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New York Central's Lightweight Passenger Cars Trains and Travel by G Doughty
New York Centrals Lightweight Passenger Cars Trains and Travel by Geoffrey Doughty Hard Cover 1997 151 Pages SEALED IN PLASTIC
0ne of my earliest memories of taking the train was the time my father took my mother, brother, and me to La Salle Street Station for our summer trip east to visit my grandparents. The year was 1954; the train was New York Central's Lake Shore Limited. I was four; my brother seven.
Unfortunately, my dad misread the timetable and we arrived at the gate just at the moment the conductor was giving the highball from the platform by the rear car. We rushed the last thirty feet. My parents helped the conductor and porter quickly load my brother and the baggage into the vestibule, and as the train began to creep forward, my father turned to swoop me up and deliver me to the conductor who was standing on the lower step. I was then safely passed to my mother who was standing behind him. My father hurriedly followed.
This was a railroad which did not tolerate delay; it waited for no one-even if they were paying customers!
To that young boy of four, the railroad was awe-inspiring. Everything was big and loud on the outside; clean, quiet, and comfortable on the inside. He never considered the colossal effort it took to keep the trains running on time; to provision them, to staff them; or whether or not they earned a profit. The railroad ran in spite of these factors. He was completely ignorant of them. For the moment, riding the train was simply a fantastic adventure.
Operating a passenger train over a long distance is a complex undertaking, especially when one considers the multiplicity of roles the train assumes and the support services it requires. Enlarge and expand the services beyond the operation of one train to a fleet of trains and one is struck by the magnitude of the challenge to operate trains and services uniformly, consistently, and on time.
New York Central (NYC) was a prodigious freight hauler and passenger carrier up to, during, and following World War II. Freight operations aside, the singular task of moving millions of passengers placed enormous burdens upon the railroad's resources, for which NYC was compensated only through passenger revenues-there weren't any state or federal subsidies then.
NYC didn't just operate passenger trains, however-it ran a Great Steel Fleet, and it was advertised in a flamboyant style characteristic of the era. The term alone inspired confidence and evoked visions of grandeur.
Its passenger trains went beyond mere transportation. They became rolling hotels, restaurants, and lounges as well. To support these activities required linen services, commissary facilities, supply services, car cleaning facilities, upholstery repair, car maintenance and the training of personnel in the appropriate practices, procedures, and etiquette.
Porters and staff assumed the role of guardians; they were versed in how to handle the occasional patron who had oversampled the alcoholic libations of the mid-train lounge; they knew the correct t" way and manner to "make down" the bed in the roomette and bedroom; shine the shoes; or how to wait on tables.
Porters followed a code of conduct, "rules," one of which forbade the placement of hands in pockets because it gave the appearance of sloth. The standards set by the Pullman Company (which operated NYC's sleeping cars into 1958) became the yardstick by which rail passenger service was measured.
As early as 1950, it was evident that something was terribly wrong with the passenger train, incredible though it may have seemed. Fewer people were traveling by rail. It was as though the railroad was in a state of shock-it had spent millions of dollars on new equipment; and it had an immense support structure which was then beginning to appear as a liability. America had always traveled by rail. What was happening?
For the most part, America had found other ways to travel. The airplane offered the advantage of time; the automobile offered independence. Indeed, state and federal tax dollars were spent to construct a physical plant for each which fostered their use by the public.
Society goes through natural changes in the advancement of its culture, which we call "progress." Sometimes the changes bring improvements-sometimes not. In the form of the airplane and automobile, progress was not kind to the passenger train, however, and society did not necessarily benefit from its demise.
Sadly, the entire institution began to collapse as the traffic base eroded, since the structure of passenger service was predicated upon patronage of the trains. After 1958, the turning point of the postwar Great Steel Fleet, NYC ever-so-gradually abandoned the pretense of polishing the brass as the ship was going down-and it had lasted that long mostly due to the tenacious beliefs of one man.
This book was written and intended as a companion volume to New York Central's Great Steel Fleet 1948-1967, published in 1995 by TLC Publishing. In some respects it completes information on trains covered in the first book and focuses on the cars. In any event, NYC operations were so vast that it would be difficult to cover all of the myriad activities and functions between two covers. As evidence of this, all one has to do is survey the numerous photo essay books which have already been compiled and published.
In addition to providing a pictorial record of the passenger equipment, what I have attempted is to give the reader the background of the period so as to place the vast passenger car orders in context. Furthermore, I have tried to demonstrate why passenger service failed in spite of the magnificent equipment NYC and other railroads provided to their patrons. Perhaps, as a result, some will gain insight into the business of operating passenger trains.
Fearing that the reader may find this too depressing, I have included several reminiscences so as to lend credence to the belief that there is still an invisible bond between Americans (and others) and their passenger trains. By their inclusion, others may simply enjoy looking back at what was wonderful era of passenger train travel. And, busi ness aside, it was wonderful.
How I wish this story had a happy ending! Just the same, it is a celebration of a time that was unique in the history of American transportation. I hope this brings to mind some fond memories of your own and if it somehow motivates you to book passage on a train, then the effort will have been all the more worthwhile.
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