Evening star., 1902-08-29
RAILWAY PALACE CARS
DEMAND FOR PRIVATE COACHES
INCREASING.
Evolution of Luxury in Travel - En-
ployed for Business
Purposes.
From the Chicago Tribune.

From the Chicago Tribune.
This is the day of the private car. Not
necessS rily the private car of state, but
the private car of business necessity, of
convenience and of company comforts
For years the presidents of great railroad
companies have had their private cars as
a matter Of course. Then the heads of
some of the great manufacturing corpora
tions found them necessary. Finally, it be-
came a fashion for almost any one having
money enough to seek privacy in special
cars Theatrical stars used them, opera
singers affected them more than any other
class Then the millionare's family sought
the seaside in them. and, finally 1t has
come about that an ordinary pleasure
party, touring a section of the United
States. may have its special it's spe-
Cial train in all the state that exclusiveness !
stands for. The present season has marked
the building Of an unusually large number
OF private ears.
The evolution of the private car seems to
have been wholly legitimate. however. The |
need of the first one, used by the president
of some great railway system. came about |
when officials of the company found it neG;-
essary to go from place to place, taking |
with them the clerical help and paraphEr-
MALTA of office. In this the official could |
go anywhere on the line and yet transact |
business as if he were al headquarters. He !
had his library. his secretary, his desk. his |
kitchen. his cook his bed room. office and |
lounging room, and he need not leave his !
car if he did not choose. He could work
while the car was running forty miles an |
hour, and he saved time and the trouble |
and worry of packing and carting baggage. |
And, saving time, he saved money.
1t is Necessity.
In many quarters the lay public is not |
ready to recognize the necessity of the pri- |
yate car to great corpora tions. 1t is for |
getful of the fact that many of these cor !,
pOrations have so branched out in volume |
of business that their heads must travel in |
its interest. The man has a private car |
just as he has a private office. and for the |
same reason-that he may transact conf |
Dental business there. without the car |
the time occupied in travelling would be |
lost time; with 1t, the business goes on as |
usual 1t is an Outgrowth of modern con- |
dItions- \ few decades ago men did not |
live on the railroads as they do now; their |
business interests were more centered, and |
T. was not so essential to success that they |
should have a travelling as well as a home !
office.
But from the private car for business rea- !
sons the demand has gone for the pri- |
yate car for pleasure, and just now there |
are more of these cars in course of con- |
struCtfOD III the Pullman shops than ever /
before at one time. In addition to these |
specially ordered cars there is scarcely a !
special car Of the company that is not in |
service.
This condition is as certainly Indicative |
of prosperity as anything else could be. 1t |
has been always remarked that one of the |
first things men ecOnomiZe in when times |
are hard is travel But just now travel has |
been booming; every private is in use.
and more new ears are building than ever |
before-alI indexes OF the fact that times /
are unusually prosperous.
Pleasure and Business.
In the private car built for the Individual |
for the transaction of business the sleep |
ing accommoda tions are of minor impor- |
tance in figuring on room. Many owners of |
such cars have sleeping quarters for them |
selves and secretaries only in addition to |
the car crew. They need plenty of office |
room, with lounging place that smacks of |
comfort in everything.
In a pleasure car. however, designed to |
carry as many as possible of the friends of |
the owner or renter, the problem is for room |
all around. There may have to be berths |
for eighteen or twenty persons, together |
with kitchen and dining room. More and |
more the demand is for these cars COM !
pietely equipped. and they grow larger and /
heavier with the requirements. Its average /
dimensions are II by 20 feet; it is almost !
a home except in the matter of space 1t /
is elaborate.y finished; it has brass bed |
stsddS, extension dining table, writing desk, |
arm chairs lounges. dressers, wardrobes !!
cabinets. hot and cold water and a fully |
equipped kitchen, with the best of service. |
SlCN d car may cost SZbU.D 10 S3D.tpb. |
Just it is trundied out of the shops and !
before II has been coupled to train at a |
mileage rate. And it is then that such a |
car begins to draw upon a mans bank ac- |
count.
Special Trains.
From private cars to special trains is an |
easy transition. and this has been espe- |
ciaIly attractive to parties made up of |
wealthy people who have planned a junket |
together. Such a train. running over pre- |
scribed route. costs money. but presumably |
Its passengers have the money to spend |
Some one has figured the amount which |
such party might spend an hour For a |
party of fifty persons, comfortably housed
a train of five cars would be needed. A |
combination smoking and baggage car a
dining car, a car equipped with state rooms /
and bedsteads, a drawing room sleeping |
car having berths and an observation car |
having accommodations for comparatively !
few slee pers- For twenty-day tour such a !
train of cars. with service, would cost |
about SID a day: a straight run from
Chicago to New York the railroad hauling |
the train would charge about ST0O day; !
then foCd-and drfnk-must be supplied |
Figuring all in far as possible the guess |
Is that a twenty-day tour for fifty persons |
In a spe cial train of private cars would |
knock tremendous hole in a $50. eco bank |
account-which is $40 day for each pas
senger. or 500 each for twenty-day ex-
cursion- Which. after all. is about as CHEAP |
as Is travel on the Atlantic in some of the |
floating palaces that ply each week be-
tween the United States and Europe