Note 111 — Chapter X

“Easy Travelling.—The Pullman Sleeping Car Company have just placed on the Great Western Railway of Canada a new passenger car, which they call an ‘Hotel Car,’ and which combines the comforts of a first-class hotel, the luxuries of a drawing-room, and the speed of an express train. Like all American passenger cars, it is open at each end, with a platform in front of the doors; its length to the end of the platform is 71 feet 4 inches, width 10 feet 6 inches, with a ceiling 10 feet 6 inches from the floor. At each corner of the car, making four in all, is a private bed-room or state cabin, containing a sofa, two arm-chairs, and a centre table. These are convertible into comfortable beds, with mattresses, pillows, sheets, &c. The rooms are adorned with mirrors of large dimensions. The doors and fittings are of black walnut; carved and gilt ornaments of bronze are introduced. Each of these rooms will contain six passengers. Then follows a small room, fitted as a kitchen and steward’s pantry. Here meals will be cooked, coffee or tea prepared, and drinks dispensed. A bell with wires communicating all over the car—or shall we say the edifice—will summon the steward. A central passage runs down the length of the car from door to door, and on each side are three other compartments, each intended for four passengers. Berths are made up exactly as on board a steamer, the bed appurtenances being conveniently stowed away during the daytime. The partitions dividing the compartments being moveable, when used as a drawing-room rise no higher than the backs of the seats, which are covered with rich Genoa velvet; the floor is carpeted, the ceiling is painted in fresco, and the walls richly carved and gilt. A stove heats the interior, with provision for ventilation, and a washing-room and other conveniences complete the internal arrangements.