For a number of years foreign travelers in America had praised the elaborate restaurant service afforded by certain station eating-houses. Towns developed keen rivalry in respect to the meals provided by their station "counters," and the station restaurants of certain towns developed among constant travelers a reputation for unusual culinary excellence. Our fathers will doubtless recall the glorious fame of dining rooms at Poughkeepsie, Springfield, and Altoona, and of certain dishes that enjoyed nation-wide reputation and might be had only at this or that particular station restaurant. But, on the other hand, the uninviting, indigestible nature of the so-called refreshment offered at some railway eating stations had long been a byword. In most sections of the country it was practically impossible to procure a respectable meal or lunch while traveling. Railway officials had wrestled with the subject in vain. Recognizing the fact that the heart of the railway traveler is most susceptible to influences reaching it by way of his stomach, they made repeated and continued endeavors to improve the fare offered during the "twenty minutes for dinner" stops. With a few exceptions the results were not encouraging, and the traveling public continued its dyspeptic round three times a day. The station eating-house was on an unsound basis, and its disadvantages were obvious. With the increase of the speed of through trains and the demand for shorter running times between terminals it became quickly apparent that a train could not be stopped three times a day to permit the passengers to gorge a hasty meal at the station restaurant. Three meals at a minimum of twenty minutes each was an hour lost, and twenty minutes for eating was as bad for the passenger as it was for the running time of the trains. There were still other disadvantages. In addition to the delay of the train and the tax on the passenger's digestion, there was the frequent discomfort of wet or wintry weather. On a fine day it was well enough to "stretch one's legs," but in rain or snow the tri-daily evacuation of the car was a decidedly unpopular feature. The installation of "hotel-car" service by the Pullman Company sang the knell of the station eating-counter. The "President," a car combining sleeping and eating accommodations, was put in service in 1867 on the Grand Trunk Railway, then the Great Western of Canada. Its instant success necessitated the building of the "Kalamazoo" and "Western World," and in the years immediately following many hotel cars were put in service. The second step in the evolution was inevitable. At best, the hotel car was only a sleeping car with restaurant accommodations. Eating and sleeping have never been associated in the modern mind; there must be a separate place for each.