Pullman rail cars: A detour back through time
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- Опубликовано: 12 апр 2014
- While most journeys merely take you from Point A to Point B, one special form of train travel involves a detour back through time. Dean Reynolds takes a closer look at the famous sleeper cars in which generations past rode on trips across the country. All aboard!
![5,200 Miles in THREE Private Rail Cars! [S3: E01]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/nwRzdPzoYcM/mqdefault.jpg)
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Once upon a time, air travel was actually elegant, too. Definitely been a while.
Air travel hasn’t been luxurious for a while. But train travel has been luxurious since it’s invention.
@@taxesv1nce142but it’s certainly fallen quite a bit since freight railroads gave up passenger service.
I'm truly thankful that my parents made sure I had many Pullman experiences when they were available on a regular basis. No one can take those sweet memories away, any more than I could possibly describe the sensations in the vestibule between the cars.
"Silence is requested for those who have retired".
When it comes to travel other than by car, my #1 choice is train. Where else can you sit back in comfort, watch the scenery float by and push the worries of the day out of your mind if only for a short time? Going by Pullman would be the ultimate trip.
Jim it is. As a young boy I rode the City Of New Orleans, The Panama Limited, and the Creole. My father was a railroader for NYC Penn Central, and Conrail. Growing up we would take the Illinois Central sometimes twice a year to vist my mother family in New Orleans, and the thought of getting to travel that train was as exciting it could get for a young boy. We earlier had sleeping berths that had thick wool curtains providing you your privacy, but later we were able to switch to a four bed suite. It was GLORIOUS to say the least. Walking up and down the train cars, talking to the staff, the conductors, playing board and card games in the club car, drinking water out of paper cups from the water coolers in each car, after seeing this I am tempted to do it one again, and relieve those days back in the 50's, and early 60's before it all went away. GREAT MEMORIES!!
I really prefer to travel by rail. I buy my tickets ahead online. There's no invasive security screening, and you can bring more luggage. You can stretch your legs and chat on your cell phone or work on your laptop. You can bring your own food or buy it. Other passengers are so much more relaxed. There's actually something to look at. If you're disabled or just have a hard time walking, the are Amtrak employees who run back and forth bringing you things. It's just a better way to travel if you don't need to be somewhere in a hurry.
Let's not forget that Amtrak's original batch of Superliner cars (which are still in service today) were built by Pullman, the last railcars they ever made!
Yes, they were the Superliner I order, (1977 - 1981?) ordered in 1975. The Superliner II cars were built 1993 - '95 by Bombardier. The Superliner I cars have European style trucks (bogies) that originally had airbags, later they were retrofitted with a spring. (The airbags weren't suitable for these cars) The Superliner II cars has GSC style trucks, similar to the Amfleet III coaches. (Horizon Fleet from Bombardier in the late '80s) Some of the Superliner I cars still has the Amtrak "Phase III" paint on them, but covered with silver paint when Amtrak gave them the "Diet Pepsi" scheme in the late '90s - early 2000's.
Now if Amtrak could pair the Pullmans with a fully renovated steam locomotive THAT would be outstanding. Rail enthusiasts would line up to ride. I would be among them.
And if they did, it would cost you a pretty penny to ride that train. It would be nice!
I feel the same. But Amtrak is broke AF.
@@lukew7366 Amtrak loses about $32 per passenger on average. When you're talking about how much money the government spends on keeping Amtrak afloat it helps to remember that it is designed as a service, much like a municipal bus system.
I've ridden Amtrak alot, it definitely does take longer than a airline jet, but for a number of reasons its so much better way to travel. As long as time is not an issue for you. It's also alot less if you buy your ticket ahead.
A fully renovated steam locomotive or a vintage EMD F-Unit set pulling this consist and you can consider me on board, literally.
王略.jygtffynjmkubgv Best thandieu$ni
Traveling via train, is so different from going on a plane, you have so much more space, and freedom of stress. It’s faster (at times) than busses, and you’re not confined to a small seat. You have a cafe car, and food. And sometimes you can get off the train to stretch your legs. It feels like a secret society when you’re on a long distance train, because once you realize how cheap it is compared to air travel, you can’t go back. You can keep looking out the windows at sights going by. Most people do t turn their heads when they’re stopped at a crossing. You feel invisible, like you’re floating above the ground.
