Passengers would enter and leave a car through a door at the end of the car which led to a narrow platform.

Older cars had open platforms between cars. The end platforms of all passenger cars changed around the turn of the 20th century. The interiors of observation cars varied. These evolved into the closed end car, usually with a rounded end which was still called an 'observation car'. Until about the 1930s, these had an open-air platform at the rear, the 'observation platform'. Many American passenger trains, particularly the long distance ones, included a car at the end of the train called an observation car.

The compartments in the later sleepers were accessed from a side hall running the length of the cars, similar to the design of European cars well into the 20th century. Early American sleeping cars were not compartmented, but by the end of the 19th century they were. Cars built for European use featured side door compartments, while American car design favored what was called a train coach, a single long cabin with rows of seats, with doors located at the ends of the car. Passenger cars, particularly in America, grew along with them, first getting longer with the addition of a second truck (one at each end), and wider as their suspensions improved. The interior of a Pullman car on the Chicago and Alton Railroad circa 1900Īs locomotive technology progressed in the mid-19th century, trains grew in length and weight. When not in use, the hook would swivel down against the side of the car to prevent it from catching obstacles. American RPOs, first appearing in the 1860s, also featured equipment to catch mail bags at speed, but the American design more closely resembled a large hook that would catch the mailbag in its crook. These cars resembled coaches in their short wheelbase and exterior design, but were equipped with nets on the sides of the cars to catch mail bags while the train was in motion. The cars were still too short to allow more than two or three beds to be positioned end to end.īritain's Royal Mail commissioned and built the first travelling post office cars in the late 1840s as well. Britain's early sleepers, when made up for sleeping, extended the foot of the bed into a boot section at the end of the carriage. They were short, often less than 10 ft (3.05 m) long and had two axles.īritish railways had a head start on American railroads, with the first 'bed-carriage' (an early sleeping car) being built there as early as 1838 for use on the London and Birmingham Railway and the Grand Junction Railway. The first passenger cars in the United States resembled stagecoaches. The only problem with this design is that the passengers were expected to stand for their entire trip. It featured a roof and small holes in the floor for drainage when it rained, and had separate compartments for different classes of travel. One of the early coach designs was the 'Stanhope'. The first passenger trains did not travel very far, but they were able to haul many more passengers for a longer distance than wagons pulled by horses.Īs railways were first constructed in England, so too were the first passenger cars. Up until about the end of the 19th century, most passenger cars were constructed of wood. History 19th century: First passenger cars and early development Restored clerestory cars on display at the Mid-Continent Railway Museum in North Freedom, Wisconsin In some countries, such as the UK, coaching stock that is designed, converted or adapted to not carry passengers, is referred to as 'NPCS' (non-passenger coaching stock) similarly, in the US, some maintenance (engineering) stock can be known as 'MOW' (maintenance of way).

In some systems a choice is given between first- and second-class carriages, with a premium being paid for the former. Amenities for passengers have also improved over time, with developments such as lighting, heating, and air conditioning added for improved passenger comfort. Passenger cars have increased greatly in size from their earliest versions, with modern bi-level passenger cars capable of carrying over 100 passengers. Early passenger cars were constructed from wood in the 1900s construction shifted to steel and later aluminum for improved strength. The first passenger cars were built in the early 1800s with the advent of the first railroads, and were small and little more than converted freight cars. The term passenger car can also be associated with a sleeping car, a baggage car, a dining car, railway post office and prisoner transport cars. A passenger railroad car or passenger car ( American English), also called a passenger carriage, passenger coach ( British English and International Union of Railways), or passenger bogie ( Indian English) is a railroad car that is designed to carry passengers.

Passenger let her go