I do not know what has taken place, but this is the second item that I have received via email--and it does not appear in the Classic Trains Forum on either my desktop or laptop computer.
mkghost asked about the handling of luggage when boarding a sleeper and about being able to sit during the day.
A redcap would take luggage from the curbside and carry it to the car that will be occupied, and the car porter would put it into the space that will be occupied. Anyone employed by a railroad could be trusted to handle the luggage properly. Usually, the passenger would accompany the redcap If the passenger arrived at the station early enough, he could leave his luggage with a redcap, who would search him out when time came to board the train. Once, I left my suitcase with a redcap in New Orleans when I was leaving New Orleans by coach on the Pelican, so I could see some of the city before it was time to board the train
As to sitting during the day, the seats, whether in open sections or private rooms, were available when they had not been made down into berths for sleeping.
I never noticed, the few times that I was in a private room in a heavyweight sleeper, any place than under the seats for storing luggage when it was not needed.
Not everyone wanted to sit in either the observation car or the smoking car, and there may have been another lounge car available. Usually, drinks were available in the observation car. I am not sure as to smoking in the diner, but it may be that it was allowed.
Johnny
Under the seats was one possible locaton to store luggage. Also, in a section, the facing seats were wide enough so a briefcase or handbag could easily fit along with one not-overly-fat person. Actually, the seats were as wide as a two-place seat in a tyical commuter coach. Protocol was that the forward-facing seat belonged to the occupant of the lower berth, and the backward-facing seat to the upper berth occupant.
Most dining cars in the classic and streamliner eras had glass partitions open at the aisle separateing two or four tables for smonking passengers from six or eight tables for non-smokiing passengers. i think i rremember this as true for the CZ's diners. And the diner on the Newfie Bullet. In some two-unit diners, where the kitchen occupied half one one of the two cars, the rest of that car was for smoking dining pasengers, and the all-table car for non-smokers. But some railroads did progress to an all-non-smoking diner policy before Amtrak.
Smoking was not allowed in sections but was in private rooms.
Dave, thanks for expanding on my answer to the questions. I hope the questioner has seen these answers, and has a better understanding of first class travel back when it was first class.
Smoking at one time was commonplace in dining cars and cigars often could even be purchased from the steward. On diners in the South, the dividing partition would separate the black from the white patrons. Usually there were two tables, one on either side of the aisle for black diners. Pullman passengers traveling in open sections could smoke in the men's or lady's lounge at the ends their car. I recall a leather covered sofa in the men's room of heavyweight sleepers for use by smokers and those waiting to use the facilities. Lounge and parlor cars all had upright ash trays with heavy bases for stability. IIRC it wasn't until the 1950's or maybe even the early 60's that more stringent regulation of on board smoking locales became commonplace.
Mark
i concurr that the restrooms doubled as smoking areas in both section pullmans and most long-distance coaches that had large restrooms. also remember the leather bench-seat in the men's room of section pullmans.
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