Interesting facts and notes in old railroad magazines

McLeansvilleAppFan · Jul 9, 2024

I just realized that Timken has not advertised in Trains in a bit as I start 1960 issues. I guess the market for their roller bearings has matured to the point it is not worth the ad cost. AAR is still buying a full page ad in every issue of Trains. I think that has been the case since issue #3 in January 1941. The first two issues had hardly no ads except Kalmbach ads, if that counts, and a few other small ads.

I think AAR stopped buying ads in the magazine in Nobember 1960.

Trains June 1960 page 12. Arrivals and Departures column.
FOR SALE: Pullman-Standard has reluctantly
placed on the block its passenger car plant at
Worcester, Mass. Built by Osgood Bradley in
1910 and absorbed by PS in 1930, the plant--
covering 52 acres with 600,000 square feet under
roof turned out streetcars and trackless trol-
leys as well as railroad passenger equipment.
Its last car was built in December 1958 and PS
says no new orders are in sight from Eastern
roads.

Willbridge · Jul 10, 2024

UserNameRequired said:
@Willbridge That Slumbercrib look amazing! They should bring that idea back, I wonder if any museums have one preserved anywhere...

We would have used it had it been offered. We did use a Superliner Family Bedroom when our son was a bit older.

McLeansvilleAppFan said:
Right beside the Printed in USA mark is, I assume a date code for June 1964 and then what appears to be a union printing bug. Either due to wanting to use union printers to send a message to union supporters or there just not being anything but union printers around to print the advertisement it is interesting. How times have changed.

That was in the contract for a union shop. And it was so important that political campaigns of both major parties used union printers so that the bug would appear on their literature.

McLeansvilleAppFan · Jul 10, 2024

Willbridge said:
We would have used it had it been offered. We did use a Superliner Family Bedroom when our son was a bit older.

That was in the contract for a union shop. And it was so important that political campaigns of both major parties used union printers so that the bug would appear on their literature.

I know that used to be more common with unions but with Taft-Hartley and making secondary boycotts and pickets illegal a lot of that went to the wayside, which was the purpose. I was surprised to see this as late at the mid-60s.

On the Piedmont train I was on Monday the vending machine has a prominent IAM union label. I can spot those a mile away, and the IAM union label, being a printed sticker has a union label on it, a Sign Display local, which is a union label from the Painters Union. I generally get a pack of Keebler cookies. They don't carry a union label, but they are made by BCTGM members. And the vending prices are dirt cheep on the Piedmont trains.

Skyline · Jul 10, 2024

Most passenger-friendly? D&RG needs to be in the running.

McLeansvilleAppFan · Jul 11, 2024

Trains, July 1961.

Huge article on The Pioneer Limited with tons of diagrams of the Pullman cars. Great diagrams and info.

And in the editorial area of magazine the editors mention how shortsighted the AAR is for not spending on PR and ads for the AAR Magna Carta of Transportation program the AAR started. Seems to be a way to ask the AAR to spend some ad revenue on the magazine that seemed to dry up a bit over a year earlier.

McLeansvilleAppFan · Jul 12, 2024

Trains, February 1962 has an long article on the Broadway Limited and lots of pictures, some interior pictures, which is neat to see.

Next article after this is on a proposed Autotrain and how it might work in a Q&A format.

McLeansvilleAppFan · Jul 12, 2024

Trains, May 1962 has a nice article on the Super Chief with lots of photos of interiors and diagrams of the car layouts.

McLeansvilleAppFan · Jul 12, 2024

Trains, August 1962 has long article about 20th Century Limited.

McLeansvilleAppFan · Jul 13, 2024

Trains, November 1962. Arrivals and Departures.

PREDICTION: U.S. Steel's Vice-
President Traffic E. Grosvenor Plowman thinks commuter services will probably be nationalized eventually but expects private enterprise still to be running other air, truck, and rail transportation by 1999.

McLeansvilleAppFan · Jul 13, 2024

Trains, march 1963 has an article about "Those Budget Sleepers".

The 49.16 in a sleepercoach (a slumbercoach) is $506.39 in today's dollars using the federal government website. Amtrak has a roomette for $698 booking a few months out.

McLeansvilleAppFan · Jul 14, 2024

November 1963, Trains magazine of course, has an excerpt from a book by David Morgan. The chapter is about some Burlington Denver Zephyr cars with many diagrams of the car layouts. Very interesting to see the diagrams. One of the car diagrams is the vaunted slumbercoach that is discussed on here often.

McLeansvilleAppFan · Jul 14, 2024

Trains, July 1964. 16 pages on the Crescent Limited. Lots of exterior pictures but not as many interior shots and no diagrams of car layouts.

McLeansvilleAppFan · Jul 25, 2024

Not connected to any magazine directly but just read about this on another social media site.

