The history of the first locomotives in America. From original ...

BOSS WINANS'S IMPEOVEMENTS. 103
sobriquet of the " Dromedary ;
" next came the Win-
chester pattern ; and this was followed by the " Washington,"
each an improvement on its predecessor. The
latter resembled three coach bodies combined in one,
and divided in the interior into three separate apart-
ments, and entered by doors on each side of each
apartment. The author remembers well, as if but
yesterday, riding in cars of this constructipn, in October,
1833, upon the railroad between South Amboy
and Bordentown,^ which connected by steam-
boats both with New York and Philadelphia. As the
passengers landed and approached the cars to take
their seats, each car appeared surmounted with the
letter A, B, C, etc., in order, and each apartment was
numbered 1, 2, or 3. Thus the passenger, on examining
the ticket furnished to him on the steamboat, entered
the car and apartment designated thereon. These car-
riages continued on all the roads then operating between
the principal cities—as Boston and Providence,
Philadelphia and New York, Philadelphia and Balti-
more, and Baltimore and Washington— ^until the eight-
wheel passenger car was brought into use, with the pas-
sage-way the entire length between the seats, which
were placed on the sides, as at present.
When the design for this style of car came before
the board of directors of the Baltimore and Ohio Rail-
road Company, there was quite a discussion whether
there should be an aisle in them, with entrances at each
end, and seats as at present, or whether the cars should
be in compartments, with entrances at the sides, with a
ledge outside for the conductor; and one of the arguments
against the aisle, verified by the result, as we
know, was the apprehension that it would often be one
long spittoon ! The possibility of this was admitted ;
Digitized by Microsoft®