Passenger Trains > Passenger cars with formal names

Hi

I'd like to get my grandfather a book, even just a list would bring him joy, of the passenger type cars that were given formal names. Is there a registry somewhere that kept records on these? Is there a reason why some cars were assigned names and others just car numbers? Were they different inside or something? Aaron 19

Pullman car naming did follow a pattern of sorts. A particular type and configuration would have a common word in the name. For example there was a set of Pullman heavyweight cars with sic double bedrooms and a lounge known as the "DOVER series" http://www.doverharbor.com/history.htm#doverseries and each car's name started with the word "DOVER". Pullman did the same thing with the lightweight PACIFIC series of 10-6 sleepers. There was a series of private cars available for charter known as the EXPLORER series and each was named for an explorer: Roald Amundson, Ferdinand Magellan, etc.

There probably is a book out there with this information; you might try a google search for a Pullman historical society. Here is another link: http://pullmanproject.home.att.net/

John Gezelius
Tustin, CA

Robert J. Wayner (Wayner Publications) edited and published a few books, circa early 1970s, with passenger car names, numbers and consists. These books are long out of print, but you can find them from after market sources such as railroadiana shows, used book sellers, Amazon, eBay, etc.

"Car Names, Numbers and Consists"

Good luck to that!!!!!!!! Pullman literally wrote the book on this and at one point was literally making up names from scratch (or cobbling words together) as they had run out of words! I believe they tried to have a standard format at one time (single car names were 12-1 cars, anything with a prefix or suffix indicated room layout, etc..) but there were many, MANY exceptions to that. A few railroads tried to do the same (AT&SF with Indian names, CB&Q with "Silver") but all in all it was hit or miss. A few railroads gave up entirely and just settled for numbers. And that was just what was in service - many a car went through several names/numbers/whatever while in service so trying to nail that down is another story altogether. You might as well start with, "Midnight, Eastern Standard Time, January 10, 1953" and take it from there.

Pullman Company named sleeping cars, private charter cars and even dining cars that were owned and operated by them.

Railroads tended to name sleeping cars and gave numbers to everything else.

Private cars were named and/or given numbers depending on the railroad.

see:

http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?4,1313407,1313541#msg-1313541

Bob

The White House used to charter an "Explorer Series" car for presidential travel. In 1942, the AAR and the Pullman Company took the "Ferdinand Magellan" out of service, gutted it, rebuilt the interior, added armor plate to the exterior, bullet proof glass in the windows, and two escape hatches. They then presented it to the White House as a gift. It was in official service from 1942 through 1953, by FDR, Harry Truman (who used it for his whistle-stop campaign), and Eisenhower. It's last "official" trip was when Mame Eisenhower traveled to christen the Nautilus. It also made a special trip in the 1980's for Reagen's campaign.

The car is currently in the permanent collection of the Gold Coast Railroad Museum down in Miami.

john1082 Wrote:
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> Pullman car naming did follow a pattern of sorts.
> A particular type and configuration would have a
> common word in the name. For example there was a
> set of Pullman heavyweight cars with sic double
> bedrooms and a lounge known as the "DOVER series"
> http://www.doverharbor.com/history.htm#doverseries
> and each car's name started with the word
> "DOVER". Pullman did the same thing with the
> lightweight PACIFIC series of 10-6 sleepers.
> There was a series of private cars available for
> charter known as the EXPLORER series and each was
> named for an explorer: Roald Amundson, Ferdinand
> Magellan, etc.
>
> There probably is a book out there with this
> information; you might try a google search for a
> Pullman historical society. Here is another link:
> http://pullmanproject.home.att.net/

You know guys, the knowledge of the membership on T.O. never ceases to amaze me. Perhaps it's because I'm young where most people sharing information here have years of railroading exposure and fun. I found lots of stuff for my grand pop! I do have a question that I fear will show my inexperience. I knew Pullman was a manufacturer of rail cars but I thought Pullman cars referred only to sleepers. So would a sleeping car be called a "Pullman" if it was built by another company? Is there some overlap in the term pullman? Aaron 19

Ah...there is what caused the Supreme Court Case that led to the split of the Pullman Company into to independent Pullman Companies, one that built cars and one that operated them. You see Pullman refused to operate Sleeping Cars built by Budd saying they were unsafe. The railroads sued on the grounds that Pullman wanted to maintain a monopoly (which they did) and the Supreme Court split Pullman up and the operating company began operating all brands of sleeping cars including Budd and ACF. So yes you could travel in a Pullman operated car that was not built by Pullman. Oh and by the way I'm 24 so don't be calling me old. You might want to check out wikipedia for more info on the Supreme Court Case. I think it was either Pullman vs. Illinois or Pullman vs. United States.

