the ends. There were also variants with single end windows. The first-class cars were originally built with paper wheels; did the emigrant car also use such wheels initially or did it have iron/steel wheels right from the start?
-------------------------------------------------------
> "Luxury accommodations in a NG Pullman" -- when
> you say that you better have a smile.
>
> This is a bare-bone emigrant car not a true
> Pullman of the era.
>
> BN
I can't help but notice the narrow aisle. In addition to the berths being short, did they expect to sleep pairs in each bunk? The first-class narrow gauge Pullman sleepers seemed to have a wider aisle and just 1 person per bed (giving a rather low capacity of 20 for such a car). I've seen the first-class bunks listed as 6 feet long, although that could also easily be an estimate and they may have used the same iron parts as the emigrant car. Could go either way, without hard information one way or the other.
Even the nominally first class day coaches had very narrow seats, often 35 inches for a supposedly double seat. This is partly a reflection of how much lighter the average American was back then and partly a reflection on greed on the part of railroads that wanted to squeeze 2-and-2 seating into coaches that weren't really quite wide enough for it. Realistically on an 8 foot width only the 2-and-1 seat "chair cars" or the single-seat sleeping cars (in day configuration) would be decently comfortable for a ride of any serious length. The Texas & St. Louis strikes me as more realistic in its coach dimensions with 8 foot 9 overall width. On that note, how wide are the White Pass coaches of modern construction? Most information sources are happy enough to list coach lengths whilst ignoring width.
From the inside this car looks like it has the same or similar paired windows that the first class n.g. Pullman cars had. Does that similarity extend to the exterior? The narrow gauge Pullmans are very distinctive in 19th century photography because of those paired windows. This particular car seems to use the double windows at the ends. There were also variants with single end windows. The first-class cars were originally built with paper wheels; did the emigrant car also use such wheels initially or did it have iron/steel wheels right from the start?
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488 stops for water at Los Pinos tank on closing day Oct. 1979. Photo courtesy Don Richter
The NGDF was started by Don Richter and is currently operated in his memory by Nathan Holmes and others. Others who have contributed to the upkeep of this board are (in no particular order): Charles McCandless, Everett Lueck, Ted Wilton, Cole Adams, James Bane, John Moellmer, Jon Bentz, Linn Moedinger, lloyd lehrer, Rod Jensen, John Craft, Steven Forney, Herb Kelsey, Bill Ramaley, Russ Sperry (El Russo Loco), Josh McNeal, John West, Jim Armstrong, Bob Bergstrom, Greg Scholl, Blake Forbes Doug van Veelen and Mark Fuller.