Passenger service in the 1800s looked very different from what would come a century later. To begin with, most travelers didn't go very far. On longer runs, trains stopped at railroad owned hotels and restaurants for food service and overnight stays. As a result, paying passengers had little reason to move between coaches. Therefore, open platforms on the ends of the cars were not a problem.

      The advent of dining, parlor, and sleeping cars led to more people moving > between cars and enclosed vestibules followed shortly after. Open platform coaches would continue in local, mixed train and commuter service for decades.