Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-05-06
AFRICAN PULLMAN" CARS.
Passengers Keep Warm and starve or Ess
and Ereaxa

and Freeze.
From the Railway Press London.
The American who kicks a. his railway
accommodation should 60 abroad. and espec-
tally to Africa. He should take a journey on
any of the different routes. and there are only
three in sorth Africa at present He cannot go
smiss on any OF them for an experience, and
when he is permitted by a releuuns fate to
meet once more train of railway cars in his
native land. ne wall feel like doing his hat TO
II. ana has complaints will be forever silenced.
Before arriving at Cape Town inquiries are
naturally made about the trains running TO the
interior. the accommodation they afford. &C.,
and with much parade the information is GIVEN
that Africa now has Pullman palace cars run
ming on ats lines. The contemplation OF doing
the journey in a Pullman car il as satisfactory
a ANYTHING can be, and one is hardly prepared
for disappointment special train leaves
Cape Town every Thursday on arrival OF the
English mails. and on this train onl, are the
"Pullmsns" run.
Most Americans who have knocked about
their own country will have pretty elaborate
expectations concerning a Especial fast mail
train announced in big letters, which has only
sleeping cars attached and carries none but
first-class passengers, because their ideas are
drawn from the limited trains run on the
best lines at home, which are the acme of per-
lection in their way, but their big ideas suffer
a most lamentab.e collapse when they take
trains also carry what Is termed in this country
dining saioon." car one-half of which 10
made into a kitchen. in which to cook meals to
be served on the train. The other half of
this car consists of sleeping accommodations
these are nothing more or less than the ordi-
nary English narrow-gusge car with a narrow
passage running through at just one side of the
center. having ordinary double-width sec
ton on one SIDE of the passage ard half-width
section on the other side. The seats in each Of
these face 9TH sha.- A., xx e.
regular Pullman. At the edge OF the aisle and
IN the center of the space. or leg room. between
the seats, il a fixed standard, which serves TO
support the outer end Of a table when the table
is required for use. and il serves a. an internal
! nuisance all the remainder of the time.
The cushions are of leather and quite hard
lhere are no nres and no way 70 heat the cars.
There Is no ornamentation or overhead ventila-
tion. The windows are arranged like cab win
dows. dropping down into the sockets and
raised by means of a broad strap. and are onlv
single windows. The sockets serve a double
purpose, for in addition TO taking in the win
dows they let the air into the cars. This is all
right enough in warm weather bus il is not
agreeable in cold weather by large majority.
Another advantage OF these loose windows ia
that they beat a sort of rat-tat to the otherwise
monotonous rattle or the train. and this has a
tendency to prevent one from falling asleep
and so missing many interesting views.
| When the guard or conductor on the car is
asked TO make up" the berth il is done in the
| following manner: The lower berth is pulled
| out and the cushions laid upon il in the recula-
ton fashion. The upper berth consists Of 3
| rail, each end of which sllps into a slot lust
| twentv-sIx inches from the side Of the car and
| TO this rail and the side of the car is fastened
piece OF canvas Just twenty-slx inches wide.
This is pulled ont, and along this canvas cut to
| LIT, is laid a strip of heavy moquette carpet.
and there you are. IL will be some future gem
Grafton in Africa who viii crack the stale jokes
! about pulling the Sleeping car" pillows out Of
their ears, for passengers all obliged to fur
nish their own bedding or so without. One adj
vantage of this arrangement is that they are
entirely relieved from any anxiety as to who
| may have slept in the bed previously what
traces of his presence a predecessor may have
left behind IN the bedclothes.
| Imagine an American passenger on . fret
class tram being invited to array himself in mis-
overcoat, and, wrapped in rugs. TO squeeze him.
self into a twenty-six-inch berth, and there,
pressed in the persistent embrace OF side rail
| and car, TO pass the night with all sorts of
| zephyrs singing songs Of influenza and pneu-
monia in his the whole night long, and
having nothing as a compensation except. when
the passengers in the lower berths complain OF
| the bruises made by the uneven edges OF the
| hard cushions, the thought that he at least does
not have that evil OF which to complain.
The layatories in these cars are in compare
| rnents large enough to accommodate one per-
son comfortably. and along one side Of each
| runs an Imprinted wooden shelf. in which n
| sunk metallic washbasin. There is no soap,
| no glass, no drinking water and public towel.
As for the accommodations other than lavatory,
they are there, just there. and that is all
Meals served at each seat from the kitchen
! compartment in the rear car. When the meal
| hours occur the tables are placed in each Sec
tion and spread after the manner Of Mr.. Pull
mans buffet cars and then the parade COM
merces. The first thing done is to open every
car door in the train except the front door on
the first car and the rear door on the last car.
| The meal orders having previously been given
| from a menu card circulated for the purpose .
long procession OF walters and guards, includ
ing the conductor. commences 10 travel back
| and forth. serving meals. No trays are en-
ployed. and through the train, across the open
platforms. in the dust and cinders, the open
dishes carried. One good live American
descendant Of the dusky tribes which throng
| crew of helpers and walters on one Of these
| trains.
Al meal time there seems to be no best part
| Of the train the meals in the rear car come hot.
| but the door rs open, and there Is nothing for
| IL but 10 sit and eat with the cold blast pouring
in. depositing its burden of dust and cindsrs
| all over the food and sending the temperature
| Of the away down into the wheels. Those
in the forward car need not freeze. but their
food comes cold and full of cinders. All through
meals men are running back and forth, re-
plenishing dishes, and the doors muss stand
| wide open.
The nights and mornings are nearly always
cold on the high veldts of the interior. There
| is no way Of heating the carr. Passengers must
wash in icy water. served in a cold lavatory and
then go and sit in bowling draft to get break
fast. All this is on a special fast mail train.
One can have the door shut and keep warm At
the sacrifice of meals. or have meals and freeze.
Some Of the cars. and these the best,
| taking everything into consideration. are
| divided into compartments opening into Q mar
row passage. which runs along one entire side
| OF the car. Each compartment will acconnmo-
date four people, but is usually occupied by
two. There l. a long stationary table between
the seats IN every compartment. When il was
| suggested TO an Official of the road. who hap
pened TO be on the train. that temporary tables
like those used by the Pullman company would
/ be much more convenient. he replied: BLESS
your soul. man, You are not in America, you
know" He was assured that the entire expe-
rience Of an African railway journey kept thas
fact 90 continually before one that this suggeo.
| ton was unnecessary. :
And so the passengers sit for eighteen hours
q day right at the table at which their meals are
| served II is sort Of perpetual meal, or, rather,
| waiting for meals, from beginning TO the end OF
| the Journey and the same cars have the same
sliding doors and windows, no overhead ventils-
| tion no fires. By the shades Of your departed
| ancestors. Mr.. Pullman. and for the credit Of
| your time-honored comforts, you should resent
= =.