Coachbult.com - Pullman



Pullman Palace Car Co. - 1867-1899 - Pullman Co. - 1899-1947 - Pullman-Standard - Chicago, Illinois & Worcester, Massachusetts

Builders of the famous sleeping car who also turned out some automobile bodies for Moon and others. Showed an all-steel Packard sedan at the 1924 Chicago Salon. Built automotive bodies from only from 1919-1925.

In Great Britain and Europe the terms Pullman, Pullman Body or Pullman Limousine do not refer to bodies manufactured by the Pullman Company. Rather they pay homage to the Pullman railroad car by using the term to describe the absolute finest limousines money can buy. Mercedes-Benz in particular has made various Pullman models from the early 1920s all they way up to current model designations (eg: 2003 Mercedes-Benz S600 Pullman Limousine).

An advertisement for the 1908 Rainier Automobile (1905-1911) stated it was "the Pullman of Motor Cars."

Humber Pullmans - In the early 1950s Thrupp and Maberly built a number of Pullman limousines for Humber, a British car manufacturer. British funeral car builder Woodall Nicholson also manufactuerd Humber Pullman Hearses in the 1950s. Humber listed a Pullman range of models from 1930 through 1954.

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PULLMAN (US) 1932-1952

Pullman-Standard., Chicago, Illinois (plant at Worcester, Mass.)

A single sample trolley-coach for Brooklyn was produced by streetcar builder Osgood-Bradley in its Worcester plant during 1930, and then the company sold out to Pullman, Inc. of Chicago (afterward Pullman-Standard). Brooklyn placed an order for six coaches in 1932, and small orders were taken for other operators during the following few years. When Westinghouse and General Electric introduced single-motor drive for trolley-coaches in 1936, interest in these vehicles increased, and Pullman won a sizable share of the business. Transit systems in Boston and Providence were particularly steady Pullman customers, and other large fleets ran in Atlanta, Milwaukee and Birmingham. A modified design for the export trade was offered after 1945, and some were sold to Valparaiso and Sao Paulo. Altogether Pullman built about 2100 trolley-coaches.

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Pullman also built production bodies for many US auto manufacturers. Moon of St. Louis, Missouri ordered 10,000 closed-car bodies from Pullman in 1924.

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Packard by the Pullman Co. - picture in 1929 Automotive News issue

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unrelated to the Pullman Motor Car Company 1905-1917 - York, Pennsylvania

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In 1899 Pullman expanded into the construction of freight cars and coaches for subways, the Wagner Palace Car Co. was consolidated into the firm, and the resulting business was reorganized as the Pullman Company

The Pullman Company reached its peak during the 1920’s, manufacturing new heavyweight cars at a rapid pace. Seeking to expand its freight car production, the Pullman Company merged with the Haskell and Barker Car Company in 1922. In 1924, the manufacturing department became a distinct firm, the Pullman Car and Manufacturing Corporation. In 1927, a parent or holding company, Pullman Incorporated, was created to oversee the two subsidiary firms. In 1929, Pullman Car and Manufacturing Corporation merged with the Standard Steel Car Company, forming the Pullman-Standard Car Manufacturing Company. In 1947 the Pullman Company (the operating company) was sold for roughly $40 million to a consortium of 57 railroads by order of a federal anti-trust decree.

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Pullman: Historic synonym for highest comfort on wheels
Already the supplementary designation Pullman points to the noble character of the new representative limousine: The American factory owner George Mortimer Pullman from Chicago (US state of Illinois) in the middle of the 19th century made a name for manufacturing particularly luxuriously equipped railway coaches. Since then he counts as a byword for highest comfort on wheels - the standard work „Kraftfahrer und Kraftfahrzeug“ ((Motorist and motor vehicle)) defined the Pullman-limousine already in 1928 as "big, comfortable travel- and representation vehicle with partition between driver's seat and passenger compartment".

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Mr. Pullman, an American manufacturer originally based in Chicago, has bequeathed us his name as a synonym for the ultimate in comfort and state-of-the-art luxury on wheels. Back in the mid-19th century, Mr. Pullman built exceptionally luxurious carriages for the early railways. Some years later, the first limousines bearing his name appeared. Pullman limousines were defined as: "Large comfortable cars ideal for long-distance travel and public appearances, featuring a partition between the driver's area and the passenger compartment". A perfect description, in fact, of the new Mercedes-Benz S-class Pullman. This limousine sets new standards of comfort and safety, thanks to the innovative use of state-of-the-art technology.

