At the height of its popularity in the 1910s and 1920s, Pullman carried more than 35 million passengers annually on a fleet of 9,000-plus sleeping and parlor cars from Puget Sound to Key West and Bangor to San Diego. Every evening for much of the twentieth century, 50,000 or more travelers snuggled under crisp Pullman linens, falling asleep in one state and awaking in another. This nostalgic look back at what was essentially a rolling hotel company contracted by the nation's railroads to provide guest accommodations, covers every aspect of Pullman operations, from the emerging popularity of steam-powered rail travel in the early twentieth century to its diesel-powered zenith and its eventual nadir in the 1950s and 1960s. Pullman's entire complex network of employees and services is featured, from the ticket offices that manually handled millions of reservations each year to the six car shops spread across the nation to perform heavy maintenance and repairs, and all of Pullman's porters, mechanics, cleaners, electricians, cooks, barbers, shoeshiners, and more.
Illustrated with both black-and-white and color period views depicting Pullman interiors and facilities, as well as memorabilia and sales literature. Pullman's involvement in the war effort will also be detailed, as will the company's sale to the railroads after the war with the advent of jet travel.
- ISBN10 0760318573
- ISBN13 9780760318577
- Publish Date 11 October 2004
- Publish Status Out of Stock
- Out of Print 17 September 2010
- Publish Country US
- Imprint Voyageur Press
- Format Hardcover
- Language English