Comments by "Sar Jim" (@sarjim4381) on "Soviet Vacation 3. Travelling by Train in the USSR #ussr, #sovietlife" video.

  1. Seems like all the major countries in the world tried jet powered rail cars at one time or another in the 50's or 60's. I have no idea why they thought those would work. US Pullman sleepers had what was called open sections. Each section had two or three person accommodations with an upper and lower bed. The porter would pull down the upper bunk and make up the lower couch into a bed. The Pullman company took great pride in the cleanliness and comfort of the bedding. There were heavy curtains you could pull across the beds at night for privacy. Pullman compartments always had the beds that came out from the top outside walls of the cars. Sections were on both sides of the trains but facing forward and aft, not sideways. You didn't have people sticking out of the sections like you saw on Soviet trains. In theory, you could fit tow persons in the lower and one person in the upper. Unless you were travelling with a small child, hardly anyone used the lower for that extra person, and they paid the small fee not to have a second person in the compartment. These were the cheapest sleeping car accommodations, with an upper being the cheapest (and least comfortable) on the train. You could buy various kinds of compartments and rooms, but at a higher price. You could take a chance that a room wouldn't be sold before the train left. If so, you could buy it from the conductor at about half the regular price. This was Pullman policy, so the conductor wasn't getting rich on it. The other option was to sleep in chair cars. Seats reclined about 70 degrees with integrated footrests. You could rent a pillow for 25 cents, and they were always spotless. You brought along your own blankets. The seats were quite wide, and you could just about sleep sideways if you were young and flexible. They were nowhere near as comfortable as laying flat in a bed, but they'd do for one night. I traveled several times like this before I decided that a sleeping car was a lot better for my aching back.
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