The Friends of the Cumbres and Toltec are restoring an emigrant sleeper car at their Colorado Springs work area and need help in getting the interior right. The exterior of the car is nearing completion, but the interior of the car was gutted long ago by the Rio Grande for MOW work.

The car was built about 1888 by Pullman in their Detroit factory and sold to the Rio Grande.

John Engs is the project manager on this car and has heard rumors that there is a standard gauge car at some railroad museum that has been restored and is almost a dead ringer of our narrow gauge car. Does anyone have any information about such a car? Supposedly it was built new for the Union Pacific for use on their system.

Any leads would be appreciated, thanks!

Got a link you can go to track our progress. http://friendsofthectsrrcos.blogspot.com/

Guess I can help as before. According to Eric Neubauer's listing of Pullman cars production through 1911, he shows 10 narrow gauge tourist sleepers, numbers 461 through 470, constructed at the Chicago Works of the Pullman Palace Car Company in 1889 on Chicago Lot 1612 to Plan 701. I note on the blog by the Colorado Springs Section of Friends of the Cumbres & Toltec Railroad that your car carries the original number 470, hence the likely match. At the IRM's Pullman Library, I think we had once supplied the Floor Plan 701 to your group, which should help on matching likely locations of the interior to any markings, holes and cutouts in the original floor should it exist. We do have several other original linen drawings for which you may or may not have copies. For Plan 701 we also have the cross section drawing, which will give you the outline of the overhead bunks. There is a drawing of the fixed seat (at a bulkhead) which matches the Hale & Kilborne type 87 seat. For what it is worth, we have the headboard bolt drawing. With regard to the Baker Heater that you have obtained from a historical society, we have numerous drawings of Baker Heaters and components. All it takes is a request and a willingness to pay a bit for copies of all drawings, which we can then make available for purchase by other interested groups. Perhaps your heater is there. At least it will help in the layout. I hope others take a moment to examine the blog. Great, painstaking work.
Ted Anderson, library volunteer & curator

John,
I asked on this forum several years ago if anyone knew if any full length wooden Pullman sleepers still existed in America and nobody could advise of any.
I'd like to attach a photo of the interior of a standard gauge sleeper built by Pullman and exported to Australia for the New South Wales Railways in 1891. It was one of a batch of 6. However, the file size is too big and I can't work out how to reduce it, so if you'd like to pm me, I'll send it direct.
NSWR subsequently built 6 replicas in 1899 and 3 shorter ones in 1901. I've been restoring one of these three at Canberra Railway Museum sine 2001.
I don't know if this photo will be of any help, as I'm not au-fait with what a "tourist sleeper" interior would be like.
Cheers, Bob