Sleeping car (Pullman Pioneer)

What it is

A railway car with folding berths and beds that turn the seat into a bed for overnight journeys. George Pullman's Pioneer (1865) gave the service luxury comfort and created a company of its own to operate it.

Cars with berths existed from 1836 in Pennsylvania (Cumberland Valley Railroad) and Pullman converted cars as early as 1859; the 1865 Pioneer was the first built from scratch.

What it led to

• overnight long-distance rail travel, the basis of luxury trains
• European companies such as Wagons-Lits (1872) and the Orient Express

Built on

• Public steam railway (Stockton and Darlington)1825

Links

Sources

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleeping_car
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Pullman