It’s a grand, and fabulous experience, that many people don’t take advantage of, and sometimes don’t even notice.
@SlowHandMcQueeg That will never happen as long as it is run by the government.
When I was a kid, my mom took us four kids on the train from Portland to Seattle. A day trip, we had lunch with her youngest sister who worked for IBM in Seattle. Did some shopping, then caught the airport shuttle and flew back to Portland. She told us that we had to do it before the passenger trains disappeared. I loved that trip!
I dream of taking a trip like this in an original pullman car, definitely high on my bucket list for sure
As Bob Hope would have it, "Thanks for the memories." Only mine were of a ride to New York aboard two of the luxury trains of the time: The Super Chief and the 20th Century, Ltd. I went Pullman on both. What a treat. So is the memory.
I've wanted to travel in a Pullman car since the first time I watched The Thin Man.
I did ride The Coast Starlight first class from Seattle to Los Angeles. It had a beautiful fully restored parlor car, white linens with xlnt food, wine tasting etc. But the sleeper cars were up by the engines so you heard the horn at every crossing. I'd do it again in a minute.
Train Therapy? Just had some a few weeks back!!! CHI to NOLA and back up. Excellent!! Loved every single minute of it!! Been riding the rails since the mid-fifties. Its the only way to go!!
I had forgotten about Sunday morning. I always liked the documentaries. This one was especially close to my love of train's.
1:42 the locomotives whistle is still a siren song to some
*blows Amtrak GE horn
Exactly! Steam locomotives have the whistles whilst the deisel's have horns... I wish more people understood that nuanced difference
6777 Productions The difference between an old-time steam whistle and a diesel horn is in no way “nuanced”.
A steam whistle is a wonderful nostalgic sound, while a diesel horn is just loud and obnoxious!
@@kencarp57 depends if you are a steam or a diesel person...
Yes...I caught that too... I know non railroad people that literally cannot tell the difference between the sound of an air horn and a steam whistle. Unbelievable...
Pullman lived in my hometown Long Branch, New Jersey. We even have a Pullman Avenue.
I remember my mom and dad taking us on train trips in the late 50s and early 60s nice to see them coming back short hops on a plane frequently take more time than driving it maybe this will trains make a comeback
It's the tracks that need the work.
Make America's train great again!
Well I mean trump kinna didnt want that to happen, so this slogan doesn't go well with that😂😂😂
@@sharronneedles6721 pfp checks out.
@@lukeWiz44 yea it sorta does, im gay, I have the LGBT+ flag as my pfp. Makes sense, unlike your comment.
Trains are a lot of fun, and relaxing. I say more Pullman cars!!
Thank you, Sunday Morning. I do wish , however, that you didn't look down on those of us who love rail travel as weird people. All people are weird.
Amen. "Ken" Ruben
Why is loving train travel weird? It is no weirder than friends of mine who are model car freaks. My father was a truck freak who would constantly talk about trucks and attend all the truck meets. Then there are the race car freaks. Then there are the airplane freaks who constantly talk about model planes and spend their time reading aviation magazines. Me? I'm a combination of an airplane and train freak. I will ride any train. I would love to ride the old fashioned Pullman that is depicted in this video. Where do I sign up?
👏🏾👏🏾👍🏾👍🏾
The definition of 'weird'.....-is putting up with all the bs in airports these days .....
ewwww
Chalk it up to the mindset of the lamestream news media. I have had some less than pleasant encounters with the less enlightened members of the Fourth Estate.
