Abstract:
Conscious of the need for improved railroad facilities, North Carolina's railroad leaders introduced sleeping cars and diners, or saloon cars, for the first time within months of the end of the Civil War. By the middle of 1866, sleeping cars were being operated regularly on both the Wilmington and Weldon Railroad and the North Carolina Railroad. The Raleigh and Gaston Railroad, noticing a decline in passengers, attributed the drop to a lack of sleeping cars and added them as well in 1869.