Pioneer, The

[donna]

"The Pioneer" The name of the first Pullman railroad car, which was used to carry President Abraham Lincoln's body from Chicago to Springfield, Illinois, the final stage of his funeral procession by train. George M. Pullman, a cabinetmaker born in Brocton, New York, had built the luxurious car during the war in 1863 in Chicago, but it proved too large for existing stations and was kept on a siding until Lincoln's death, when illinois cut back station platforms and raised bridges for Lincoln's final journey. The car was so impressive, Andrew Carnegie joined Pullman two years after the war to establish the Pullman Palace Car Company that built the famous Pullman sleeping cars.

from The Language of the Civil War by John D. Wright page 231.