Would people travelling by train from New York City to Wells, Nevada have had access to dining cars and sleeping cars, if only for part of the journey?
Might they have needed to break the journey and change trains at some places?
I think the answer to these questions would be “yes” and “no” respectively but it struck me that the SDMB must have some keen knowledgable trainy types.
I agreed to look this up for a friend who doesn’t have internet access at home, and I joked that I would look it up but would probably get wildly distracted along the way. Well, that’s exactly what happened. 
OK, I learned that Mr. Pullman was busy making sleeping cars by the 1860s but I don’t know how widespread they had become. And I got all distracted by reading about the Pullman Strike and Eugene Debs, and also this business of gold and silver spikes, and “ooh, don’t pictures of old-time trains look fascinating?” … In short, distracted by anything shiny.
N.B. this is not anyone’s schoolwork or anything, but is for a story my friend wants to write. And I don’t know why these people are travelling to Nevada or whether they are rich or poor, which I imagine might have some bearing on the comforts available to them.
So, please do we have any historical trainspotters? I think this admits of a factual answer and belongs in General Question, but obviously it can be exported to a new home if necessary.