A.J. Bayley's 22-room three story hotel was built in the wrong place

"'Bayley's Folly' is weird Auburn, beyond Cool" by Gus Thomson, Media Life, © Auburn Journal, 4/12/12. (News Article)

"AUBURN CA - ... along Highway 49 ... an imposing red-brick structure, three stories high, on the right side of the road, seemingly out in the middle of nowhere. ... the Bayley House. ... The decision to build was based on a speculative error. A.J. Bayley started construction on the premise that the new Central Pacific Railroad was going to run next to his new 22-room hotel. He assumed mappers would go with a route John Fremont had identified years earlier that was already well-traveled as a freight trail. ... [but the] Central Pacific ... passed through Auburn on the other side of the American River Canyon. ..." [More]

[Courtesy Google Alerts.]

Question about the Pullman dining car in 1889

From: lynne.lee@thefamilee.net

Hi, I'm pulling my hair out trying to find out the correct answer to this question.

I'm writing a western where the people are traveling by train on the Union Pacific Express from Cheyenne, WY (via: Omaha, Chicago, St. Louis, etc.) to Boston in 1889. On one site I found information stating that the train goes through without the people having to change trains (the train only has to change tracks) and that there is, in fact, a dining car where they don't have to get off at the stops to grab a quick 20 minute meal while the train takes on water.

On another site it says that the Pullman dining car wasn't put into effect on the western railroads, i.e., the Union Pacific, until 1890. Which is correct? Any advice you can give me would be most helpful. The site did mention that the Michigan Central was the first railroad to have regularly scheduled dining cars on its train from Chicago beginning around 1876 and that the Baltimore & Ohio followed suit in 1881.

With that said, can I assume that the first leg of the trip from Cheyenne to Chicago the passengers would have to get off to get something to eat?

Any information you can give me would be greatly appreciated. My eyes are getting crossed trying to sort through all this information on the internet and still not being able to find the correct information.

Thanking you in advance for leading me toward the right track!

—Lynne Lee