In U.S. railroad terminology, a troop sleeper was a rail car which had been converted to serve as something of a mobile barracks for transporting troops distances sufficient to require overnight accomodations. This method allowed part of the trip to be made overnight, reducing the amount of transit time required and increasing travel effeciency.
There were not an adequate number of Pullman cars available to meet the massive need for troop transit created by World War II, so many troop sleepers were converted boxcars which were converted back into boxcars after the end of the war. Subsequent wars have not created the need for such an arrangement, partially due to the much smaller level of manpower involved but primarily due to the wider use of aircraft for long-distance transportation of troops.
A "troopsleeper" was a railroad passenger car which had been constructed to serve as something of a mobile barracks (essentially, a sleeping car) for transporting troops over distances sufficient to require overnight accommodations.
Troop kitchens, rolling galleys, also joined the consists in order to provide meal service en route (the troops took their meals in their seats or bunks).
Troop hospital cars, also based on the troopsleeper carbody, transported wounded servicemen and typically travelled in solid strings on special trains averaging fifteen cars each.
The streamlined Pullman observation-lounge car Coconino, coupled to a heavyweight sleeper painted in two-tone Pullman grey, brings up the rear of the Santa Fe Railway's Chief at La Junta, Colorado on February 27, 1938.
The Pullman Palace Car Company, founded by George Pullman, manufactured railroad cars in the mid to late 1800s through the early decades of the 20th century, during the boom of railroads in the United States.
Operations of the Pullman Company sleeper cars ceased and all leases were terminated on December 31, 1968.
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