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1831–97, American industrialist and developer of the railroad sleeping car, b. Brocton, N.Y. As a young man he became a cabinetmaker, and after he moved (1858) to Chicago he began converting (1859) old railroad coaches in order to facilitate long-distance traveling. Some five years later he built the Pioneer, the first modern sleeping car. Gaining great wealth from his invention, he founded (1867) the Pullman Palace Car Company. The town of Pullman, now part of Chicago, was built (1880) for the company and its workers. One of the most famous of all U.S. strikes was that at Pullman in 1894.

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George Mortimer Pullman was born in western New York in 1831, where he worked as a county store clerk and a cabinetmaker. When he moved to Chicago in 1859, he coordinated teams of laborers who raised and moved buildings, a service desperately needed by a city built largely on swampland. Despite this successful career, Pullman had a strong interest in revolutionizing the railway sleeping car. He had once traveled overnight from Buffalo to Westfield in New York and his accommodations were so uncomfortable that he spent the entire evening devising a new railcar design.

To pursue his goal of improving the sleeping car, Pullman needed capital, so in 1860 he relocated to Colorado, where he ran a general store and an ore refinery. In 1863, he returned with heavier pockets to Chicago-the railway capital of the North-and began to put his ideas in motion. Pullman foresaw the growth of a rail-dominated economy and with it the growing wealth of the professional class.

The Pioneer, Pullman's first attempt at a luxury car, initially failed because it was too wide for railway platforms and bridges and the railroads refused to accommodate it. But after the Pullman car was included as part of President Lincoln's funeral train in May 1865, both Pullman and his car received national publicity and soon became famous for luxury train travel. In 1867, at the age of 36, Pullman established the Chicago-based Pullman Palace Car Company.

The luxuries of a Pullman Palace Car included freshly prepared gourmet meals, dining cars, chandeliers, electric lighting, table lamps with silk shades, leather seating, and advanced heating and air conditioning systems. As the railway network and cross-country travel increased, the desire of passengers to travel in one of these luxury cars grew too, just as Pullman had predicted.

Like many other industrialists during the late-nineteenth century, Pullman developed a strong interest in social reform. Cities like Chicago were growing rapidly, attracting foreign immigrants and native migrants with their promise of abundant work and good wages. The enormous population boom meant opportunity for some and squalor for others. The city's working class typically lived in overcrowded, unsanitary, unappealing parts of town. Some middle- and upper-class men and women attempted to improve the lives of the working and poor classes, but often did so with an air of condescension.

Pullman, like his upper-class colleagues, distrusted labor unions, so when the Chicago rail worker strike of 1877 ended violently with 12 deaths, he sought a solution to the "labor problem." Pullman hoped to improve the relationship between capital and labor by creating a safe, clean, culturally enriching environment for his workers, who would pay him back with loyalty, honesty, and commitment to hard work. He believed a company town would discourage strikes as it increased workers' efficiency and improved residents' moral character.

In 1880, after purchasing 4,000 acres of land near Lake Calumet, Pullman began building his model company town named for himself in Hyde Park (then a suburb south of Chicago). He hired architect Solon Beman and landscape designer Nathan Barrett to develop a place where "all that would promote the health, comfort, and convenience of a large working population would be conserved, and . . . many of the evils to which they [laborers] are ordinarily exposed [are] made impossible." Pullman differed from other communities in that it was privately owned, a distinguishing feature with both positive and negative aspects.

From the outside, the town of Pullman was a wonder. All buildings were made of brick; the nicest homes, which accommodated managers, resembled English row houses. Pullman's large Arcade building--which featured a restaurant, a bank, a library, a post office, a theater, and numerous shops--foreshadowed the modern shopping center. Unlike the city's working-class neighborhoods, in Pullman the shops were set apart from the residences, which George Pullman felt created a more tranquil environment. Not far from the Arcade sat the Hotel Florence, named after Pullman's daughter, where the town's many visitors stayed while viewing the great model city.

Pullman residents enjoyed the manmade Lake Vista and plenty of parks and promenades, features typically missing from Chicago's working-class neighborhoods. Lawns, buildings, and paved streets were meticulously maintained courtesy of the Pullman Palace Car Company. Pullman equipped all houses and apartments with state-of-the-art features, including gas, indoor plumbing, and regular garbage removal. Though some criticized Pullman, saying the residences all looked alike, virtually everyone praised the town's cleanliness. By 1893, the town's population had grown to approximately 12,000, with more than 6,000 of its residents employed in Pullman factories; nonemployed family members comprised the remaining population.

