There were four variations of the lettering of heavyweight Pullmans; I'm wondering about the significance of the differerent forms. I'm not talking about car names; that's a whole different topic. The lettering variations I'm talking about here appear in the "letterboard" at the top of the car side, just below the roof.
1. Probably the most common form just had the word PULLMAN in gold centered on the letterboard. I believe that was used on cars owned and operated by the Pullman Co in pool service.
2. Some cars had only the name of the railroad or an abbreviation of the name (e.g., BURLINGTON) on the letterboard.
3. Another variation had the word PULLMAN centered on the letterboard with railroad reporting marks at each end of the letterboard.
4. One other variation I think I've seen has the railroad name centered on the letterboard with the word PULLMAN in very small letters at each end of the letterboard.
Can anyone explain the meaning of each of these lettering formats?
ChuckAllen, TX
Hello
I'm away from my references at the moment but I can give you a quick rundown.
Variation 1 you aanswered your own question. Pullman owned, Pullman operated.
#2 A car owned by the railroad, i.e. a coach, diner, some buffet-lounge cars, head-end cars. The railroad may have used Pullman personnel to staff the car, such as a lounge car or club car but no long term agreement was in effect.
#3 The railroad bought the car and leased it back to the Pullman Co. for staffing and operations.
#4 The railroad bought the car, didn't lease it to Pullman but contracted with them to operate the car.
That's just an overview. Lots of variables were involved. Here is some insight:
https://utahrails.net/pass/pass-pullman.php
Regards, Ed
A minor point:
#1 could also be a lease-back to Pullman from an owning railroad. I think the difference between that and #3 is that with #3, the car was in assigned service. With #1, it was not.
Ed
From early on, Pullman built and owned it's sleeping cars. A big change came right after WW2, when it was decided by the government that Pullman couldn't continue to do both, they had to choose one or the other. Pullman decided to sell off it's sleeping car business to a consortium of railroads, and just stuck to building railroad cars (Pullman Standard).
However, many railroads bought sleeping cars and then hired Pullman to operate them - those cars usually had the railroad (or in some cases, a particular train's) name on the large central letterboard, with "Pullman" in smaller lettering near the car end.
It gets a bit more complicated, that's just a 'thumbnail sketch'. But after the late forties, cars just lettered "PULLMAN" became much less common.
wjstix Pullman decided to sell off its sleeping car business to a consortium of railroads...
Pulman didn't decide to sell off their car business the federal government forced them too. They had a monopoly so they were forced to either operate the cars for the railroads or own the cars. Hence the small Pulman on the rr owned cars. Years ago in Trains there were a series of articles by a Pulman porter about how he ran a car. I am guessing late 50's. The name escapes but he was making so much in tips he failed to collect his paycheck for months at a time and would get called in to bring things up to date.
I believe he was a Pullman conductor.
mvlandswI believe he was a Pullman conductor.
I believe you are correct.
http://cs.trains.com/trn/f/111/t/173125.aspx
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/80214833/william-mcgarvey-moedinger
Pullman was NOT forced to sell all its passenger cars by the federal government.
Only Pullman cars that were in assigned service on 12/31/1945 were eligible for railroad purchase on 12/31/1948. And that was optional for the railroads. The cars that were not assigned remained under Pullman ownership.
If you thumb through a book called "Pullman Company List of Cars 1950", you will find vast quantities of sleepers still owned by Pullman. Note that 1950 is two years after the divestiture.
If you are ever in Chicago and have a couple of hours there is a Pulman visitor center on the plant site. You can also tour the town that was created and one day a year the current home owners allow people into their homes. There were several levels of homes based on position in the company. Very much worth the time to visit.