Railroad in 1835.

The first passenger service to be put in regular operation in America must be credited to the Charleston & Hamburg Railroad in the late fall of 1830. The following year construction was begun on the Boston & Lowell Railroad, and in the same year a passenger train, previously mentioned, was put in service between Albany and Schenectady on the new Mohawk & Hudson Railroad.

The journal of Samuel Breck of Boston, affords an interesting glimpse of the conditions of contemporary railroad travel:

July 22, 1835. This morning at nine o'clock I took passage on a railroad car (from Boston) for Providence. Five or six other cars were attached to the locomotive, and uglier boxes I do not wish to travel in. They were made to stow away some thirty human beings, who sit cheek by jowl as best they can. Two poor fellows who were not much in the habit of making their toilet, squeezed me into a corner, while the hot sun drew from their garments a villainous compound of smells made up of salt fish, tar, and molasses. By and by just twelve—only twelve—bouncing factory girls were introduced, who were going on a party of pleasure to Newport. "Make room for the ladies!" bawled out the superintendent. "Come gentlemen, jump up on top; plenty of room there!" "I'm afraid of the bridge knocking my brains out," said a passenger. Some made one excuse, and some another. For my part, I flatly told him that since I had belonged to the corps of Silver Grays I had lost my gallantry and did not intend to move. The whole twelve were, however, introduced, and soon made themselves at home, sucking lemons, and eating green apples.... The rich and the poor, the educated and the ignorant, the polite and the vulgar, all herd together in this modern improvement in traveling ... and all this for the sake of doing very uncomfortably in two days what would be done delightfully in eight or ten.

Cars and locomotive in use on the Camden & Amboy Railroad in 1845. The cars were heated by wood stoves, the glass sash was stationary, and ventilation was possible only from a wooden-panelled window which could be raised a few inches.

To follow further the rapid development of the railroad in America would require many volumes. As the canal building fever had seized the fancy of the American public in preceding years, so a similar enthusiasm was instantly kindled in the new railroad, and railroad travel became immediately the most popular diversion. In a relatively few years a web of track carried the smoking locomotive and its rumbling train of cars throughout the country. Crude, and lacking almost every convenience of the passenger coach of the present day, the early railway carriage served fully its new-born function. To the latter half of the century was reserved the development of those refinements which have rendered travel safe and comfortable, and the perfecting of those vast organizations that have placed in American hands the railroad supremacy of the world.

CHAPTER II
THE EVOLUTION OF THE SLEEPING CAR

The history of improved railway travel may be said to date from the year 1836, when the first sleeping car was offered to the traveling public. In the years which followed the actual inception of the railroad in the United States, railway travel was fraught with discomfort and inconvenience beyond the realization of the present day. Travel by canal boat had at least offered a relative degree of comfort, for here comfortable berths in airy cabins were provided as well as good meals and entertainment, but the locomotive, by its greatly increased speed over the plodding train of tow mules, instantly commanded the situation, and as the mileage of the pioneer roads increased, travel by boat proportionately languished.

The first passenger cars were little better than boxes mounted on wheels. Over the uneven track the locomotive dragged its string of little coaches, each smaller than the average street car of today. From the engine a pall of suffocating smoke and glowing sparks swept back on the partially protected passengers. Herded like cattle they settled themselves as comfortably as possible on the stiff-backed, narrow benches. The cars were narrow and scant head clearance was afforded by the low, flat roof. From the dirt roadbed a cloud of dust blew in through open windows, in summer mingled with the wood smoke from the engine. In winter, a wood stove vitiated the air. Screens there were none. By night the dim light from flaring candles barely illuminated the cars.

Car in use in 1844 on the Michigan Central Railroad. Interesting as showing the rapid improvement in passenger coaches and how soon they approached the modern type of car in general appearance.

In addition to these physical discomforts were added the dangers attending the operation of trains entirely unprotected by any of the safety devices now so essential to the modern railroad. No road boasted of a double track; there was no telegraph by which to operate the trains. The air brake was unknown until 1869, when George Westinghouse received his patent. The Hodge hand brake which was introduced in 1849 was but a poor improvement on the inefficient hand brake of the earlier days. The track was usually laid with earth ballast and the rail joints might be easily counted by the passengers as the cars pounded over them. Add to these discomforts the necessity of frequent changes from one short line to another when it was necessary for the passengers each time to purchase new tickets and personally pick out their baggage, due to the absence of coupon tickets and baggage checks, and the joys of the tourist may be realized.

Car constructed by M. P. and M. E. Green of Hoboken, New Jersey, in 1831 for the Camden & Amboy Railroad.

As early as 1836 the officers of the Cumberland Valley Railroad of Pennsylvania installed a sleeping-car service between Harrisburg and Chambersburg. This first sleeping car was, as was later the first Pullman car, an adaption of an ordinary day coach to sleeping requirements. It was divided into four compartments in each of which three bunks were built against one side of the car, and in the rear of the car were provided a towel, basin, and water. No bed clothes were furnished and the weary passengers fully dressed reclined on rough mattresses with their overcoats or shawls drawn over them, doubtless marveling the while at the fruitfulness of modern invention. As time went on other similar cars, with berths arranged in three tiers on one side of the car, were adopted by various railroads, and occasional but in no manner fundamental improvements were made. Candles furnished the light, and the heat was supplied by box stoves burning wood or sometimes coal. For a number of years these makeshift cars found an appreciative patronage, and temporarily served the patrons of the road.