The Manchester journal. [volume] (Manchester, Vt.) 1861-current, 1877-06-07
TnE TRIUMPH uF AKT ~ RAILROAD
TRAVEL

Year by year we note the footsteps OF
progress Ia many directions, In no di.
reclion is pslpable than In the facilities
offered the railroad traveller Of the pres
ent day Looking back but few years,
we can see the toiling snake.like advance
made day by day by the emigranl's wag-
on, as il WIS slowly but surely drawn
toward sundown by the patient OK, or
the slowly moving turm horse then
came the old fashioned stage coach; fol-
lowing closely, we had the canal packet; I;
then the steamer on the lakes aud rivers !;
then the locomotive engine aud the stage
like car. Nowl the palatial coach, and
more than palatial drawing room aud
sleeping car. Yet, not satisfied with
these, that marvel of mammoth western
corporations, the Chicago & Northwest
ern Railway, as we stated some weeks
ago, has developed hotel cars that will,
for elegance, usefulness aud real comfort,
eclipse everything of the kind that has
been hitherto placed in service on any
road, Some of our readers seem to have
some doubts about the merits OF hotel
cars, or their superiority over the So
called dining car, that is run for few
miles on some roads. am not so sure
about that, said one of our friends, as
he had finished reading our first article
about these hotel coaches that are to be
run on the Omaha and California line of
the Chicsgo Il North-Western Railway.
am not SO sure | would care TO dine
IN any car, no matter how much like o
palace, while 1t was running at the rate
OF forty miles an hour. Il Is a saying,
that the faster you run the safer, Why,
last June It will be remembered that
this road hauled from Chicago to Council
Bluffs, IN less than ten hours, the now
celebrated Jarrett and Palmer Train.
Oa that train was hotel car, not AS
large, with less wheels under il, poorer
springs, and in no way as strong and
easy for riding In as these new cars are
to be, and yet, Mr.. Jarrett said while on
the Chicago & Northwestern line, run.
ming at an average rate OF fifty miles an
hour, we took our breakfast as comforta-
bly, as we would al Delmonico's, In New
York.
II is well known that the Chicago &
North Western Railway is built over the
most favorable line as 10 grades that
could be found between Chicago and the
Missouri River, with but few curves; its
track is mostly of heavy steel rail, gravel
ballasled, with wide roadway, giving il
permanenee and solidty Ii is as smooth
as tloor; all its ears strong, with plenty
oi wheels under them, and with springs
SO adjusted that the usual "bouuoing"
aud oscillation Is reduced TO The mini.
mum. We observed last week that IN an
ordinary car the side motion and rising
aud falling oi The car was less than hail
an inch, aud sometimes scarcely percep
tible. We believe it will be found that a
person will sit In these hotel cars aud eat
or write as comfortably as he csuId at his
desk oi table at home; this we choose 10
call the triumph Of art 10 railway travel
We learn that this new ihe Oi hotel
cars is being pushed TO completion as fast
as the full force OF workmen In the Pull-
man shops can do IT, We shall be cer-
tain 10 see them in few weeks. Cedar
Rapids Republican, Feb. 1877.