In 1862, after Pullman's uncomfortable night on board a train, he got the idea to create a luxury sleeping train car that he dubbed,"The Pioneer." In a remarkable display of prescience, Pullman marketed his rail cars as"luxury for the middle class."
The only fly in the ointment was that The Pioneer's large size meant it wouldn't fit existing train platforms. Pullman solved that problem with the help of an extremely unfortunate event — the assassination of PresidentLincoln’s body was transported by train from Washington, D.C. to his hometown of Springfield, Illinois, and Pullman arranged to have several of his new rail cars included within the funeral train.
But, it was at night that The Pioneer really shone. The car's seats unfolded into lower sleeping berths, and upper berths unfolded from the ceiling. In order to accomplish this transformation, Pullman hired African-American men who were newly freed after the Civil War, and they became known as the Pullman Porters.
Pullman Hornby trains.🚂