And not only that Doug..there's more of US than there are of THEM. You're in good company, my friend. I too, am 'weird"..and I dearly remember in the 1950's as a youngster: riding the train down to White Sulphur Springs, West Va, with my Dad who worked at the Greenbrier..oh what great days. Rail travel. I recall it with such enormous joy. The comfort, the dining car, (I felt so grown up)...that rocking motion as the train gently lulled you to sleep (wonderful, for a small kid tucked up in my snuggly train bed by the kindly porter)...BTW Speaking of which, my colleague's father put his kids through school, and did very well, as a Pullman server/porter employee on the trains. In those days (the Jim Crow era), that was a plum job for an African- American man. Mr. D. , a gracious, dignified gentleman...was hugely proud of his work, and his family was as well!
I remember taking the train from Washington DC to Oakland MD to visit my grandparents in Thomas, WV. What a beautiful ride it was, in some spots you rode along the Potomac 100's of feet up from the river. To this day I still love trains.
You were "living large" if you could afford Pullman tickets - most people went by day coach!
yup. this is only nostalgia if you were rich. like private jet flight is today.
@@dynamo3059 The equivalent to a private jet was a private rail car.
To take a train ride is something I hope is in my future.
The Conway Scenic Railroad has a Pullman Palace car from 1898. It is currently the oldest known Pullman Palace car that still does daily pasanger service in the world.
Being from Railroad families , of the turn of the century & into the30's, 40's, 50's , 60's & 70's , I was allowed to ride the "Steam" Engines, Diesels, mail cars, Cabooses, Dining car , Pullman"Sleepers" many times!! I rode the Train from Atlanta to San Diego in 1954 to U S NAVY " boot camp" the Steam Engine stopped to get water, in the town where the movie " Bad day at Black Rock" was filmed, and we were allowed off to walk the same street that Spencer Tracy was filmed on. Needless to say, I had a great childhood living next to the NC& STL & SOUTHERN RAILWAYS, IN Atlanta!!!!
I've traveled some in old C47 s to modern jets.I prefer trains when I have the time and that's the rub,sometimes I'm to pressed for time,it would be great if we just slow down and smell the roses and maybe sneak in a ride in a Pullman.A line from an old Glen Miller song says it all"dinner in the diner nothing could be finer".
If you guys knew David Duncan,he is freaking awesome...he is probably my mentor if I had to choose,he got me into railroading with pullman
Awesome. The good old days
Bravo!
Wonderful historical video highlighting Bessemer, AL! Great Video!!
Via Rail's Canadian is North America's last true streamliner. It still uses its original 1955 trainset. (although some cars are from the original Super Continental).
Kevin HowardThe „Canadian“ is a treasure!
There is nothing "odd" about an interest in trains!
S C - I ALWAYS thought of myself as a lover of trains . . . .until Amtrak made me sick to my stomach . . . .
Yes sir! I've dealt with this attitude all my life.
Agreed!
Edward Henry Harriman People think it’s not “cool” funny thing is, what is cool changes all the time. We can all enjoy the things we want :)
It's such a beautiful color combination
UPS copied their color scheme from these train cars.
Each railroad had it's own colour scheme. You could tell each company by the colour as a train went by.
very cool and even cooler the little bit about the cars in storage in Whiteland which I have drove past and been curious of since
In 1960 I traveled from New York to California by train, I took a train from Pennsylvania station NY to Chicago then I had to get a cab to Poke and Deerborn station and I believe it was the Santa Fe to Los Angeles California it took three days and I traveled in coach, I was15 years old and traveling on a pass my father was able to get being he was a railroad employee.
I had a great time hanging out in the dining car Talking to the dining car workers. Little did I know 8 1/2 years later I would be a qualified railroad train engineer of the old Central Railroad out of Jersey City to NJ.After 41 years of service operating freight and passenger trains for the Central railroad of New Jersey, consolidated railroad known as Conrail and then New Jersey transit rail running trains between New York New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
Chicago to Los Angeles. Santa Fe, All the Way!
ruclips.net/video/dUe3ky2ER5U/видео.html
One of the finest memories of my young life, was traveling via Pullman "sleeper cars" from New Orleans to Chicago in 1950, on the City of New Orleans, with 2 cousins...We connected with three more boys in Chicago, then rode west on a line that boasted the famed "Vista Dome" (glass topped ) car. Ages were from 14-18, and we ended up at my grandfather's ranch in Cody Wyoming. Now, at age 83, it's like a sweet "time travel" dream..