The town of Pullman was a model of financial efficiency. Pullman demanded that the company return an 8-percent profit and the town return a 6-percent profit. He designed the town so that he could profit from waste and excess materials. Scrap wood from the factory fueled the Corliss engine, which in turn powered Pullman's various machines. The engine's exhaust filled Lake Vista and workers used the ice from the lake on Pullman cars. Similarly, the Corliss engine pumped sewage from the town to a nearby Pullman-owned farm, where it was used as fertilizer for produce that would be sold back in the town.

The Pullman model worked to some degree because the company maintained absolute control and ownership of everything in town, just as it did with Pullman cars and on-board services. But that monopoly became its greatest criticism: the model town built to handle the "labor problem" in a democratic America was run like an Old World aristocracy. Except for the post office, there were no city government offices present; a town agent managed Pullman and its activities. Pullman chose which stores could establish in his town, which books the library could offer, and which performances could appear in the theater. He assumed that his residents would be satisfied with one church and a form of worship chosen by Pullman himself: the Greenstone Church. Pullman did not allow residents to own their homes. Subsequently, some workers moved out of Pullman and bought residences in nearby communities such as Roseland and Gano.

Many Pullman residents resented the town's virtual prohibition of alcohol. The Florence Hotel housed the sole tavern, which only served the town's visitors-not the town's residents. Pullman's alcohol policy insulted his workers and made buying alcohol inconvenient: residents had to walk a short way to the next town for a pint in one of its many taverns. Pullman hired company spies or "spotters" to watch for and report any resident who behaved contrary to his policies. Upon first glance, George Pullman seemed to have provided ideal living conditions, but for those living in the town, he failed to provide even the most basic human rights.

The U.S. economy declined in 1893-94, causing a nationwide depression. To offset any losses to his investors and himself, Pullman drastically cut productivity in his factory and reduced wages by one-third without reducing rents, utility charges, or store prices. Since he deducted rent (approximately $14 per month) before paying wages (approximately $16 per month postreduction), workers found themselves taking home scant pay for their labor, if any at all.

Soon desperate Pullman workers and their families begged the company -and Pullman himself- to reduce rents during the tight economic times, but their pleas fell on deaf ears. In spring 1894, many Pullman workers turned for help to the American Railway Union (ARU), led by Eugene V. Debs. After Pullman refused to discuss employee concerns, 90 percent of his workers went on strike on May 11. ARU was sympathetic and called for a national blockade and work stoppage against all railroads using Pullman cars. Railroad management responded by firing all ARU members.

In the wake of the 1886 Haymarket Affair and the violent strike of 1877, public sentiment was quick to turn against labor. President Cleveland sent federal troops to Chicago on July 4 to protect the Pullman factory. Although Debs advocated that the strikers refrain from violence, various riots occurred between July 5 and 7. Although it is unclear who initiated these riots, these events resulted in hundreds of burned (non-Pullman) railroad cars, several wounded soldiers and civilians, and six dead rioters. By July 10, federal troops broke the railroad blockade and trains began moving. Shortly thereafter, Debs was arrested for contempt and sentenced to six months in jail. The strike officially ended on July 12, 1894.

Although the strike collapsed, George Pullman's model for handling the "labor problem" had failed. Pullman had prided himself on his paternalistic approach with his workers, and he could not see how his heavy-handed methods had resulted in this worker rebellion. Criticized and scorned, Pullman died a bitter man in 1897. To prevent his body from being stolen or desecrated by angry employees, Pullman had made special provisions for his burial in Chicago's Graceland Cemetery. His casket consists of a lead-lined box covered in one inch of asphalt, and rests in an eight-foot-deep concrete-filled pit. Eight steel rails rest above the casket and a final layer of concrete was poured on top. At the request of Pullman's wife, Pullman architect Solon Beman designed the gravestone.

After George Pullman's death, both his town and his company experienced significant change. Following the departure of military troops in 1894, Pullman residents enjoyed domestic tranquility. In 1898, the Illinois Supreme Court ordered the Pullman Company to sell the nonindustrial land in the neighborhood to its inhabitants, determining that the Pullman Palace Car Company did not have the proper authority to provide nonmanufacturing services such as renting property. Finally, residents could buy their homes. The appearance of Pullman changed as residents renovated their homes and structures, such as the Arcade, deteriorated.

