Passenger Car Department

In the last BLOG entry for this car we identified it as an 8-1-2 Pullman car.  Many fans, members, and even serious students of railroad history may be uncertain of what that means.

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Plan 3979 A

For our car, the way to decode 8-1-2 is to refer to the plan and we find it means 8 OPEN SECTIONS, 1 DRAWING ROOM, and 2 COMPARTMENTS.  Entering the car from the left we first find the Men's Facilities - a lavatory and smoking room which has a door leading to a modest one hole hopper.

Then there are eight open sections.  An open section was the workhorse of overnight rail travel for decades.  There are two facing cushioned bench seats for daytime travel.  At night those two benches would be made into a lower berth, and an upper berth would be dropped from storage above, below the car roof.  Coarse curtains would be drawn providing the very minimum in privacy.  For your exercise you would enter the upper berth via a portable shared ladder.  You better have earplugs since there was no way to prevent the other sounds from your neighbors, their snores and snorts, passing traffic in the aisles from being heard and noticed.

This was by far the most commonplace and affordable method of experiencing overnight rail travel in a Pullman car.  Nowadays, you might be familiar with them only from the classic Hollywood films, many of which staged such scenes for both drama and comic relief.

Next in line as we move through the car was the one drawing room which was the most deluxe accommodation in our car.  Noticeably, it was close to the center of the car which provided the most comfortable ride, and the quietest, being as far removed from the trucks as was feasible.  And - it included a private lavatory!

Next are the two compartments, similar in furnishings to the drawing room, but on a smaller scale, less lavish, smaller floor space.

Finally there is the separate women's lavatory, about what you might expect as similar to the men's but with dressing table and mirror.

There you have it.  With enough resources we hope to repaint and repair the exterior to bring it a very presentable display in our barns.  And with enough dollar support (Fund RMCLOU) and hard spent volunteer hours, the interior can be refurbished, open for display, or occasionally operating in our trains.

Do you have your PULLMAN TICKET?