{"product_id":"new-york-centrals-lightweight-passenger-cars-trains-and-travel-by-g-doughty","title":"New York Central's Lightweight Passenger Cars Trains and Travel  by G Doughty","description":"\u003cbody\u003e\n\u003c!-- HTML Generated by Auction Wizard 2000 - http:\/\/www.AuctionWizard2000.com\/ --\u003e\n\n\n\u003c!-- AW2KLOT#:75842 --\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003ctable style=\"width:98%;padding:2px;margin:auto;border:5px outset #673434;background-color:#FDF3D0\"\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd style=\"border:1px inset #673434;margin:5px;\"\u003e\n\u003ctable style=\"width:100%;border:0px;padding:5px;\"\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd\u003e\n\u003c\/td\u003e\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd style=\"padding:5px\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align:center\"\u003e\n\u003cspan style=\"font-family:Arial Black;font-size:1.5em;color:#000000;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;text-decoration: underline;\"\u003eRailroadTreasures\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-family:Arial Black;font-size:1.5em;color:#000000;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;text-decoration: underline;\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-family:Arial Black;font-size:1.5em;color:#000000;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;text-decoration: underline;\"\u003eoffers the following item:\u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align:left\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:1.0em;color:#000000;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;text-decoration:none;\"\u003e  \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\n\u003c\/td\u003e\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd style=\";padding:5px\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align:center\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-family:Arial;font-size:1.13em;color:#000000;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;text-decoration:none;\"\u003eNew York Central's Lightweight Passenger Cars Trains and Travel  by G Doughty\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align:center\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-family:Arial;font-size:1.13em;color:#000000;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;text-decoration:none;\"\u003e  \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align:left\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-family:Calibri;font-size:1.0em;color:#000000;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;text-decoration:none;\"\u003eNew York Centrals Lightweight Passenger Cars Trains and Travel by Geoffrey Doughty Hard Cover 1997 151 Pages SEALED IN PLASTIC \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align:left\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-family:Calibri;font-size:1.0em;color:#000000;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;text-decoration:none;\"\u003e0ne 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.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align:left\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-family:Calibri;font-size:1.0em;color:#000000;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;text-decoration:none;\"\u003eUnfortunately, 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. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align:left\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-family:Calibri;font-size:1.0em;color:#000000;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;text-decoration:none;\"\u003eThis was a railroad which did not tolerate delay; it waited for no one-even if they were paying customers!\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align:left\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-family:Calibri;font-size:1.0em;color:#000000;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;text-decoration:none;\"\u003eTo 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.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align:left\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-family:Calibri;font-size:1.0em;color:#000000;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;text-decoration:none;\"\u003eOperating 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.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align:left\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-family:Calibri;font-size:1.0em;color:#000000;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;text-decoration:none;\"\u003eNew 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.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align:left\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-family:Calibri;font-size:1.0em;color:#000000;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;text-decoration:none;\"\u003eNYC 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.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align:left\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-family:Calibri;font-size:1.0em;color:#000000;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;text-decoration:none;\"\u003eIts 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.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align:left\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-family:Calibri;font-size:1.0em;color:#000000;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;text-decoration:none;\"\u003ePorters 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.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align:left\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-family:Calibri;font-size:1.0em;color:#000000;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;text-decoration:none;\"\u003ePorters 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.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align:left\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-family:Calibri;font-size:1.0em;color:#000000;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;text-decoration:none;\"\u003eAs 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?\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align:left\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-family:Calibri;font-size:1.0em;color:#000000;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;text-decoration:none;\"\u003eFor 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.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align:left\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-family:Calibri;font-size:1.0em;color:#000000;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;text-decoration:none;\"\u003eSociety 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.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align:left\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-family:Calibri;font-size:1.0em;color:#000000;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;text-decoration:none;\"\u003eSadly, 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.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align:left\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-family:Calibri;font-size:1.0em;color:#000000;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;text-decoration:none;\"\u003eThis 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.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align:left\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-family:Calibri;font-size:1.0em;color:#000000;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;text-decoration:none;\"\u003eIn 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.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align:left\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-family:Calibri;font-size:1.0em;color:#000000;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;text-decoration:none;\"\u003eFearing 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.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align:left\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-family:Calibri;font-size:1.0em;color:#000000;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;text-decoration:none;\"\u003eHow 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.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align:left\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align:left\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-family:Arial;font-size:1.0em;color:#000000;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;text-decoration:none;\"\u003eAll pictures are of the actual item.  If this is a railroad item, this material is obsolete and no longer in use by the railroad.  Please email with questions. Publishers of Train Shed Cyclopedias and Stephans Railroad Directories. Large inventory of railroad books and magazines. Thank you for buying from us.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align:left\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align:center\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-family:Arial;font-size:1.13em;color:#CE0000;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;text-decoration:none;\"\u003eShipping charges\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align:left\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-family:Arial;font-size:1.0em;color:#000000;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;text-decoration:none;\"\u003ePostage rates quoted are for shipments to the US only.    Ebay Global shipping charges are shown. These items are shipped to Kentucky and then ebay ships them to you. Ebay collects the shipping and customs \/ import fees.   For direct postage rates to these countries, send me an email.   Shipping to Canada and other countries varies by weight.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align:left\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align:center\"\u003e\n\u003cspan style=\"font-family:Arial;font-size:1.13em;color:#CE0000;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;text-decoration:none;\"\u003ePayment options\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-family:Arial;font-size:1.13em;color:#000000;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;text-decoration:none;\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align:left\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-family:Arial;font-size:1.0em;color:#000000;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;text-decoration:none;\"\u003ePayment must be received within 10 days. 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Please e-mail us with any questions before bidding.   \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align:left\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align:center\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-family:Arial;font-size:1.5em;color:#000000;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;text-decoration:none;\"\u003eThanks for looking at our items.   \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align:left\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\n\u003c\/td\u003e\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd style=\";padding:5px\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align:center;width:99.9%;margin:auto\"\u003e\n\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/td\u003e\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003c\/table\u003e\n\u003c\/td\u003e\u003c\/tr\u003e\u003c\/table\u003e\n\n\u003c\/body\u003e","brand":"RailroadTreasures","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44241689477316,"sku":"333859528610","price":48.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/2232\/7333\/files\/57_fd910799-afef-441a-9f98-af7c7b86e4a0.jpg?v=1727914492","url":"https:\/\/railroadtreasures.com\/products\/new-york-centrals-lightweight-passenger-cars-trains-and-travel-by-g-doughty","provider":"RailroadTreasures","version":"1.0","type":"link"}