This is an interesting question but as to why he didn't take a sleeper 
car - simple economics.  They were expensive then and they're expensive 
now.  The later Pullman Cars were the equivalent to today's private 
jets.  Sam wasn't very detailed about his journey home.  There seems to 
be no mention of the route.  The Pennsylvania Railroad ran to 
Pittsburgh, The Ohio and Mississippi Railroad ran from East St. Louis to 
Cincinnati.  Connections between them seem hazy.  Just speculating here 
but perhaps Sam's route from St. Louis to New York was based on his 
perception of the route.  He may have had it in mind that Chicago was 
the place to get to.  Chicago was certainly trying to create than image.

On 3/27/22 22:52, Peter Clark wrote:
> RE: Mark Twain's Railroad Journeys-
>       Not quite on the topic of Scott's queries, but  definitely within the
> scope of Scott's Twain Geography project and a quandary I'm trying to
> resolve:
>         Sam took the Northern route to New York City, etc., in 1853. He only
> stayed in Chicago for a day, so why did he take that route? It would have
> been much more expensive and taken longer than the more direct route
> through the Ohio River Valley he took when he returned to Saint Louis, even
> if not all of that route were completed when he left.
>       (Sam reportedly returned in coach on the return and didn't sleep the
> whole way back. This was before George Pullman developed the first Pullman
> car, but cruder sleepers were available.)
>       Thanks
> Peter Clark