The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1888-06-01
The Merits of the Vestibnle Oar.
[From the New. York Times, May ssd, 1888

[From the New York Times, May 23d, 1881
Speaking of the Injunction in favor
of the Pullman Company, restraining
the Wagner people from the use of the
vestibule attachment, prominent rail-
road man said the other day: "The
vestibule attachment is one of the most
important improvements of the age to-
ward the perfection of absolute COM
fort in passenger car construction. Sew
eral years ago, when the dining car
was introduced and the practice of pre-
pairing and serving meals on railway
trains inaugurated, it was found that
timid people, especially ladies and in
valids, experienced great difficulty in
passing from their seats in the sleeper
to the dining Car when the train was
running at high rate of speed. The
open platforms between the cars form
ed a gulf over which they feared to at
tempt passage in fine weather and
which in wind or storm, or both, was
impossible to people with delicate con-
stitutions. If the dining car system
was to be success, this objection must
be overcome, and the Pullman people
set themselves the task of bridging the
chasm. In order to accomplish this
end they evolved and developed the
idea of the vestibule, and in bringing
it into successful usage the railway
companies, as we'll as. their patrons,
find that the original difficulty has not
only been completely overcome, but
that a great many other marked ad-
vantages have been secured in the in
PRODUCTION of the vestibule. One strik-
ing feature is the additional strength
created ana distributed over the entire
train by the close fitting of the coaches
to one another and the consequently
increased power to withstand the shock
of a collision. Telescoping is hardly
possible in well-equipped Yestibule
train. from the simple fact that the
steel frames arrest the force which
would drive one Car into another. The
steadier motion with which the closely
united factors of the train are endowed
will be readily recognized as a most
beneficial result This steadiness is
noticeable at once, but particularly per-
ceptible to the occupants of upper
berths or those who, having tried to
read or write in the ordinary car, ur-
dertake to do so in veslibule train.
The vestibules, beside protecting the
passengers in passing from end to end
of the train, serve the purpose of storm
doors to residence, and prevent the
sudden drafts which the opening of an
ordinary. Car door always creates. An
other feature, which is prominent from
social standpoint, is the deadening
of the noise made by the rapid revo-
luton of the wheels over the rails, SO
that conversation may be carried on
without in any way straining the voice
''The constructors of these cars
'builded wiser than they knew, and
succeeded in abolishing many of the
petty annoyances that beset the rail,
way traveller, even on the best equip,
ped roads,"
"These cars" he continued, "sre as
far superior to the ordinary coach as
the Pullman is to the old-fashioned
passenger car, They enhance in a
great degree the pleasure and comfort
of travel, and, as the learned Judge re-
marked in the decision above referred
to, they must have proved a startling
and successful innovation or a compe
ting company would not have been so
prompt in initiating them, The Penn.
sylyania's New York and Chicago
Limited Express was the pioneer yes
tibule train, and the enormous popular
ity it has won is the best evidence OF
public appreciation of its merits