The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1882-08-04
PALACES ON WHEELS.
NOW vAr.DsRBILr, JAY GOULD, AND
OFFERS FARE ON THE RAILS.
cara taat are Complete Houses OF the Most
Elegant Scrt-Prcsidcnt Jcwe"'s Seve"'y~
Foot Palace Psliman's Travelling Ccach.
From tho New York sum-


San Franc,sco dispatch announces thai
President Leland Stanford, OF the Centra
Pacific railroad, has ordered tnat paiace
car no buiit In Sacramento for his wife. Il
a. 20 he finished entirely according to hel
sncgcstions, and will cost S25, 900 or $50, 900
Handsome ms this will doubtless be, IL vii
NOT be the most expensive private palace
car IN the country. Mrs. Stanford and the
builders must have rare taste, and mus
have seen many others, II they purpose u
make 10 either the most complete or the
most beautiful Of its kind.
II Is said that Mr.. William III. Wander
bits car is the most expensive private We
hicle OF any kind in the world. It's cost Is
said 10 have been $4,000. II Is by no
means the most complete and seryiceaDle
and n has no need TO be, for n suits the
pleasure Of that railroad monarch to rid'
only i'm the daytime. III he ever depart
from this rule, the Wagner sieeping-cai
Dutcbess is coupled on behind bis coach
and nothing remains to he wished for then
nv night or by day. His car Is named
the Vanderbilt; and whereas the exteriors
of all other private cars are modest ia
color and simple in ornament, this Is yel-
low. and bears on each OF its sides three OIL
paintings i'm panels One represents the
Grand Central depot, another The entrance
TO the Fourth-avenue sunken track, another
Niagara Falls, and others High bridge ana
the Suspension bridge. 1t is longer than
Pullman car, and its windows are wide
and long. 1t was built in the shops OF the
New York Central railroad. The interior
suggests palmer taste, and though every
appointment is OF the best, comfort was
more sought there than elegance. One
half the interior is a grand saloon, wall
cd In by big platc-glass windows, taste
fully draped, and furnished with table
and Undiscovered arm-chairs and lounges.
This saloon serves rs an obseryation-looln
and dining-room as well. The other hall
of the coach is sub-divided into smaller
apartments-a kitchen and pantry together,
a Baker heater in a closet by itself with
pipes running from it all around the sides
of the car, a passageway, a tollet-room, ana
a private stting-room containing uphol-
stored furniture. One of the end platforms
is very wide, and when the lids over the
steps are shut down there is room upon ii
for several arm-chairs, in which Mr.. Van
derbilt and his guests may sit out OF doors
and get an unobstructed view Of the coun-
try they may be passing through.
vANDERBnT's FONDNEss OF TRAVEL.
Until very recently every private car had
an neutrality-suspicious., as it is called, but
il has been found that its looks promise
more OF enjoyment than 1t yields. The
rate OF speed does not have to be tremen.
dous to cause q dust-laden undercurrent OF
air and a Observation-Disclosures upper
current to curve in at the end OF the car
and be hurled upon that platform as though
the train were prodigious suction-pump
and that was its mouth. Pretty nearly all
the coveted advantages of the observation
platform are gained in the later patterns Of
private cars by windows that reach to the
floor on either side of the back door.
Mr.. Vanderbilt has inherited his fathers
fondness for fast travelling, and in lesser
degree the old Conmodore's partiality for
what Is known in railroad parlance as
-'going special" which is travelling with
a special engine on special time, and with.
out regard to the trains and traffic Of the
road. Jim Fisk, Jr., was noted for eXer-
cising his ability to travel in that royal
way. lie had an engine hitchcd to his
special car on the Erie railroad OH two min
utes' notice, and before he stepped into the
car il was his custom to pause at the cab OF
the engine and say to the engineer. "Now,
20 rs fast as you cam" Then. as now, it was
a sufficient evidence OF carefulness and
Judgment for an engineer to have earned
place in the passenger service; and al
though "Uncle" Green to-day wears the
gold badge that Fisk gave him for putting
the famous relief train through to Chicago
in unprecedented time when that city had
been swept by fire, one passenger engineer
is held to rank equally with another. In
these days, however, partly because there
is less iondness for display among the rail-
road men, and partly because the rate OF
speed for passenger trains has been greatly
raised during the past five years, special
coaches almost invariably run at the end of
regular expresses.
Less than month ago Mr.. Vanderbilt
invited few friends to 90 with him in his
palace coach on tour OF his roads by day.
light. In distance the journey was greater
than il Europe had been the destination
The party was to stop at hotel in some
big city every night, and Toledo was to be
the end OF the first days run. The dis
lance is 694 miles, vet Mr.. Vanderbilt, al.
though he did not leave New York until
nearly O'Clock in the morning. expected
TO make il by or before dark. 1t was after
10 O'Clock that night before he reached
there, yet the run was remarkable one
The passengers said that, though mil,
after mile was made at the rate Of n mile
minute, and fifty miles were frequentl,
travelled in an hour, they could not realize
that they were going at anything but an or
binary rate OF speed. This they explained
by the fact that the car is mounted on pa
per wheels OF extra size, is strong, very
heavy, and well balanced. Much depends
on the engineer, who, IL he slows littl,
on curves and stopping, starting, and il
altering the rate of speed, moves gradu
ally, may deceive the passengers will
comfortable, even motion. III h,
Is clumsy and thoughtless, they viii
be all but thrown from their seats OF
curves. and rendered half sick b,
the Juggling and jolting Of sudden change
In speed. Seasickness," as the porters o.
thc private coaches call tae illness tina
rough riding in them provokes, is com
mon malady among the women in these ex
cursion parties. In the long Journey Mr.
Vanderbilps guests enjoyed, the speed toll
on the muscles, which were taxed by tn,
constant and powerful backward pressur
that pinned every man TO the back OF hi
seat when he sat down, and made eaui
librium uncertain when he stood up. Ii j
said to be Mr.. Vapderbilps custom TO nc
ward engineers who please him with spee,
and comfort when he travels.
HOW PRESIDENT JEwETT TRAVELS.
President Jewett OF the Eric railroad
has the richest, most complete, and most
Deatitfui private car on any Eastern rail-
road. Pullman built that and three Others
exactly like it. One af its mates is now
lying on siding above the Grand Central
depot. IL Is the private car OF Henry W.
isrd, OF The Oregon Railway and Navigation
company. Mr.. Wizard is fitting 1t with
electric lights. 1t had been cut down In
hegbt to suit the requirements of n tunnel
between Providence and Boston. tina, ap-
peas 10 practically limit 10 jts oy, bo;of&