Listers, The other thing to keep in mind here is when there were two or more sleeping cars on any train (including EL trains) The Pullman Company required a Pullman Conductor. Something not all railroads wanted to get into and more often than not didn't add the extra car. Rich Pennisi Gordon Davids <g.davids_@_verizon.net> wrote: When two or more railroads ran a thru sleeper line, or reserved seat coaches, each railroad generally contributed some equipment to the line. When Pullman Corp. owned and operated the sleepers, the railroads still controlled and sold the space. Most of the space charge revenue went to Pullman, the railroads got the ticket revenue (higher for first class tickets) and it was all collected by the railroad that sold the tickets and divided in interline settlements. The reservations for sleeper space or reserved seats were controlled by the railroads that participated in the line, regardless of whose car happened to in any particular train. For an example, Car 30 on No. 3 ran Hoboken DL&W Buffalo NKP Chicago. It could be either a DL&W or an NKP 10-6. NKP would hold some space on the car for its agents to sell, but most of it would probably be held by the DL&W. The space held by each railroad and each agency would be specific roomettes and bedrooms. Starting from a clean slate, Hoboken might have four specific roomettes and two specific bedrooms that they could sell without having to ask anyone. Scranton might hold two roomettes and one bedroom, and Binghamton might have one roomette and one bedroom. That left three roomettes and two bedrooms for the NKP, probably held at Buffalo. There was probably a different mix for an eastbound car, with some going to NKP at Chicago. If an outlying agency wanted to reserve an accommodation, they would call or telegraph Hoboken, and if Hoboken had one available they would let it go to the requesting agent, who would then sell the ticket for the space. Same, if one agency holding space ran out, they would ask Hoboken, who could either get periodic reports on space available from Scranton and Binghamton, or they could ask around of all the agencies holding space. If there was a heavy demand for space, enough to make it worthwhile to add a car to a particular train, the passenger traffic department could request one from the transportation department, and they would usually get it. Remember, we are generally talking about days ahead, not hours. The reservation agents could spot trends, if they were good at their jobs, and the railroad could usually cover the demand. When I rode No. 5 to Meadville, I got my roomette at Hoboken, and they usually had enough space. Once, I had to call Scranton for one, because Hoboken had sold out. I was riding on a pass, so it was just a matter of a phone call. When I worked on the NYC, I often rode NYC 27 from Schenectady to Toledo. Schenectady was usually sold out of space, account General Electric people traveling to Waterloo, Indiana, and Boston was often sold out, but I could usually find a roomette that Worcester, Mass, was holding and I could grab it. Gordon Davids The Erie Lackawanna Mailing List Sponsored by the ELH&TS http://www.elhts.org - --------------------------------- Get amazing travel prices for air and hotel in one click on Yahoo! FareChase The Erie Lackawanna Mailing List Sponsored by the ELH&TS http://www.elhts.org ------------------------------
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