Each place I've been taking I've been there before it triggers a memory
BEAUTIFUL!
I think this is great! If you can make a buck turning these cars i am all far it. I think any efforts to bring rail back to the US will be beneficial!
Tim Howard d
The new observation cars look like those used on the Alaska Railroad. They really offer spectacular views.
I hope someday Pullman's come to California I would love to ride one up the coast or even Chicago
When the beds are pulled down in the Amtrak bedroom, they block the compartment door! Are these old Pullman's better laid out? I'll bet they are.
How cool, hope it comes to the west coast.
No..Pelosi will find something racist or inappropriate about the train..Newsome will find an American flag or something he hates on the train..
outstanding!!!!!!!!!!!!! i remember the days---mostly we afforded only an upper birth, and meals were expensive --did have a roomette once
The sadly departed American Orient Express was a 25 million dollar makeover of the old B&O and enjoyed a highly successful but short life, having derailed in Mexico, damaging better than 2/3 of the carriages. But up until that unfortunate time, oh, boy, what a treat!
Pullman also manufactured double-decker cars called Gallery cars. Chicago Metra has several of them still in service and sold to various transit agencies around the country
Beautiful!
My grandpa owned one of these cars. We kept it at union Station in Denver. He bought it with 10 of his friends and paid amtrak by the mile to tow it around. Eventually all the rules and regulations made it prohibitively expensive and they had to conduct all these metallurgical tests on the trucks and axles before leaving stations from each state. It got ridiculous and he Eventually sold his share, but man was it cool while it lasted. I had a party on it back when I was in college. It was beautiful, mostly original and very clean. A total blast from the past with a full kitchen. We were at the end of the train, and because of the way it was setup, was inaccessible from the amtrak cars, so they had to be sure to have everything to be self sufficient with food and supplies, which we had a full kitchen in and were hooked up to power from the locos. Good times
Train is still the best way to travel.... what's missing are so many of the great names like Milwaukee road, Chicago Northwestern, Southern, Soo Line, and others that had great tracks and lines and Steamers
The South Wind, the Humming Bird.
the interstates were subsidized by the govt and also the airports but not the trains- amtrak was what we got,
That’s not true, passenger rail service is subsidized by state local and the federal government, the problem is they don’t spend enough money to have a real first class train. Countries in Europe spend billions per year to run first class passenger trains that are clean efficient and run on time
I see those cars a lot on the tail end of the city of new Orleans when it pulls out of Homewood ILL station at 2054 hr ( 8:54pm)
Fantastic
I was hoping that they’d show a little bit about the Pullman factory in Chicago
Laura Z ed Ellis’new Pullman company has been kaput for some time now, alas! It was, indeed,wonderful while it lasted!Very too bad!
With the changes to flying. TSA is a lot more people are option for rail. I would rather hit a wall at 90 mph than fall 37k feet at 600+ mph. I have gone by rail in Germany and the US. Cost and other factors could bring back the train to the level it was in the last century.
@Jerome O'Mara I have traveled by rail in Europe. Germany, Denmark, UK. Planes killed rail travel as did automobiles in inter and intra urban rail travel. Over time the rail companies saw more profit in freight than in passenger travel. Unlike Europe and Japan rail travel is done on shared rails not dedicated to high speed trains. Rail has a romance associated with it. It may or may not re-surge if we get high speed in some corridors. More routes for standard travel. Case in point if I want to travel to Denver from where I am I need to take a train to Los Angeles then transfer to one going to the SF Bay area transfer again to the train going east to Denver. It is less expensive to fly to that destination but not by much. So far terrorists have not targeted rail travel in the USA. I just prefer to travel by rail.
@Jerome O'Mara more people did by car in the USA than by gun...
Looking very nice.
That’s awesome I’ll be in line in ny
Excellent!!
These dedicated Pullmanites are national treasures, themselves.