Robert T. Lincoln, the son of President Lincoln, became head of the company after Pullman's death and simplified its name to the Pullman Company. The Pullman Company (again renamed to Pullman Incorporated in 1927) continued to produce its famous cars at 111th Street and Cottage Grove Avenue. But with the explosion of automobile ownership, rail passenger traffic went into rapid decline. In 1957, Pullman Incorporated closed its plant in the neighborhood.

Only three years later, the city of Chicago included Pullman on a list of "blighted and deteriorating areas" that required clearance and redevelopment. Residents responded by forming the Pullman Civic Organization and began working to gain landmark status. South Pullman, currently bordered by 111th Street, 115th Street, Cottage Grove Avenue, and the Calumet Expressway, became a state landmark in 1969. This same area became a National Historic Landmark District in 1970 and a City of Chicago Landmark District in 1972

The Historic Pullman Foundation, which formed in 1973, helps ensure the area's preservation and restoration by sponsoring various events such as neighborhood walking tours, annual house tours, Sunday brunch at the Florence Hotel, and presentations at the Pullman Visitor Center. Today the Pullman area sees many visitors who come to take a look at the neighborhood that was one of the most ambitious-yet inevitably unsuccessful-social experiments of its time.

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He had once traveled overnight from Buffalo to Westfield in New York and his accommodations were so uncomfortable that he spent the entire evening devising a new railcar design.

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PULLMAN, George Mortimer, inventor, born in Chautauqua county, New York, 3 March, 1831. At fourteen he entered the employment of a country merchant, and at seventeen joined an elder brother in the cabinet-making business in Albion, New York At twenty-two he successfully undertook a contract for moving warehouses and other buildings, along the line of the Erie canal, then being widened by the state. In 1859 he removed to Chicago and engaged extensively in the then novel task of raising entire blocks of brick and stone buildings. In 1858 his attention was first directed to the discomfort of long-distance railway travelling, and he determined, if possible, to offer the public something better. In 1859 he remodelled two old day-coaches of the Chicago and Alton road into sleeping-cars, which at once found favor and established a demand for improved travelling accommodation. In 1863 he began the construction at Chicago of a sleeping-car upon the now well-known model, which was destined to associate his name inseparably with progress in railway equipment. It was named the "Pioneer," and cost about $18,000. From this small beginning he continued to develop his ideas for comfort and safety in railway travel, till Pullman cars are now known all over the world. The Pullman palace-car company, of which he is president, was organized in 1867, and it now operates over 1,400 cars on more than 100,000 miles of railway In 1887 he designed and established the system of "vestibuled trains," which virtually makes of an entire train a single car. They were first put in service upon the Pennsylvania trunk lines, and are now to be found on many other railroads In 1880, in obedience to the imperative demand of the Pullman company for increased shop-facilities, and to give effect to an idea he had long cherished of improving the social surroundings of the workmen, he founded near Chicago the industrial town of Pullman, which now contains over 11,000 inhabitants, 5,000 of whom are employed in the company's shops. Architecturally the town is picturesque, with broad streets, handsome public buildings, and attractive houses, supplied with every modern convenience, for the employes. According to mortMity statistics, it is one of the most healthful places in the world. Mr. Pullman has been identified with various public enterprises, among them the Metropolitan elevated railway system of New York, which was constructed and opened to the public by a corporation of which he was president.

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George M. Pullman (1831-1897) was not the first to conceive of a sleeping car. In 1836, the Cumberland Valley Railroad put into service a bunk car it christened the Chambersburg. This car, with its permanent bunks at three levels, was imitated by a number of railroads. In 1838, the Philadelphia, Wilmington & Baltimore Railroad put into service the first cars with convertible seats for both day and nighttime use. In 1843, the Erie, though only three hours end-to-end, put into service the "Diamond Cars" -- so known because the truss-work in their sides dictated that the windows be of that shape. Other designs followed, as inventors tried to improve on each others' inventions.

But early efforts had one thing in common: they were not known for their comfort. It was during an uncomfortable ride from New York to Chicago in 1854 that history records Pullman conceived of his special car. He had been trained as a cabinet maker, but was then in the house-moving business.

In 1855 he moved to Chicago, where he made a name for himself raising houses out of the swamp on which Chicago had been built, and into which it was sinking. In 1858, he presented the Chicago and Alton Railroad with a prospectus for a sleeping car and was assigned a couple of flat-roofed coaches awaiting demolition. At a cost of $8,000 [about the equivalent of $150,000 today] and without a blueprint, he and an assistant succeeded in fitting the cars with such taste and ingenuity that they were attached to a regular passenger train and made several trips between Bloomington, Illinois, and Chicago. They were an immediate hit. But though its passengers liked the new arrangements, the Alton failed to offer a new contract.

