In 1864 George Mortimer Pullman built his first railroad sleeping car so wide that it could not clear the platforms of the old train shed where Chicago's Union Station now stands. Long since, the Pullman corporations had become so widespread that competitors could not get past them.
That first sleeping car consumed 15 years of George Pullman's life and $20,000 of the money he had made in Chicago construction. He called it "Pioneer," lined it with black walnut inside, painted it a heavy mahogany with gold trimmings outside. It contained a washroom at each end, two compartments, and four sections...
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