Root Beer and Other Beverages

[jclass]

tree68

Not to mention the built-in geography lesson on the bottom of the bottles...

Haven't thought of that in years and years.  Thx.

[tree68]

Deggesty

...and play Coke bottle poker while drinking it.

Not to mention the built-in geography lesson on the bottom of the bottles...

[Randy Stahl]

BaltACD

Randy Stahl

Speaking of a good cup of coffee.. has anyone here had railway coffee?

Wreck Train coffee?

 

Yup , same as boiler shop coffee.

[Norm48327]

Dang! Our ages are showing. I'm old enough to remember these commercials.

[Deggesty]

AH, yes! "Pepsi-Cola hits the spot; for a nickel you get a lot...." However, in South Carolina, any 12 ounce drunk cost seven cents, for there was a business license tax of one cent on each six ounces. It was nice, when I was college, to drop a nickel into the slot on the Coke machine, and get a cold 6 1/2 ounce bottle--and play Coke bottle poker while drinking it.

[Paul of Covington]

   Ah, for the days when commercials featured catchy, pleasant-sounding jingles and slogans that you associated with the product.

[Anonymous]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSYO1Qm3P7k

 

 

[BaltACD]

Randy Stahl

Speaking of a good cup of coffee.. has anyone here had railway coffee?

Wreck Train coffee?

[Randy Stahl]

Speaking of a good cup of coffee.. has anyone here had railway coffee?

[schlimm]

oltmannd

Ordering, and trying to get a good cup, of coffee in Europe is a trip - even at a Starbucks.

Either you aren't going to the right places or your idea of a good cup of coffee is very different from mine.

[Randy Stahl]

One advantage to living in Worcester is I can catch a train direct to Chicago/ change and ride to Sturtevant to visit my family for a third the cost of an airline ticket AND a quarter the cost of flying from where I currently live. I guess there are bright spots if you look in the right places.

BTW.. Try ordering Canadian Bacon in Quebec sometime. This in Canada.. that is bacon , there is no problem oui ? 

[oltmannd]

Mookie

I tried to warn Randy that Boston is a little different on drinks.  Trying to order coffee w/cream was a trip.  Seems it came w/cream automatically & you had to order black.  This was in the late 60's & may have changed by now.

Yes!

"Coffee regulah" was with cream and sugar, if I remember right.

Ordering, and trying to get a good cup, of coffee in Europe is a trip - even at a Starbucks.

[ACY Tom]

Serving coffee in the dining car was often a frustrating exercise in communication. We always had sweeteners and half & half available for those who wanted it, but we always served the regular and decaf coffee without any additives. I might approach a table with a pitcher of coffee and ask "Would you like some regular coffee?" The response might be "No, I take it black." Evidently there are places farther north where "regular" means some particular mixture of regular coffee, half and half, and sugar.

[Deggesty]

I have long wondered about ginger beer. From novels that I have read, I have the impression that it has been a common beverage children drink in England.

As to how to order coffee in Boston when you order it when you do not want it adulterated, when I go back to the area where people know how to talk, I have to remember to ask for unsweetened tea, for it is believed that most people want sugar in their tea. When I was growing up, I did use both sugar and lemon juice in my tea, except that I used citric acid when I had some  left over after telling my chemistry professor that he had given me that compound as an unknown.

On one occasion, when I ordered coffee in a hotel restaurant in the South this spring, the waitress asked me how I wanted it, and I was so flabbergasted it took me a moment to tell her that I just wanted coffee; I did not think to tell her "black."

[Mookie]

I tried to warn Randy that Boston is a little different on drinks.  Trying to order coffee w/cream was a trip.  Seems it came w/cream automatically & you had to order black.  This was in the late 60's & may have changed by now.

[gardendance]

Since you guys have already mentioned "Boston Cooler", I'm compelled to complain about almost getting messed up trying to order a milkshake at a diner near the Natick train station. The flustered serving type person got confused at "vanilla milkshake with strawberry syrup, or strawberry milkshake with vanilla syrup", apparently in the Boston area a milkshake is just milk with syrup, if it's got ice cream it's a frappe.

As for ginger ale, there is a stronger version called ginger beer, which may or may not have alcohol. Even if it doesn't have alcohol, one can add rum, in which case it's a dark and stormy.

[train18393]

There was a Frost top root beer stand in Fairborn, right near the CCC&StL (Nee: NYC,PC,Conrail) and Erie Main Line, now NS. It was right near SWPPCo(Cement Co) , ajacent to Fairborn Tower, which was a CCC&Stl unique interlocking tower on stilts.

 

I have one of those towers on my HO train layout in Fairborn, and now that you have me thinking of it I should add that Frost Top that had the best root beer in the world as well as great chili dogs.

