From candles to kerosene lamps to Pintsch gas burners to various forms of incandescents, this booklet traces the progress of lighting passenger cars. The booklet notes that the incandescent system required batteries and generators stored under the car: when the car was in motion, the wheels turned a generator that not only lit the lights but recharged the batteries that were used to power the lights when the car was stationary.
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Edison was too famous for Pullman to take credit for inventing electric lamps. But it claimed to have done more than anyone else to bring electric lighting to passenger cars, boasting that without its efforts it might have been “many years” before passengers enjoyed electric lights on trains.