I guess it’s cheaper to dwell on the past than build a new system of modern elegance in trains like Europe did
The best way to travel!
wow going on a Pullman to the 1939 Worlds Fair
Seeing those Pullman Cars reminds me of when the Three Stooges parodied the film 20th Century Limited and did jokes regarding the sleeping cars....JOHN...SOOOON! My fellow knuckleheads, unite! 🇵🇷🇺🇸🤣
Iowa Pacific takes good care of their equipment. It's ironic that such well maintained coaches are slapped behind trains which Amtrak probably hasn't maintained in 6 months!
That's cool.
I see a couple of beautiful assorted old cars like these parked in the Rensselaer New York Amtrak yard oh, they look like they're brand-new like the ones on this video
I can remember as a child of about 8, traveling with my mother and baby brother from Nashville to Chicago on a Pullman sleeper. It wasn’t the open sections, we had a bedroom compartment. That would have been about 1954. The trip was booked on the Louisville & Nashville, although the cars were probably switched to a Chicago & Eastern Illinois locomotive during the stop in Evansville.
chief tp When I was a freshman at UT in 1964, I would explore the abandoned yard down in the gulch between the university and downtown.
:51 That Brochure !!!
It would be neat if they had a Train set in the original City of Miami colors.The pictures I seen showed Orange and Green for the colors
The Pullman Factory building in Richmond, CA, is still there by the port.
I’ll go by train every time I travel. Air travel is nothing but flying school bus’.
Or flying cattle car...
Would be great if they had more east-west routes. They are all north south. I tried to go from Florida to Texas, and they laughed at me.
Yes my wife and I rode the Amtrak from Oakland to Chicago, we really didn't enjoy it for the most part. Maybe the train companies will do more because of the nostalgia feelings?
That would be because you can’t get to Texas from Florida...no direct link
Amtrak used to run from California to Orlando.
I remember. I took Greyhound instead.
@ freight railways don't want passengers tho
I have an entire HO set of IC pullmans.
I never road on a Train, I always wanted too.
Looooove your video 👍🛤️🚝,I have some IC N Scale passenger cars
They took the midnight train going anywhere...
So my dream of a train trip with Eva Marie Saint . . . is not dead yet (?)
Ya better hurry up and ask her because she's 95 y.o.
Wait a minute! One hour later it hit me! That Eva Marie Saint reference was a nod to North by Northwest! Ahhh tueche!
@Wa3ypx: (LOL) I do the best I can . . .
Wa3ypx Took you an hour? Tsk tsk tsk... 😄
@Samuel Hayden: I don't know. If he's under, say, 45 . . . that's really pretty good. I'd be amazed if 1 out of 100 were as good . . .
Have heard of retrofit steam engines. Courious about 1960-2000 trains after DuPont WA train wreck?
The train that went on the ground in Washington state is a completely different design than the trains shown here. And other factors contributed to the crash.
how does the interface between the company, that operates the train, and the company that operates the car work? Can you book spaces on trains for your cars? how does that work?
I really hate airplanes. I mean I still like planes although I like trains. But I don’t why people like being crowded at a terminal and ride a flying metal tube with wings that lacks of privacy and beds. Trains have beds and private sleepers for everybody. Plus they serve better meals. Whereas if you get hungry on a long flight you’ll just have to hold the pain. Also I can barely sleep on airplanes ✈️ because of turbulence,crying babies, noisy people, and who knows what else. Plus planes get delayed A LOT. What if you ride a train and you’re going to NYC and you’re friend takes a plane then all of a sudden there’s a snow storm 🌨. What if the delay is 12 hours long. What that flight starts boarding at the same time you arrived?
Kev the R - Hey! I am so glad that you commented.Please get together with other "train lovers" and jump on our friends at Amtrak to roll prices back to reasonable, so that more and more of us WOULD take the train. Use your influence! Please!
Kev the Railfanner I like both to be honest
America needs high speed rail now!
I want to get a private car, someday.
Save your money. Amtrak no longer allows private car short runs.
