The Hidden Mechanisms of a Pullman Car

Pullman Facts No. 8 describes how heating, lighting, and other services work in a Pullman car. It notes, for example, that each car contained about a mile of copper wire for lighting and electricity.


Click image to download a 2.0-MB PDF of this 12-page booklet.

The booklet also marvels at the fact that the trucks alone for a then-modern Pullman car weighed five tons more than the total weight of the first Pullman car. While this extraordinary weight contributed to smoother rides, it also meant railroads had to provide more power to pull such trains. The lightweight trains that would appear just four years after this booklet would begin a reversal of the trend toward heavier cars over time.


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