Music in a lounge car in the 1970s.
http://www.fenderrhodes.com/v2/gallery/13/Amtrak+Rhodes.html

McLeansvilleAppFan · Aug 6, 2024

Trains February 1965 page 3 on editorial column

TV for the Special
For the 77th season of its wintertime
extra-fare Florida Special, Atlantic Coast
Line is adding television (23-inch black-
and-white sets installed at ceiling height
in all coaches, lounges, and recreation
cars) to such other travel inducements
as champagne dinners, bingo games, song
fests, and mobile phone service. The road
says that passengers greeted TV with
"tremendous enthusiasm" on test runs.

railiner · Aug 7, 2024

McLeansvilleAppFan said:
Not connected to any magazine directly but just read about this on another social media site.

Music in a lounge car in the 1970s.
http://www.fenderrhodes.com/v2/gallery/13/Amtrak+Rhodes.html

Yes! I recall those in the Sightseers…

They also had piano’s in the 3100 series cafe-lounges dubbed, “Le Pub”, on the overnight Washington - Montreal, Montrealer…

railiner · Aug 7, 2024

The Sightseer Lounge’s, when new, also featured a (color) television at each end, in the bulkhead, and another on the lower level, above the piano. The video player was inside one of those cabinets near the entryway. Movies were ‘G’-rated for the afternoon showing, and perhaps ‘PG’ for evening showings. Also inside the cabinet, was a high-end Studer Revox stereo receiver, and tape player…

McLeansvilleAppFan · Aug 7, 2024

railiner said:
Yes! I recall those in the Sightseers…
They also had piano’s in the 3100 series cafe-lounges dubbed, “Le Pub”, on the overnight Washington - Montreal, Montrealer…

For all the Simpsons fans out there I have to reply with the quote. "Le Pub, what the Heck is Le Pub?"

IYKYK

Bob Dylan · Aug 8, 2024

railiner said:
The Sightseer Lounge’s, when new, also featured a (color) television at each end, in the bulkhead, and another on the lower level, above the piano. The video player was inside one of those cabinets near the entryway. Movies were ‘G’-rated for the afternoon showing, and perhaps ‘PG’ for evening showings. Also inside the cabinet, was a high-end Studer Revox stereo receiver, and tape player…

Which mostly started disappearing when /these cars were rolled into the Chicago yards for service and maintainence!

When the Movies were able to be shown, the lighting and location of the Monitors wasn't very good, and not alot of passengers were we able to get seats in the Lounge for the show.

Of course, today most people use their devices to watch movies, play games etc. so we won't see this setup again!

railiner · Aug 8, 2024

Bob Dylan said:
Of course, today most people use their devices to watch movies, play games etc. so we won't see this setup again!

Yes…AA recognised this, and instead of seatback video screens, just offers a holder for your cell phone, and a USB charger outlet.
Saves them a lot of money in cost, maintenance, and fuel-using weight…

MARC Rider · Aug 8, 2024

Bob Dylan said:
Which mostly started disappearing when /these cars were rolled into the Chicago yards for service and maintainence!

When the Movies were able to be shown, the lighting and location of the Monitors wasn't very good, and not alot of passengers were we able to get seats in the Lounge for the show.

Of course, today most people use their devices to watch movies, play games etc. so we won't see this setup again!

Another thing, at least on a couple of trips I took on the Capitol Limited, was that they cranked up the volume of the movies so high that it was actually unpleasant to be sitting in the lounge. Plus, of course, you were stuck with Amtrak's choice of a movie. At least airline flights with seat-back monitors give you a choice of movies.

McLeansvilleAppFan · Oct 1, 2024

Trains magazine August 1965 has a nice photo spread about Chicago Union Station. However all the photos are of train, and exterior views. I was hoping for a few pictures of the interior.

MARC Rider · Oct 1, 2024

Bob Dylan said:
Which mostly started disappearing when /these cars were rolled into the Chicago yards for service and maintainence!

When the Movies were able to be shown, the lighting and location of the Monitors wasn't very good, and not alot of passengers were we able to get seats in the Lounge for the show.

Of course, today most people use their devices to watch movies, play games etc. so we won't see this setup again!

Also, when the movie was playing, the lounge wasn't any good for other activities, like socializing.

McLeansvilleAppFan · Oct 13, 2024

February 1966 Trains magazine. page 17

PASSENGER NOTES; Americans can now buy 30 consecutive days of rail coach travel anywhere on Canadian National for $99 in Canadian funds or U.S. equivalent. The Canrailpass will be offered October through April each year.

McLeansvilleAppFan · Oct 13, 2024

Trains, April 1966, page 4 has a short article on the passing of Lucius Morris Beebe, who passed away February 1966.

McLeansvilleAppFan · Oct 13, 2024

Trains, May 1966. Page 53.

I will just cut and paste a picture of the screen clipping. I have not read the article yet but will at some point soon.

Interesting facts and notes in old railroad magazines

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