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The Electroliner's Animal Crackers

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Posted by daveklepper on Wednesday, October 14, 2015 2:10 AM

Iam wondering if they based restoration colors on advertizements and old photos rather than on discovered paint chips under the Maeder Red Arrow Burgendy and White?   I may be wrong, but the posted photos just don't square with my memoroy.  The green is not that bad, but the red is too orange.  Sort of McGinnis New Haven, which seemed very different to me at the time.

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Posted by Firelock76 on Saturday, October 10, 2015 2:47 PM

Anyway you look at it those "Electroliners" were cool-lookin' machines!

The front end reminds me of Gort the robot from the movie "The Day The Earth Stood Still," that is the REAL "DTESS" with Michael Rennie as Klaatu.

I wonder if the lead end of the "Electroliner" was the inspiration for Gort?

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Posted by Wizlish on Saturday, October 10, 2015 1:53 PM

I have only seen pictures,and I think (aside from the problem of color dyes shifting over the years, and paint weathering) the effect of daylight on the green paint, and contrast between red and green striping with the orange pilot drawing the eye, accounts for the problems I'm having.  See this RMC picture of the restoration:

To my eye, that's almost a NYC jade green 'at a glance', and the stripes are more 'Chinese red' than fire-engine red.  And that effect persists even when I "know better" in a large number of the pictures of the restored Electroliner I see on the Web...

Are there good pictures taken in neutral light?

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Posted by daveklepper on Saturday, October 10, 2015 1:30 PM

You are corerct.   Although the modernized Silverliners used shaded silver to resemble fluting and red, without any green, I do remember most of the fleet were green with red trim, some with red window bands.

But the red and green striping of the Electroliners was unlke any other passenger rail equipment, streamlined or other, that I can recall.

And to my eyes, yes, definitely red and green, a more green green than shown on the advertisement.

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Posted by rcdrye on Friday, October 9, 2015 3:37 PM

It's not that complicated.  North Shore already used those colors in various version of their paint scheme, and had St. Louis Car use similar paint.

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Posted by wanswheel on Friday, October 9, 2015 11:10 AM
Chicago Tribune says dark green with red stripes.
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Posted by Wizlish on Friday, October 9, 2015 5:47 AM

daveklepper
I wonder if this had something to do with the choice of green and red, colors associated with Christmas, for the Electroliners' exterior?

The Electroliner colors are probably better described as salmon (closer to orange than red to my eye) and sage, not the Santa-Claus red and evergreen green (neither of which, BTW, is a Christian symbol) of typical Yuletide holiday practice.  So I think an explicit linkage here very unlikely.  (Subbsequent note: I did not see this train new, and Mr. Klepper did, so don't ask me to argue.  But the IRM restoration surely has accurate colors...

More likely he was trying to 'fit in' to contemporary Midwestern society more closely, not out of enthusiastic dedication to whatever Christian sect he joined (and its associated symbology).  But since I didn't know him, I can't say.  It would certainly be interesting to know, though.

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Posted by daveklepper on Thursday, October 8, 2015 10:10 PM

Eppenstein was born to Jewish parents and apparently converted to Christianity, becoming active in a Protestant church, probably at the time he married his wife.   I wonder if this had something to do with the choice of green and red, colors associated with Christmas, for the Electoliners' exterior?

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Posted by Wizlish on Wednesday, October 7, 2015 7:49 PM

wanswheel

Me gustan las Galletitas!

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Posted by Firelock76 on Wednesday, October 7, 2015 6:30 PM

Wanswheel that's great!  Where do you come up with this stuff?

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Posted by wanswheel on Sunday, October 4, 2015 8:04 PM

 

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Posted by Deggesty on Sunday, October 4, 2015 4:30 PM

wanswheel

As I read the first link and came to the play on waist and waste, I could not help but think of the reasoning for the difference between the charge for an upper berth and the charge for a lower berth: the upper is lower because it is higher.

Johnny

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Posted by Firelock76 on Sunday, October 4, 2015 2:01 PM

WHAT!  Dr. Walker didn't like Animal Crackers?  What was he, some kind of communist?

No wait a minute, in 1889 hardly anyone had heard of communism.  Just a kill-joy I suppose.

And I'm assuming when he talks about "the war" he's talking about the "late unpleasantness" between the North and South.

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Posted by wanswheel on Sunday, October 4, 2015 12:37 PM
Not everyone was as partial to animal crackers as Mr. Eppenstein.
 
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Posted by Firelock76 on Sunday, October 4, 2015 11:30 AM

Thanks for the "Forgotten Chicago" link wanswheel, that was interesting!

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Posted by wanswheel on Sunday, October 4, 2015 10:37 AM
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Posted by Firelock76 on Sunday, October 4, 2015 10:15 AM

They're still made David, still in the little circus themed box and are just as popular as ever.

Unfortunately I can't say the same for Shofar Deli-Style hot dogs which the wife absolutely LOVED!  They've been gone for a few years now.  "Milkshake" candy bars are gone too, more's the pity.

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Posted by daveklepper on Sunday, October 4, 2015 7:09 AM

And on at least  one of my 1952 trips, you could by the cookies, and they were very popular with children.

Are they still available in the USA?

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Posted by Firelock76 on Saturday, October 3, 2015 11:43 AM

I saw that video myself David, and never thought of the Animal Crackers connection.  With the panel showing what looked like elephants ganging up on a donkey I wondered if it was supposed to be some kind of political allegory but then thought, "No, that just can't be."

An Animal Crackers whimsy would be just the thing for a food car, though.

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The Electroliner's Animal Crackers
Posted by daveklepper on Friday, October 2, 2015 7:17 AM

Jim Wrinn and his IRM host seem puzzled, on the video on the Trains website, as to the sorce of inspiration for the animal decorations of the snack-bar-grill area of these two CNS&M trains.   I thought every railran knew they were directly from Animal-Crackers cookies.  At one time very popular with children.  Glad to see these decortions surviving and being restored.

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