Location: Pullman Works - Detroit, MI

The Pullman Car shops in this city are busily engaged and working to their full capacity. The following work is now under way:

One hotel car for the Chicago & Northwestern. This car is of unusual length ad comfortable arrangement.

Two Pullman sleepers with smoking compartment and all the new features for the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy.

One Pullman sleeper, same as the above, for the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific.

One official car for the St. Paul, Minneapolis & Manitoba. The interior has storage closets for provisions, and a kitchen with range. The office end is finished up with mahogany, and the remainder in oak with ceilings of light colored wood.

Two chair cars for the Wabash. They are intended for the Horton reclining chairs. They are of improved construction and exceedingly beautiful in appearance both inside and out. The interior is finished in Cuba mahogany with beveled mirrors between the windows. The marqueberie work is in black, and the ceilings ae of wood embellishment in what is conventionally known as Queen Anne patterns. The cars run on the Wabash standard trucks so as to retain the uniformity of all the company's cars.

One official car for the Peoria, Decatur & Evansville. This car is painted a delicate pea green. The interior has desks and a burglar-proof safe, as well as sleeping accommodations.

Ten Pullman sleepers for the Pennsylvania Railway. These magnificent cars have already been described in this column.

Eight passenger coaches for the Ohio Central. Two of these are combination mail, baggage and passenger cars.

Four Pullman sleepers for the Oregon Steam Navigation Company's railroad.

Five Pullman sleepers of the most comfortable arrangement for the Chicago & Northwestern.

Two Pullman sleepers for the New York & Boston.

Seventy-five of the standard cars for the Manhattan Elevated Railway of New York. these cars are constructed after the latest and most improved patterns and contain some original and novel features. Pullman shops have been awarded the palm [sic] for elevated railway cars and those now nearly ready for the Manhattan company are superior to any previously constructed.

Four passenger coaches for the Peoria, Decatur & Evansville.

Two beautifully finished and very spacious passenger coaches for the Ohio & Mississippi.

One official car, containing every requisite of a business office, with sleeping accommodations, etc. for the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy.

Four first-class, four second-class and two baggage, mail and express cars for the Texas & Pacific.

Two Pullman sleepers of the standard pattern for the Hannibal & St. Joseph.

Source: [DFP-1880-1110]

Rail service: 


Notes

The Pullman Works occupied the block bounded by Dequindre, Macomb, St. Aubin and Croghan (later named Monroe) streets. The facility consisted of two long erecting shop buildings served by a transfer table which allowed finished cars to leave the plant on a siding of the Detroit, Grand Haven & Milwaukee's Dequindre line. The Pullman shops were busy until they were shut down during a financial panic in 1893. [MRF-2023-09]


Time Line

1880. March. The Pullman Palace Car shops in this city will be used after next autumn it is expected, for the manufacture of new cars only, as shops are now building in Chicago where all repairing will be done. It is believed that about 1,500 persons will find employment in the new Chicago shops. [DFP-1889-0302]

1902. The vacant plant was sold to the Detroit United Railways for use as a shop and car barn.

1940's. The Pullman buildings had been demolished and the property used as a shop and shorage yard for a trucking company. [MRF-2023-09]

 

Bibliography

The following sources are utilized in this website. [SOURCE-YEAR-MMDD-PG]:

  • [AAB| = All Aboard!, by Willis Dunbar, Eerdmans Publishing, Grand Rapids ©1969.
  • [AAN] = Alpena Argus newspaper.
  • [AARQJ] = American Association of Railroads Quiz Jr. pamphlet. © 1956
  • [AATHA] = Ann Arbor Railroad Technical and Historical Association newsletter "The Double A"
  • [AB] = Information provided at Michigan History Conference from Andrew Bailey, Port Huron, MI

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