CARS. Railway cars of so many varieties are now in use that a description of the different kinds would be beyond the scope of this article. The list would include upward of 40 distinct pat terns of cars, each of which is adapted to a spe cial use. The early passenger cars differed but little from stage coaches, and the first step in the evolution of the modern car was made by joining several of these coach bodies into a single car. In the United States bogie trucks were next placed under each end of the cars, permitting them to be made of much greater length, after which the compartments were discarded for the present continuous car bodies, although in Eng land and in most of the countries of Continental Europe the compartment system has been re tained, each car being divided into three or four independent sections. Most of the improvements following these changes have been in the direc tion of additional safety devices and luxuries. The first attempt to furnish sleeping cars was on the Cumberland Valley Railroad in 1836. A compartment car of four sections was used, each section containing a lower, middle, and upper berth, but this, as well as a few other experi ments in providing sleeping accommodations, was too crude to prove attractive. In 1864 the first Pullman sleeping car was introduced, and some time afterwards was put into service on the Chi cago and Alton road. This car, called the Pioneer, was a foot •wider and two and a half feet higher than any in use at that time, and be fore it could run over the line several bridges and all the station platforms had to be altered. Parlor cars and dining cars soon followed, and in 18S6 the vestibuled cars completed the list of luxuries in railway travel. The car-building industry in this country is a vast one, as is well indicated by the fact that in 1900 a total of 124,106 cars were built, not including those built by the railway companies at their OWR sbops. The total number of cars in service in the United States on June 30, 1900, was 1,450,S38, of which 1,365,531 were freight cars.
A notable increase in the size and capacity of cars has signalized recent car construction.
1875 the normal capacity of freight ears in the United States was from 20,000 pounds to 25,000 pounds. In 1885 this normal capacity had grown to 40,000 pounds and 50,000 pounds, and in that year cars of 60,000 pounds capacity had begun to be built. Few cars of less than 60, 000 pounds capacity are now used for general freight service, and there is a decided tendency to increase the capacity to 70,000 pounds and 80,000 pounds. For special coal and ore traffic steel cars of 100,000 pounds and 110,000 pounds capacity are quite generally used. The steel car is a decidedly modern innovation and one which has been received in America with much favor. The principal advantages argued in favor of steel cars of 50 to GO tons capacity are their great capacity in proportion to their weight and their superior strength and durability over wooden cars. In addition to all-steel cars, cars with steel under frames and wooden superstructure are considerably used.
In Europe the passenger cars used are general ly smaller and of lighter construction than those in America, but during recent years the tendency has been to employ ears of larger size than for merly, although such great dimensions as are common in America have not yet been attained. The smaller cars are from 26 to 34 feet long and are usually mounted on six wheels; the larger ears reach a length of nearly GO feet and are mounted on trucks after the American fashion. The smaller American passenger cars are usually 50 feet long, while the large sleeping and dining cars frequently have a length of SO feet or even 90 feet. European freight cars are veritable pygmies as compared with those used for the same service in America, they being from 12 feet to 18 feet long, mounted on four wheels and having a capacity of from to 4) tons.