@@williamlewis5114 Hire a freight train
1950 Train Cars..... CBS plays 1910-30 Music.
Bring back the turn of the century interiors and offer 4 hour round trips that include a light lunch in an antique dining car...you'll be swimming in money
They should do this for the Empire Builder, 🌅 Limited, and California Zephyr.
As far as durability are concerned, the all stainless steel Budd cars win that contest. Pullman tried to use different steel alloys but was unsuccessful at preventing corrosion. Also to me, the Budd cars with those unpainted, fluted siding siding and corrugated roof to me very stylish than the Pullman cars (even with the faux stainless steel siding).
I have flown many places in this world. Gone by ship. But the very best form of transportation is by train and Pullman is the best of train travel. If I have a choice in the matter, I take the train.
I guess this is defunct.
Alas..no smoking car...😪👑🌎🌏🌍
Does that still exist?
Anyone know if this is still operating? Can't find anything online
www.vacationsbyrail.com/united-states/pullman-rail-journeys
After further investigation, I discovered that Amtrak will no longer pull their cars.
If you want to see how rail roads are really operated go to Europe they do it the best, And if you do go treat yourself to first class tickets after all you Only live once. The service is excellent from the dining car to the sleeper car, also local travel throughout London there underground or tube trains are clean efficient and on time.
Streamliners are completely dead. Via Rail's Ocean and Canadian still use vintage 1955 cars.
How do you have WiFi when Amtrak can’t do ti?
Amtrak is affiliated with the government, so no one cares about customers.
exotic chique
Who is watching this in 2021
Wish we had a Pullman airplane.
c'mon dude
We had before
It's called pan am
I was in First Class (long story, no haters please) in a 777 and my seat folded down to a flat bed. I was too sick to enjoy First Class, but I did enjoy the chance to lay down.
@@samiam619 when did you fly ??
need more story :D
@@HaiMalonBodoh Yes. Long ago, air travel was almost as elegant as Pullman service. Pretty expensive for either, though, or so I'm told. Now they just cram you in like cattle.
I have a 6 car IC set in N Scale, it is beautiful
It looks fantastic too bad I will never be able to afford ride.......
Just put it on a credit card and then don't pay. The Federal Reserve will counterfeit some funds to cover it.
black pullman porters were paid 0.15 an hour.. ran shifts 24 hours plus with no breaks... good times..
BUT the cost of living was proportionally less as well.
Yeah and at the time were paid fairly
Now do an interview of the porters that worked for Pullman in South Chicago
Hey Porter! Hey Porter! Would you tell me the time? How much longer till we cross that Mason-Dixon line?
@@Wa3ypx - according to a friend of mine who had a relative who worked there - the Pullman neighborhood was a defacto company town and the porters were held essentially as economic slaves. That aspect is completely missing from this starry eyed history lesson.
Fred Stiening
Because it’s not relevant. We are talking about restoring historic rail cars for modern-day journeys, not a day-by-day history of Pullman.
@@ConrailQuality775 - okay, ignore history at your peril
@@artnc4139 If you go to Chicago, you can still visit the Pullman company town today.
Does anybody know if there are pullman coaches in Europe?
Many are preserved in the United Kingdom
Pullman makes me think of the 1890s, not 1955.
i'm sorry when did Pullman cars stop running on all railways I ride on a Pullman train every day a train of pullman r46's!!!
Depends are you in the uk. Those Pullmans are not real, the company whent out a long time ago.
Matt`s Mocs I live in new york if you couldn't tell by me talking about a nyc subway car and Pullman-standard went bankrupt about 40 years ago, while the R46 fleet was rebuilt with new features the fleet was originally built by pullman-standard as seen by the builder's plates.
Matt`s Mocs
The British Pullman coaches are original but restored and they are not replicas
Pullman stopped operating sleeping cars at the end of 1968. I believe Pullman was forced to divest the operating company in the late 40s due to an anti-trust ruling. The operating company was then sold to the individual railroads while Pullman retained ownership of rail car manufacturer Pullman-Standard. As I recall, the last cars built by P-S were Amtrak's Superliner I fleet.
i see pullman standard commuter cars on metra in service and frequently ride them