DeggestyAs to the Amtrak purple and such, when I first saw it (in May of 1972), I was absolutely disgusted. Why would any railroad wanting passengers subject them to such "decor."
Frankly, I liked it... liked the hot-pants disco vibe, too. Just as I've always liked the Chessie System scheme... aside from that ambiguous broken dish that would have worked better if the cat outline were a bit more stylized and the extraneous paw kept 'out of frame'.
What I'd been expecting was more of the Government-institutional, penny-pinching lightweight-train-of-the-future ersatz International-style 'postwar streamliner' design, built to a price. For one brief and, in my book shining, moment, Amtrak went modern; what they did was really no more bilious than two generations of post-Civil War stuffy Pullman decor, and a great deal less depressing.
Of course it won't appeal to those looking at Cret or Dreyfus interiors reached with appropriate pomp and circumstance from exquisite terminals, with plenty of fresh flowers and subsidized gourmet eating. (I am tempted to add that I'd much rather have 'attentive service' in the '70s than from one of the "Georges" -- reprehensible as it was to call people with their own name by a disparaging sobriquet, like 'boy' or 'miss' -- in the monopoly years, not for racist but perhaps regrettably for more-than-a-little sexist reasons...)
No, the ideas didn't 'wear well', and perhaps we should be thankful we were spared the '80s pseudo elegant equivalent, all in hunter green and that weird red color, which lacked even 'retro' fun.
As to the Amtrak purple and such, when I first saw it (in May of 1972), I was absolutely disgusted. Why would any railroad wanting passengers subject them to such "decor."
Johnny
Miningman( never see the likes of that again on Amtrak )
You mean the steam heat connectors, right?
Won't see this much anymore, either —
Amtrak_PSR by Edmund, on Flickr
You don't suppose she needs any help getting into an upper birth ?
Cheers, Ed
gmpullmanAmtrak has had their way with the purple & paisley interior treatment
Yeah, the "purple-paisley" 70's, I remember them well!
That car interior reminds me of the decor of the student center they built at Glassboro State College when I was there in the 1970's. What did we students think about it? Can't tell ya, it wouldn't be politically correct!
On the other hand, the beer bar they built in the basement was O-K!
Yeah but.... we had this that went along with it all. Works for me!
( never see the likes of that again on Amtrak )
gmpullmanAmtrak has had their way with the purple & paisley interior treatment Ick!
Move over!
Trains, trains, wonderful trains. The more you get, the more you toot!
David's right, as usual. Hoboken Terminal's still there with most of its Lackawanna glory intact.
Here's a page with more than you want to know about it (An enteraining read nonetheless) and a nine page photo spread. They sure don't build 'em like this anymore! I've been there, it's a sight!
http://www.subwaynut.com/njt/hoboken_terminal/index.php
Trying to think of something positive to add to this record of downright depression.
So, all right-- we still got the Hoboken Terminal. True, no long distance, but it is in better shape than a long time, and it still sees diesels, electric MUs, a new light rail substituting for the old PSNJ elevated, and the old H&M now PATH.
NP EddieThe first post has a picture of the Nebraska Zephyr--is that a home built CBQ dome car I spot?
Which now resides in Bellevue, Ohio. I couldn't really get a good photo due to the enclosure. At least she's under roof:
CBnQ_Silver-Dome by Edmund, on Flickr
Amtrak has had their way with the purple & paisley interior treatment
2006 photos 626 by Edmund, on Flickr
Yes, there are dents in the overhead from thick skulls!
2006 photos 627 by Edmund, on Flickr
I only bother with "Steam & Preservation".
Concur .. what rcdrye stated! Good eye. It's a sad sack remnant but I bet it would have been an exciting ride with its consist.
Flintlock-- send you a reply, thank you for your support.
NP Eddie The first post has a picture of the Nebraska Zephyr--is that a home built CBQ dome car I spot? Ed Burns
The first post has a picture of the Nebraska Zephyr--is that a home built CBQ dome car I spot?
Ed Burns
Yeah, it's going to be an "abandoned line" all right if it keeps descending into petty nastyness, namecalling, and slanders. It'll be like an old station on an abandoned line with a bunch of grumpy old farts sitting on the rotting platform complaining about how " 'effed-up" everything is.
A year or so ago if someone asked me how many moderators they have on the "Trains" Forum I'd have said "Too many!" Now it seems like they've all taken "French leave." No enforcement of standards. Pitiful.
At least we still celebrate the joy of railroading over here.
This is how I feel about the Trains Forum and what it's become.
At least I have still have Classic, for now anyway.