Pullman followed the gold rush to Colorado in 1860. There he set to gold milling at the town of Russell Gulch above Central City, as well as operating a freight business and keeping a store in Central City, under the name of Lyon, Pullman & Company. With business associates both from Colorado and from Chicago, he put together a 1600 acre ranch which became an important stopover place between Denver and Central City. It became known as "Pullman's Switch," because it served as a place where one could switch teams from one weary set of animals to a fresh set before making the long climb into the mountains.

Pullman prospered during his years in Colorado, not because of his gold operations, which netted him only break-even wages, but because of his business ventures. After his prosperous stay in Colorado, he returned to Illinois in 1864 with more than $20,000 [equivalent to more than a quarter of a million dollars today] and commenced building his famed sleeper railroad cars.

Pullman and a long-time associate, Benjamin Field (1816-1876) filed patents for a hinged upper birth that folded up against the ceiling, and a hinged back and seat which made into a seat during the day and a bed at night. These were built into another car supplied by the Alton, at a cost of $18,000: a price unheard of for the day, when a brand new coach cost between $2,000 and $3,000. The Pioneer, as it was called, combined comfort and luxury with attractiveness of decoration, and when finished it was regarded as a marvel far in advance of any railway coach construction of that day. But although its fame traveled far, it was so heavy, so wide, and so high that no railway could undertake to run it, as it would necessitate elevating bridges and cutting off station platforms.

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Pullman-Standard – Butler, PA & Hammond, Indiana 1929-1981 Formerly the Standard Steel Car Co 1902-1929. Primarily built railroad cars but I know to have built some all-steel passenger car bodies in series for???. Plant was closed for the 10 years between 1929 and 1939 due to the depression.. They also built trolleys and trolley-buses after WWII.

The Pullman-Standard Car Manufacturing Company was a manufacturing branch of Pullman Incorporated of Chicago, and was the result of the 1930 merger between the Pullman Car and Manufacturing Corporation and the Standard Steel Car Company. The Standard Steel Car Company had been incorporated in 1902 by former executives of the Pressed Steel Car Company. Standard Steel Car Company’s major production facilities were established in Butler, Pennsylvania. In 1912, Standard acquired the Middletown Car Company, which it held until 1930. In addition to the Butler and Middletown plants, production took place at a plant in Hammond, Indiana and, through the Middletown subsidiary, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. After the merger with Pullman, the Middletown and Rio holdings were divested. During World War Two, the Butler plant produced artillery and naval shells and aerial bombs. With the increase in air and highway travel after the war, use of railroads began to decline. Pullman-Standard was affected by the reduction in demand for their rail cars and in 1981 production ceased.

The first Pullman trolley-bus appeared in 1933 and by July 1945 211 Pullman’s trolleybuses were delivered to U.E.R. The mid-1940s saw public transit booming in USA and many cities were re-equipping with new PCC streetcars and trolleybuses. In 1945 U.E.R. ordered from Pullman-Standard first six trolleybuses of new style. These vehicles, numbered 1345-1350 were delivered in 1947. At total, between 1947 and 1949 U.E.R. received 112 new Pullmans. In 1950s many trolleybus systems in USA closed in favor of the diesel bus and Pullman-Standard retired from this business in 1952. (Can find no evidence of any automobile bodies, although their huge presses could easily stamp out car bodies)

Pullman-Trailmobile - A Division of Pullman, Inc – Northbrook, Illinois & Longview, Texas www.trailmobile.com see Trailmobile

For more information please read:

Ralph L. Barger - A Century of Pullman Cars. Vol. 1, Alphabetical list, and Vol. 2, The Palace Cars.

Lucius Beebe - Mr. Pullman's Elegant Palace Car: The Railway Carriage that Established a New Dimension of Luxury

Joseph Husband - The Story of the Pullman Car

John H. White Jr. - The American Railroad Passenger Car

Beverly Rae Kimes - The Classic Car

Beverly Rae Kimes - The Classic Era

Beverly Rae Kimes - Packard: A History of the Motorcar and Company

Beverly Rae Kimes & Henry Austin Clark Jr. - Standard Catalog of American Cars 1805-1942

Richard Burns Carson - The Olympian Cars

Raymond A. Katzell - The Splendid Stutz