Early luxury

The below was posted to the EarlyRail Yahoo group - I thought it might be of interest to a wider audience.

Found the following in a microfilm of The Detroit Free Press, 2 Nov.

1875.

"The change in sleeping and drawing-room cars over the Michigan Central Road and its connections was inaugurated yesterday, the morning express to Chicago being equipped with the drawing-room car "Hermia" and the evening express having the sleeper "Montcalm". These cars are of the Wagner patent and are capable of accommodating from forty to fifty persons. The drawing-room cars have smoking parlors at either end, and their interiors finished in rosewood. The sleeping cars are finished in black walnut with German walnut panels and inlaid scrolls, monograms and crests of handsome mosaic woodwork. The seat arms, racks, hinges, window fastenings, door knobs, and in fact all iron work, is heavily plated with nickel silver, while the ornamentations by the fresco artist are of modern style, excellently put on. The berths in the Wagner sleeper are somewhat wider than those of the Pullman pattern, and are fitted with spring and hair mattresses, fine linen and rich coverlets. Carpets of the finest texture and handsome designs are upon the floors, and every appointment for comfort has apparently been made. The cars rest upon six wheel trucks, the wheels being of paper with steel tyres. The trains which left Grand Rapids and Bay City each had sleepers attached of the above description, and the express train for Chicago which leaves this evening will contain the new sleeping coach "Kalamazoo"."

Black walnut and silver plated ironwork? How the mighty have fallen :-).

Reply to
Larry Blanchard
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and silver plated ironwork? How the mighty have fallen :-). The article says "nickel silver" which is the same as most rail on our models.....no silver in it.

I am puzzled by the reference to "wheels being of paper with steel tyres" Can someone please give a better description of this type of wheel?

John H

Reply to
NERD

Some early wheel sets had cast iron axles/hubs with a paper liner between the hub and the actual steel tire. This was supposed to give a superior ride for passenger cars. Many time this hob would be bolted together pieces of iron that failed at speed - they did not last long. Tjos 'paper' liner was similar to the 'insulation' we see on our insulated wheel sets!

Jim Bernier

NERD wrote:

Reply to
Jim Bernier

They were an early form of resilient wheel, commonly used on passengercars of the period. The intention was to minimise vibration and noise inside the car.

They have a laminate of thick paper and thin metal discs forming the wheel centre. There is no direct metal-to-metal connection between the tire and the axle.

The wheels were a Pullman proprietary item, but two ancient passenger cars preserved here in Australia both have them - one is a Pullman, and the other was built by Jackson & Sharpe.

Reply to
Mark Newton

I seem to recall in an old "American Heritage" magazine, a wood cut of George M. Pullman arriving in Virginia City, NV in his new Pullman Palace car equipped with such wheels (though the caption said only "paper wheels")

Reply to
Brian Paul Ehni

Dear Mr. Bernier, I think there actually were some wheels that used a layer of wood or paper between the center and tire. If I remember correctly, however, the kind that were popular on passenger cars had centers formed from a thick stack of strawboard discs sandwiched between iron discs which were, I think, only about 1/8" thick. The steel tires had flanges, and were bolted on. I remember reading about these in THE AMERICAN RAILROAD PASSENGER CAR or something like that. You can tell a car has paper wheels if the wheel centers bristle with several concentric circles of bolt heads. The book had pictures of the construction, and also of a wheel that had come apart at high speed. Cordially yours, Gerard P.

Reply to
Gerard Pawlowski

A patent by Geoge Mortimer Pullman himself. They gave a degree of relilience.

A British wheel of the same era was Mansell's, built up fromm wooden pieces with a steel tyre.

Modern equivalents use reinforced rubber. The British class 87s and the high-speed variants of the class 86s have these.

Reply to
Christopher A. Lee

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