Hello all - I am a novice regarding trains, and am doing research on a court case that occurred in 1916. I was hoping someone could help me understand the layout of a 1915 Pullman Sleeper car. It was a train that left from Penn Station, NYC and followed the Queen and Crescent system down to New Orleans. The car name was “Ringos,” Letter 2, car number 2,692. The car had a porter, and was described as sleeping car having sections, 12 upper berths and 12 lower berths total in the main body of the car, and an enclosed drawing room with three sleeping compartments: the upper and lower berths, and lounge that could be made into a sleeping compartment. This drawing room also had a private washstand and toilet. My question is, does anyone have a diagram of this particular type of car (I’m a visual person so I seem to be having trouble following the descriptions of the layout 
Can anyone tell me the dimensions of the lounge berth in particular? To the best of what I can find, the berths were 6’2" in length, and I have seen widths ranging from 25" to 34" (which I think may have been a double)? Any information would be greatly appreciated.
Some references from RyPN:
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“The Complete Roster of Heavyweight Pullman Cars” by Robert J. Wayner (Wayner Publications, 1985)
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“Passenger Car Catalog: Pullman Operated Equipment, 1912-1949” by William W. Kratville (Kratville Publications, 1968)
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Tom Madden’s Pullman Project CCR database: Pullman Car Construction Record Spreadsheet
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Surviving Passenger Cars in the United States group on Facebook (more as entree to a group of people who will know what you need)
There is also the Pullman Library at IRM:
but this is not an open collection, and the more specific information you know from ‘free’ sources, the less your search and duplication costs would be. The scanned drawing list (they had only done about 2% by 2024) is here:
Note in particular the discussion of Pullman drawing name changes, which come bang in the middle of your period of interest.
(Be aware that it is possible the car name may be spelt “Ringoes” like the town in New Jersey.)
This is wonderful, thank you so much! I will get to researching immediately. Have a good day!
Unfortunately it’s not in the books I have. Just for your reference.
Page 218 of the “A Century of Pullman Cars Vol. 1 Alphabetical List” by Ralph L. Barber, 1988
Page 341 of the “A Century of Pullman Cars Vol. 2 The Palace Cars” by Ralph L. Barber, 1990
Welcome on board, MonmouthHistory.
David
This is great, thank you for the scans!
I think the car you are looking for is the “Ringoes”, 12 section, one drawing room, plan 2410.
Drawings of a later version, plan 3410, appears in the Cartens book “PASSENGER CARS - Vol. 1” I would suspect that the two versions are very similar if not the same in terms of the floor plan and window arrangements.
Hope this helps.
Sheldon
Here’s a visual representation from a Pullman brochure I have:
Pullman_1907 by Edmund, on Flickr
This would be a 12-1 with twelve open sections and one drawing room. I have other Pullman references but I’ll have to round them up and get them uploaded.
Pullman_1917 by Edmund, on Flickr
This is the view down the aisle of a ‘typical’ section Pullman:
Section Day Use Mount Baxter by Edmund, on Flickr
A ‘section’ (upper and lower) made up for night use, minus linens, of course:
Two more diagrams with basic dimensions:
Car builders’ cyclopedia of American practice by Edmund, on Flickr
Pullman Floor Plan 12-1 1920 by Edmund, on Flickr
Good Luck, Ed
A little more info. The car is also shown in the Walthers “Passenger Car Plans” book which provided info on all the kits they offered back in the day. These kits consisted if stamped metal sides, cast metal ends, with wood floors a roofs.
According to information in the Walthers book, Pullman built more that 3000 cars of this type.
On the HO scale drawing posted, the lounge sofa in the drawing room is approximately 6’ long and 2’ deep. Based on the available floor space it likely converted into a 6’ x 34" bed.
As you can see from the pictures Ed posted, the standard “section” consisted of an upper berth which is 72" x 34" and lower berth which is somewhat wider - 38"/40"?
Sheldon
Just amazing, Sheldon. I have looked high and low. Thank you all so much!
So appreciated!! Incredible to be able to envision it like that
You’re welcome. With a little more searching I realized I also have those same drawings Ed posted.
Sheldon
If you scroll down through the photos on this site you can see just a hint of the sofa (left) in Drawing Room “I” of the Glengyle. This would be representative of the sofa in the drawing room. Not quite comfortable for a nights’ sleep.
The earlier photo of the Glen Nevis also shows a view into the drawing room with the sofa just visible on the right.
Actually the sofa in the men’s smoking room (washroom) where the Porter slept was a bit ‘roomier’:
Mount Baxter men’s room sofa. by Edmund, on Flickr
Good Luck, Ed
Yes, so tiny!
Ringoes was built in 1910 for the Pullman Company. Never equipped with air conditioning, it was converted to tourist car 2444 in 1942, at which time it probably ended up in troop train service before being sold for scrap in 1951. It was built to Pullman plan 2410, with 12 sections and a drawing room, leading to the usual designation as a “12-1”. Pullman had about 4000 12-1 cars built to plan 2410 (or variants, like 2410F) or plan 3410. When rebuilt for troop train service the room door was removed and the toilet blocked off, with the car re-designated as a 13 section.
Pullman diagrams are readily available on the internet. In the standard 12-1 drawing room layout two of the beds were arranged like an ordinary section with upper and lower berths. There was also a fixed bed along the aisle wall. The door to the room was in the wall that angled towards the aisle between the 12 ordinary sections. The “lounge” was just a toilet room tucked between one end of the drawing room’s section and the door. Drawing Room A was between section 11 and the Women’s Lounge (restroom). The fixed bed was the same length as a standard section mattress, about 6’ 2".
In 1915, the ordinary Section berths in the car were sold for double occupancy, unless a higher Single Occupancy Pullman fare was paid. (Single occupancy of section berths wasn’t universal until after World War II). The Drawing room usually required a minimum of two first class railroad tickets in addition to the Pullman Drawing Room charge.
Credit to the Pullman Project for the over-detailed car information.
Fantastic - thank you so much
When in troop train service there were 3 GIs assigned to a section. Two lower, one upper. Pullman also ‘experimented’ with three-tier berths.
Pullman2_1940 by Edmund, on Flickr
This predated the final ‘Duplex’ design of which there were several.
Here’s an example of the ‘Diagram’ for several of the section sleepers. Note the ‘tall men’s’ sections’ noted on diagram 4. Something I wasn’t aware of, or at least had forgotten about if I had ever heard of it.
Pullman Diagrams by Edmund, on Flickr
The diagrams measured about 4¼ x 11 inches and were printed on buff cardstock, similar to a file folder. Each car had a supply of cards stocked and both the Pullman conductor and porter used them to make note of who was in what space and special notes such as wake-up calls. During periods of busy travel the space may be assigned to another passenger as it is vacated at intermediate stations.
Regards, Ed
These photos show a much later section arrangement - note the sliding partitions at the head boards. The fellow above that said it didn’t exist totally missed that the photo he posted totally proves he was dead wrong. The name was spelled slightly different (Ringoes, not Ringos) and that it was built in 1910, not 1915. The car would have only been 4-5 years old, so still relatively new.
The post later in the thread about plan 2410 and 3410 is spot on.
Welcome back on board, newriver400.
David
Pullman plan 2410 cars used diagram 5. When converted for troop sleeper use, they used diagram 45.
Pullman issued annually a descriptive list of cars, listing them by name (or number in some cases) with the plan and diagram numbers. The only reprint that I’m aware of is the 1950 list. Tourist car 2444 (rebuilt from Ringoes) was not on the 1950 list, though it wasn’t scrapped until 1951.