 

Paul

Dayton and Mad River (model) RR 

[jclass]

Vernor's is owned by the Dr. Pepper Snapple Group, too, along with many other old brands like Hires, A&W, Squirt, Sun Drop, etc.  I remember how original Vernor's used to taste.  Haven't had one in a long, long time, so don't know if it's changed.  It really had a taste of its own.  A ginger soda, not your general ginger ale.

[ACY Tom]

I was able to get Vernor's at ONE of our local supermarket chains here in Hagerstown, MD until earlier this year. The shelf for regular Vernor's almost always sold out quickly, but the diet Vernor's never seemed to sell. Seems they wanted to sell both or nothing, even though it's obvious that people liked the regular & didn't like the other. What happened to the idea of providing what the customer wants? I think Vernor's is still handled by Shoppers Food Warehouse in Lorton, VA, near the Auto Train terminal. I'm going down there tomorrow on business, so I'll find out then.

[schlimm]

Distributors are independent, IMO, and carry what they have reason to believe - demand from retailers - sells.

[tree68]

From Wikipedia:

In 1966, the Vernor family sold out to the first of a succession of owners. The company was next acquired by American Consumer Products and then by United Brands. The flagship Detroit bottling plant was shut down by United Brands in 1985, with the local rights to bottle Vernors granted to Pepsi-Cola. The Woodward Avenue plant was later demolished being replaced by a parking structure for Wayne State University.Vernors was purchased by A&W Beverages in 1987, which was in turn purchased by Cadbury Schweppes. Today, the Vernors brand is property of the Dr. Pepper Snapple Group of Plano, TX.

I've seen Vernor's in Maryland, and in Arizona (must be all those snowbirds), but it remains concentrated in the midwest.  I've also heard that it's being carried by one of the supermarket chains in central and western NY, but I have yet to find it there.

[ACY Tom]

Yes, and I'm told Vernor's is also controlled by them; but most 7 Up distributors, especially outside of Ohio & Michigan, don't handle it. Why?

[schlimm]

Geared Steam

Murphy Siding

A&W in the ol' cardboard pyramids at a drive-in? Heaven on earth.

Yes!!! 

If we won our Little League baseball game, the coach would always treat us to a trip to A & W......

man what happened.....

In 1995, A&W became part of the renamed Dr Pepper/Seven Up, Inc. Today, regular and Diet A&W Root Beer are the number one root beers in all measurable channels. A&W Cream Soda is the top branded cream soda.

[Paul_D_North_Jr]

WSOR 3801

In Waukesha, WI, not far from the Kalmbach offices, is John's Root Beer.  I think it may have been an A&W at one time. . . .

It is also close to the Soo-CNW Belt Line around the east side of Waukesha, which has been since removed and mostly redeveloped. [snipped - PDN]

Which of these emporiums for each brand was next to or within sight of an active rail line ? 

Better yet: Which are still today ?  Wasn't there one next to the AT&SF's Cajon Pass line, mentioned in the photo-essay by Richard Steinheimer back in the 1970's ?

- Paul North. 

[Geared Steam]

Murphy Siding

A&W in the ol' cardboard pyramids at a drive-in? Heaven on earth.

Yes!!! 

If we won our Little League baseball game, the coach would always treat us to a trip to A & W......

man what happened.....

[gopherstate]

wanswheel

Excerpt from The Kansas City Star, May 17, 1973

Busy Day for IC Industries

Chicago—IC Industries, Inc., the diversified holding company which includes the Illinois Central Gulf Railroad, had a parcel of announcements yesterday at the annual meeting. IC announced: It is buying Bubble-Up Company, Inc., Los Angeles, in a cash transaction and moving its headquarters to Chicago where Bubble-Up is to be operated in conjunction with another IC subsidiary, Dad's Root Beer, Inc.; reported it has bought an additional 20 per cent of the stock of Midwest Life Insurance Company, Lincoln. Neb., on top of an earlier 10 per cent purchase by another IC subsidiary; formation of Lincoln Leasing, Inc., Houston, and a 5-year plan to attain an 80 per cent pre-tax income balance from non-rail operations and a 20 per cent rail return compared with the current 70-30 per cent ratio. William B. Johnson, IC chairman, said the company expects revenues this year to exceed the $1 billion mark for the first time.

Excerpt from The New York Times, June 22, 1982

IC Industries, founded in 1851 as the Illinois Central Railroad, stayed a narrowly based railroad company for more than a century. Then it lost most of its passengers to the airlines and much of its freight to the cheaper Mississippi River barges. In 1965, the company started its diversification drive with the purchase of a small St. Louis concern that rebuilt heavy electrical equipment.

But the real action did not start until 1966, when the company hired William B. Johnson, then president of the Railroad [Railway] Express Agency, to take over as president and chief executive officer.

