Social History – Cruising The Past welcomes you aboard the legendary Santa Fe Super Chief – the train of the stars. Extra Fare – All Pullman Streamliner.
She came on the Super Chief.
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SANTA FE SUPER CHIEF – TRAIN OF THE STARS
July 17, 2010 By Leave a Comment
THE BRIGHTON BELLE – THE ONLY ALL-ELECTRIC PULLMAN CAR TRAIN IN THE WORLD.
April 9, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Great YOUTUBE video of the Brighton Belle.
29th June 1934: Staff of the Southern Railway at Victoria station, London changing the name board on the front of a train, the ‘Southern Belle’ is now called the ‘Brighton Belle’. (Photo by E. Dean/Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)
The Brighton Belle represents an important part of British railway heritage, the only all-electric Pullman car train in the world.
Launched by the Southern Railway in 1933, it offered passengers traveling between London and Brighton a unique blend of romance, luxury and personal service.
When the Brighton Belle was withdrawn from service in 1972, it looked like not only the end of a glorious era, but also the permanent loss of a railway icon.
FIFTY YEARS AGO – THE SLOGAN WAS NEXT TIME TAKE THE TRAIN – YOU WOULD TRAVEL PULLMAN FOR COMFORT AND SAFETY – TODAY AMTRAK IS AN INSULT TO THE HISTORY OF USA PASSENGER RAIL SERVICE
January 11, 2010 By
Amtrak Passengers Stuck On ‘Train From Hell’ For Almost 24 Hours on the CALIFORNIA ZEPHYR.
Amtrak being allowed to ues the name CALIFORNIA ZEPHYR is an insult to one of the great streamliners in American history (pictured to the left).
The slogan for the Pullman Company was “next time take the train.” You would be able to travel in Pullman comfort and safety. No longer possible with the totally inept Amtrak.
If only it were realistically possible to travel in the safety and comfort of Pullman accommodations today. That of course is over. Deluxe first class reliable train travel in the tradition of the Pullman Company is now history. Amtrak is the blight that replaced the great American trains with another third-rate US government institution.
The Pullman Company carried millions of passengers and had a great safety record.
Amtrak can barely move 95 percent less people and has accidents monthly. More passenger fatalities than the history of the Pullman Company. Now, the USA has the equivalent of “Third World” rail passenger travel. The California Zephyr (a name Amtrak should never have been allowed to desecrate) arrived 24 hours late this week after a five day hell ride from San Francisco to Chicago. Rail travel under our inept government is now evident in the the dreadful money wasting Amtrak. Let private enterprise take over this Washington joke!
Looking back at when passenger trains were great:
Today – “the boss” would have to take the night off to fly anywhere – with delays, weather problems and endless third rate security efforts. He would never take the shoddy Amtrak.
You would never dine like this aboard Amtrak.
Today, you would never relax with a drink like this on Amtrak. And of course no one be dressed like this.
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PASADENA SANTA FE STATION – GATEWAY TO HOLLYWOOD
October 6, 2009 By Leave a Comment
The Santa Fe Station in Pasadena is now La Grande Orange Café. This was the depot’s main waiting room.
Click here to visit the La Grande Orange Café website.
The depot’s waiting room just after it closed as the Santa Fe/Amtrak Station.
The orignal Santa Fe Station in Pasadena.
The Santa Fe Station in Pasadena was home to the Super Chief, the Chief, El Capitan and other major streamliners.
The Super Chief leaving Pasadena in the early 1940s.
The Metro Gold Line Del Mar Station was originally the Santa Fe Depot of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway.
(Left) The original Pasadena Santa Fe Depot. (Right) The La Grande Orange Cafe.
Santa Fe Chief passes Los Angeles streetcar just south of the Pasadena Station.
The Santa Fe Railway’s Mission Revival-style passenger station on Raymond Ave. in Pasadena, CA, opened in 1935.
Seeking the last of the Pullman Porters.
April 3, 2009 By Leave a Comment
New York Central’s all-Pullman 20th Century Limited departs Chicago for its nightly run to New York in the 1950s. The deluxe train carried a staff of Pullman Porters, Pullman Conductors, waiters, maids, chefs, cooks, train conductors, brakemen, stewards, along with a train secretary,
CRUISING THE PAST: AMTRAK IS SEEKING THE LAST OF THE PULLMAN PORTERS TO HONOR ON NATIONAL TRAIN DAY IN MAY.
Amtrak is seeking former Pullman Porters for a ceremony honoring them during a celebration of National Train Day on May 9, at Amtrak’s 30th Street Station in Philadelphia.
Former porters should contact Amtrak’s Saunya Connelly at (202) 906-4164 or connels@amtrak.com with the following information: Porter’s full name, telephone number, mailing address, age, years of railroad service, and routes if known.
The deadline for response is April 14.
The following is a story about Pullman Porters appearing in today’s NEW YORK TIMES by Jennifer B. Lee
For more than a century, Pullman porters were a part of luxury American train travel until the pressures of jet and car travel started the demise of high-end sleeper cars about 40 years ago.
Now the last generation of porters — who played a critical role in African-American history — is rapidly dying off. And Amtrak is in a desperate attempt to locate the last few for National Train Day.
In 2001, the A. Philip Randolph Museum compiled a national registry of black railroad employees who worked for the railroad from the late 1800s to 1969, which could be useful for historians and genealogists.
“There are a thousand people on this list — as we mark it up, it’s not looking like the same list anymore,” said Hank Ernest, who is coordinating the publicity for Amtrak. Asked how many they had found, he said, “Double digits.” [Read more...]
Passenger Train History: 1945 first class railway dining car service on the New York Central System. Complete breakfast for eighty five cents during World War Two.
December 23, 2008 By Leave a Comment
During WW 2, railway dining cars were crowded because of the mass movement in the United States of civilian passengers and military personnel. This is a New York Central System breakfast menu from WW 2 aboard a train in 1945: featuring the menu, wartime dining car policy and a massage about America. [Read more...]
TRAVEL AND SOCIAL HISTORY – Marjorie Merriweather Post’s former private railway car is a deluxe alternative to everyday travel by private jet.
December 12, 2008 By Leave a Comment
The Chapel Hill was originally built in 1922 for Post Cereals Heiress, Marjorie Merriweather Post, and stock broker and investment banker E.F. Hutton.
Chartering Marjorie Merriweather Post’s Private Railway Car is a deluxe alternative to everyday travel by private jet. See for yourself as Michael L. Grace takes us on a smooth ride cross country featured today in New York Social Diary.
Owner DeWitt Chapple Jr., seen on the Chapel Hill private car observation platform as it appears today. Totally updated and the most deluxe way for land travel in America.