Cheers,
Nick

Major exceptions to the naming of Pullman operated Sleeping Cars were the Northern Pacific and Southern Pacific.

When the New York Central assumed operation of Slppeing Cars on their lines circa 1958, they assigned numbers in the 10XXX series their cars as they were returned from Pullman (operating) Company lease, however, as a gesture to heritage, they continued to allow those cars' names to stand.

The Wayner publication, "Car Names, Numbers, and Consists", noted by Mr. Deasy is a "mighty darned' comprehensive document, while my ex libris is "NFS", keep your eyes peeled at shows, i.e Gaithersburg, St Charles, et al, and grab one if available.

Prior to 1900, there were several operators of luxury railcar services. They were often aligned with particular railroads, so the Wagner Palace Railcar Company ran largely on New York Central and Vanderbilt-controlled lines, for example. This included sleeping cars, first class dining cars, parlor cars, etc.

The Fred Harvey Company offered services on, and alongside, the Santa Fe lines. Harvey employees operated on the trains, just as Pullman employees often worked alongside railroad employees.

Here are pictures from that era:

http://www.scripophily.net/wagpalcarcom2.html

There's an excellent soft-cover book called Night Trains. It covers the sleeping car business, and offers a freeze of all the US trains carrying sleeping cars one night in 1950 (?).

Another note here: Pullman set a standard of service that was world-class and legendary. They had a public presence that far outclasses just about anything that exists today and will probably never be seen again. (nuts)

When the company was broken up in '45, the railroads contracted Pullman to provide service on their cars and kept things the way they were (more or less) up until the mid to late '60s. That's why the Pullman name stayed in view even if the railroads owned the cars. Its also why some PV owners have labeled their cars "Pullman": it fits with the level of service they want to provide and includes a bit of history.

I'd second the motion for "Night Trains." Perhaps your grand dad would like it.

The book discusses sleeping cars by railroad or by geography, including lines that transcended an individual RR. How about that Miami-Jackson (WY) sleeper!

Im surprized no one mentioned that some railroads named the cars for things along their routes. Such as GN had cars named after Glaciers on
their routes. They also had cars named after mountain passes on their route such as Jefferson Pass, Blewitt Pass etc.IIRC thatGN pass cars were like 10-6 type and the Glacier series were 11BR type
Santa Fe used many Indian named terms because of the area they wentthrough. The California Zephyr cars (& some CBQ) were named depending upon their type of car.
Such as baggage cars were named after animals, (Bear,Stag,Buffalo) etc. Rear obvs cars were named after sky or heavens themes, Diners were named after eating themes, 11BR sleepers were named after Birds, such as Gull,Dove, Pellican etc. The 10-6 sleepers were named after earth formations such as Gorge,Plain,Meadow etc. The former 16 sec cars(later converted to coaches) were named after trees.(Larch,Maple etc)
In fact I believe SP was one of the few railroads that did not name their sleeping cars.(or really any cars for that matter, but then again, that was SP (I didnt say I dont like SP because I do)

Found two books named Night Trains on e-bay stores both by Peter Maiken. One has a steam locomotive on the front cover (1992), the other the end of a passenger train (1989). Both advertised as pullman oriented soft cover books. Which one is the Night Trains that you are referring to please? Aaron 19

SP3201 Wrote:
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> In fact I believe SP was one of the few railroads
> that did not name their sleeping cars.(or really
> any cars for that matter, but then again, that was
> SP (I didnt say I dont like SP because I do)

There were named SP cars.

Bob

RRmemories Wrote:
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> Found two books named Night Trains on e-bay stores
> both by Peter Maiken. One has a steam locomotive
> on the front cover (1992), the other the end of a
> passenger train (1989). Both advertised as pullman
> oriented soft cover books. Which one is the Night
> Trains that you are referring to please? Aaron 19

Here you go.

Night Trains, The Pullman System in the Golden Years of American Rail Travel
Peter T. Maiken
The Johns Hopkins University Press
Copyright 1989
ISBN 0-8018-4503-3 (pbk.)

The copy I have has N&W J-606 on the cover.