Initially, the company swallowed up just about any business within reach, including a savings and loan association; a real estate firm; an auto and railroad products manufacturer; Midas International, the muffler specialists; several insurance companies; the Dad's Root Beer Company; Pepsi-Cola Bottlers of Chicago, and the Gulf, Mobile & Ohio Railroad.

Excerpt from The Wall Street Journal, June 22, 2013

William Johnson helped turn the failing Illinois Central Railroad into a profitable conglomerate that included financial services, Midas mufflers, Pepsi bottlers and a host of consumer products.

At its peak in the mid-1980s, parent company IC Industries Inc. had annual sales of more than $4 billion.

Mr. Johnson, who died April 24 at age 94, was hired as chief executive of Illinois Central and its parent in 1966 and set about making improvements and engineering expansion. But cyclic revenues typical of railroads drove him to diversify, and by the early 1970s IC Industries owned Dad's Root Beer, Perfect Plus Hosiery and a large automotive-parts manufacturer.

It was a period when conglomeration was a popular business strategy, and Mr. Johnson became one of its leading apostles. He did dozens of deals and IC Industries was consistently profitable. According to one study, the company's stock price rose by an annual average of over 15% during the two decades Mr. Johnson led it, nearly twice the market average.

http://www.referenceforbusiness.com/history2/35/PepsiAmericas-Inc.html

All while he turned his back on the railroad.

[wanswheel]

Excerpt from The Kansas City Star, May 17, 1973

Busy Day for IC Industries

Chicago—IC Industries, Inc., the diversified holding company which includes the Illinois Central Gulf Railroad, had a parcel of announcements yesterday at the annual meeting. IC announced: It is buying Bubble-Up Company, Inc., Los Angeles, in a cash transaction and moving its headquarters to Chicago where Bubble-Up is to be operated in conjunction with another IC subsidiary, Dad's Root Beer, Inc.; reported it has bought an additional 20 per cent of the stock of Midwest Life Insurance Company, Lincoln. Neb., on top of an earlier 10 per cent purchase by another IC subsidiary; formation of Lincoln Leasing, Inc., Houston, and a 5-year plan to attain an 80 per cent pre-tax income balance from non-rail operations and a 20 per cent rail return compared with the current 70-30 per cent ratio. William B. Johnson, IC chairman, said the company expects revenues this year to exceed the $1 billion mark for the first time.

Excerpt from The New York Times, June 22, 1982

IC Industries, founded in 1851 as the Illinois Central Railroad, stayed a narrowly based railroad company for more than a century. Then it lost most of its passengers to the airlines and much of its freight to the cheaper Mississippi River barges. In 1965, the company started its diversification drive with the purchase of a small St. Louis concern that rebuilt heavy electrical equipment.

But the real action did not start until 1966, when the company hired William B. Johnson, then president of the Railroad [Railway] Express Agency, to take over as president and chief executive officer.

Initially, the company swallowed up just about any business within reach, including a savings and loan association; a real estate firm; an auto and railroad products manufacturer; Midas International, the muffler specialists; several insurance companies; the Dad's Root Beer Company; Pepsi-Cola Bottlers of Chicago, and the Gulf, Mobile & Ohio Railroad.

Excerpt from The Wall Street Journal, June 22, 2013

William Johnson helped turn the failing Illinois Central Railroad into a profitable conglomerate that included financial services, Midas mufflers, Pepsi bottlers and a host of consumer products.

At its peak in the mid-1980s, parent company IC Industries Inc. had annual sales of more than $4 billion.

Mr. Johnson, who died April 24 at age 94, was hired as chief executive of Illinois Central and its parent in 1966 and set about making improvements and engineering expansion. But cyclic revenues typical of railroads drove him to diversify, and by the early 1970s IC Industries owned Dad's Root Beer, Perfect Plus Hosiery and a large automotive-parts manufacturer.

It was a period when conglomeration was a popular business strategy, and Mr. Johnson became one of its leading apostles. He did dozens of deals and IC Industries was consistently profitable. According to one study, the company's stock price rose by an annual average of over 15% during the two decades Mr. Johnson led it, nearly twice the market average.

http://www.referenceforbusiness.com/history2/35/PepsiAmericas-Inc.html

[Murphy Siding]

Paul of Covington

   I'm still trying to figure out what happened here.   Did root beer see the thread on coffee a few weeks ago and get jealous?

  To paraphrase the words of the great philosopher,  WKRP morning DJ Dr. Johnny Fever: "Sometimes, you just gotta get weird".

[Deggesty]

Paul of Covington

   I'm still trying to figure out what happened here.   Did root beer see the thread on coffee a few weeks ago and get jealous?

The "Consertive Newsletter...." thread, which had matured to a discussion of favorite beverages, was consumed, except for its title, so this thread, like Phoenix, rose from the ashes.