BOUDOIR "SLEEPERS."

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 269, 6 August 1908, Page 7

BOUDOIR "SLEEPERS."

CARS FOR MAIN TRUNK LINE, AN INTERESTING INNOVATION. For tho accommodation and comfort of travellers oil the express trains which are to be run between Wellington and Auckland, the Railway Department is building a number of sleeping-cars, a description of which will be of interest to many of our readers. So far as can, be ascertained," the first sleeping-car was built in the United States, for use, on Terre Haute, Alton and St. Louis Railway, under a patent granted in 18156 or 1857, the patentee being a mechanic named Woodruff. In 1858 Webster Wagner, founder of the Wagner Palace Car Company, patented and built four sleeping-cars for the New York Central Railroad. The modern sleeping-car was introduced by George M. Pullman, who built his first car in 1859. Ab compared with the wider track of other countries, the narrow gauge of the railways in the Dominion rendei's'it somowhat more'difficult to secure the desired space and accommodation, but, we are assured, the sleepingcars now under construction in our Railway Workshops will afford the travelling public much comfort and satisfaction.

DESCRIPTION OF CARS. The cars are of tho inclosed corridor type, with six compartments opening off tho corridor. Four of those six compartments will each mako up into four-berth cabins for the / night, whilst the remaining two compartments will each have two sleeping berths, all bunks being placed athwartship. A car will, therefore, provido sleeping accommodation for twenty passengers. During tho daytime all evidences of bedding an.' ounks will bo stowed away in cupboards and lookers, and each cabin, will bo transformed into t snug compartment for day use. A TRANSFORMATION. The following is tho method of transformation:—ln the daytime luxuriously-uphols-tered seats are provided; at night the seat; will be concerted 1 into lower berths, whilst the seat backs,.'which are hinged,' will ba turned ujj 'to become tho upper berths. Curled-hair mattresses will bo provided for the upper berths. Then as to bed-clothes, clean sheets and . pillow-oases will be provided nightly, with an abundance of those rugs for which the woollen mills of. the Dominion are so de- . servedly celebrated. Blinds, curtains, etc., will insuro privacy, and tho ceiling lamp may . be either turned out, all but tho bye-pass, or 1 pilot-light, or, if preferred, silk shades may, be, drawn over the globe to soften the light. Ventilation has not been forgotten, suitable inlets and outlets, under the passengers' control, being provided. / HEATING ARRANGEMENTS. During cold weather the heating of thf entire train will be. accomplished by a flow of steam from the engine, suitable pipes extending throughout, the train, connected by flexible couplings much in the same-way aa tho Westinghous'e brake pipes are connected between carnages. ' Heaters will bo placed in tho carriages, including the small Bleeping compartments, and regulating devices will enable passengers to increase or diminish the' warmth at will. Tho carriages aro fifty feet long over tho buffer-beams, and eight feet nine inches wide over, the'panels. Two wash-hand basins will be fitted in each lavatory or dressing-room, with a large mirror on the wall between tho basins, thus enabling two passengers to uso the dressing- , room at one time. A\ plentiful supply of both : hot and cold water will be available. _ Another noticeable featuro in these carriages will bo tho largo sized windows, which will enable passengers to view tho wonderpanorama of varied S scenery through which'tho train runs during its long journey between the two - cities. Sleeping berths, 'and' seats, will bo numbered, ana may be reserved for tho trip. ; The Railway Department is to be congratulated on its adoption- of tho compartmont, or boudoir,: type of " sleeper." On the score of both comfort' and privacy that typo is infinitely preferable to, tne ; old style of "sleeper" in -which the bunks were ar-, ranged tore and aft against tho walls of carriage, witli a central passage way common to tho bunks on each side. The type . adopted for New Zealand iB already used on tho'_lthodesian railways, and a writer in the "World's Work" recently> suggested that something on tho same lines should be ' adopted on British railways.' ''