George Mortimer Pullman (1831 – 1897) was an American industrialist who introduced the Pullman Sleeping Car or "Palace Car" in 1864. When one of these sleepers was used to convey the body of Abraham Lincoln on the Funeral Train from Washington to Springfield in April and May of 1865 it brought Pullman widespread national attention and, as a result, orders for his sleeping cars came flooding in.
The sleeping cars, which were marketed as "luxury for the middle class", therefore proved very successful, despite the fact that they cost in excess of five times the price of a regular railway car.
Great Britain introduced Pullman Cars in 1874 and these Tri-ang Hornby models are based on cars from the 1920s - during what has become affectionately known as the Golden Age of Steam!
Tri-ang first introduced these handsome models in 1958 and they then continued in production until 1973 when they were finally phased out.
As far as I am aware there were just the four different 1st Class Cars in this original styling, namely: Anne, Jane, Mary and Ruth. Then, in 1960, Tri-ang introduced a Brake / 2nd Class Car, simply called Car Nº 79.
Did you know that George Pullman also created his own company town called, not surprisingly, Pullman, which was later absorbed by, and is now a neighbourhood of, Chicago.
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I remember having a brake and one parlour car in Tri-ang TT years ago and very proud of them I was too!
ReplyDeleteIs there not an immensely expensive all-singing-and-dancing train in production again now? It's by someone completely different of course.
Hi Micky, Yes, I vaguely recall the TT Pullmans, weren't they named after birds like Falcon and Eagle or something?
ReplyDeleteI think Golden Age Models have produced a new model of the Brighton Belle at some astronomical cost and, of course, Bachmann are in the process of bringing back the Blue Pullman train set that modellers have been requesting for a long time.