Ok thanks Overmod. Corrected the original posting with the proper identification.
Nice video work on the Repton. Fine looking loco.
Not being anywhere near an expert on British steam I went looking for Repton. Found it, too! Interesting story. Found a video as well, here it is:
(That's one gorgeous piece of machinery, let me tell you!)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRNa21Hpk60
The Turboliner saga would indeed qualify well for noir... were any part of it to fit on this forum yet!
1 of course was not a Rohr Turboliner, as originally posted -- it is the last cab in existence, spared kinda like the EBT or the Lost Engines Baldwins by scrapper sentimentality. It's ironic that this remains (and, I think, could be restored using foreign parts in a similar way to the Krauss-Maffei in California) when all the domestic trains are gone...
The Rohrs were much more like a streamlined train, but for some reason I always associated them with being more like a big interurban or pretentious regional commuter train than a true Amtrak train pulled by locomotives or running under catenary. That changed when I was living in Garrison and went over to Cold Spring Harbor to have lunch at an 'outdoor cafe'. This was on a curve of the Hudson Line, tracks no more than about 10' from the tables, and there were these little signs about 'watch out for 100mph trains'. The first one I saw was every bit of that... I didn't have dessert waiting for the next one.
The great apotheosis came with the Super Steel rebuilding. Now THOSE were high-speed trains. And as far as I know they never turned a wheel for Amtrak, the very sophisticated turbine and gearbox spare parts were literally sold for six orders of magnitude or so less than their cost... and the surviving trains have been given to FIREFIGHTERS TO PRACTICE TERRORIST RESPONSE. (After which they will not be offered to museums, but scrapped.)
The whole idea deserved better. By the time it becomes a fair subject for Classic Trains, no one will remember enough to care.
Now, there is a noir-in-the-Detective-Cinderdick style starting only a decade later -- that being the technically-fascinating but otherwise-who-cares saga of the 100mph Northeast Corridor... railbus. (One actually survives in a trolley museum and English groups are agitating to have it repatriated to Blighty, a bit like that jewel in Steamtown's crown Repton... I personally think it should be rebuilt for high speed yet again whether or not anyone sane would bother to ride it, even for free museum rides.)
8th Ave. looking south, Penn Station on the left, Post Office on the right, and
New addition to the threads title .. I'm adding the words 'Thread Noir'. This in keeping with its sinister nature, where dreams and good intentions don't always work out. Dreams and good intentions aren't for everyone.
How you qualify for a Thread Noir:
Start with something strong, ( a T1 will do, or anything with a turbine) add a little sweet, then comes the bitters. Diesel makes good bitters.
Now you shake it all up well and then dump it all on the rocks. Done.
1) The last Frangeco RTG cab in existence.
2) A Classic and one of my favs ... Pennsylvania Station. In terms of the way it was built it was a three year old. EeeeDeeeeeOttttts.
3) At one time there was a red carpet and the Century.
More Devolution, what the heck happened?
The Scene---Waverly, Iowa 1987, a CNW siding.
Pennsy's Keystone Tubular Train
( purchase and restoration for a never happened dinner train)
Brief history on Page 20, Aug. 2011 Trains Magazine
Some actually justify this.
Garrick Theatre Chicago
Boston Post Office
Jersey City Station
https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/0gcAAOxyTjNSoqOA/s-l1600.jpg
http://dcmny.org/adore-djatoka/resolver?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&svc_id=info%3Alanl-repo/svc/getRegion&svc_val_fmt=info%3Aofi/fmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajpeg2000&svc.format=image/jpeg&rft_id=http%3A//dcmny.org/islandora/object/photosnycbeyond%253A25147/datastream/JP2/view%3Ftoken%3D58029aba8937eda2db7efb64f94168c683a0de5158da22c2751553bdcd16bb77&svc.region=0%2C0%2C2114%2C3560
A decade later, this:
https://njcrda.com/wp-content/uploads/Downtown-Plan-Sept2007.pdf
Isn't it interesting that even today no one really wants to talk about why this, of all buildings, was pulled down for 'something else' ... that probably isn't economically thriving.
Note the overhead lights so very reminiscent of 30th St. Station. Wonder where they are now.
Demolished '97 Of course!
Was hoping ' yoo's guys ' knew of its fate. Looks classy, expensive but functional.
Is that building 'one with the Traymore' now?
Trona ran them into the 2000s. SP had long since pulled its AS616s from line haul service to hump service. The lack of Baldwin parts and the availability of C628s and C630s to replace them in hump service shortened their service lives. Some of them were rebuilt in the late 1960s.
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