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Shipping the most precious commodity

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Posted by Paul_D_North_Jr on Friday, November 20, 2015 9:30 PM

Murphy, get hold of that article and read it.  Among other inconsistencies, the supposed "pacifists" apparently liked to blow up a CP monument of some kind whenever there was unrest about something.  ( Mischief Maybe they were just early E. Hunter Harrison haters ?!?) 

- Paul North. 

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Posted by Murphy Siding on Friday, November 20, 2015 7:11 AM

Paul_D_North_Jr
 
AgentKid
Mike, that second picture is one of those photos from my school days that is burned into my memory banks so deep it will never leave. I will be up now trying to remember who those people were. It was an ethnic group displaced from eastern Europe.

Bruce 

 

Doukhobors:

 

 http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/doukhobors/ 

A few humorous paragraphs about them in this article:

"The Crow and the Kettle - Canadian Pacific's other crossing of the Continental Divide" by Emmott, N. W., from Trains, May 1968, pg. 37 &etc. 
(keywords: british canada columbia CPR mountain pass ) 

- Paul North. 

 

 

   "Radical pacifism"  now there's a phrase you don't just slip into a conversation now and then.


      I've been told that a couple of my ancestors road from New York to northwestern Nebraska with nothing to eat but the little bit of food they carried with them.  They only spoke Norweigan, and didn't want to make a scene.

Great-great grandpa:  "How was your trip?"

Great-great uncle Enoch: "Good.  What's for dinner?" Dinner

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Posted by AgentKid on Thursday, November 19, 2015 11:33 PM

Paul_D_North_Jr
Doukhobors

Thank you, Paul. Now I can quit wondering about it.

Bruce

 

So shovel the coal, let this rattler roll.

"A Train is a Place Going Somewhere"  CP Rail Public Timetable

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Posted by Paul_D_North_Jr on Thursday, November 19, 2015 9:04 PM

AgentKid
Mike, that second picture is one of those photos from my school days that is burned into my memory banks so deep it will never leave. I will be up now trying to remember who those people were. It was an ethnic group displaced from eastern Europe.

Bruce 

Doukhobors:

 http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/doukhobors/ 

A few humorous paragraphs about them in this article:

"The Crow and the Kettle - Canadian Pacific's other crossing of the Continental Divide" by Emmott, N. W., from Trains, May 1968, pg. 37 &etc. 
(keywords: british canada columbia CPR mountain pass ) 

- Paul North. 

 

"This Fascinating Railroad Business" (title of 1943 book by Robert Selph Henry of the AAR)
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Posted by BaltACD on Thursday, November 19, 2015 7:50 PM

wanswheel
The bed looks relatively comfortable, if you got the pep to climb up there.

Looking at the berth dimensions in the drawing for the emigrant sleeper - if you were taller than 5'8" you weren't going to be able to stretch out.

Never too old to have a happy childhood!

              

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Posted by wanswheel on Thursday, November 19, 2015 7:47 PM
The bed looks relatively comfortable, if you got the pep to climb up there.
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Posted by samfp1943 on Thursday, November 19, 2015 6:16 PM

[quote user="AgentKid"]

 

 
Murphy Siding
Were there other, not so fine options for the railroad experience? Like the airlines' stuff them in like sardines system?

 

I recall reading that until the Boeing 707's came on the scene that under modern day consumer protection laws airlines would not be able to operate. In the era of piston engine powered passenger service if you flew over a certain amount of distance it was a statisical certainty that you would die in a crash.

As for "emmigrant class" on the CPR, it was a well kept secret that emmigrant class and second class service were the same thing in the same cars. During the days of Canada being part of the British Empire it was promoted as emmigrant class to European homesteaders coming to Canada, but second class to British homesteaders. "We are NOT emmigrants, We are British Subjects!"

Bruce

 

 

[/quote]

The following linked article @  http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/emigranttrain.htm

It is a re-counting of part of the account wirtten by Robert Louis Stevenson in 1877 of his travel from East to West via railroad connections. The Emigrant Train was a pretty 'gritty' accomodation.  

This link shows a drawing of the specifications for an Emigrant Berth on a car built in Sacramento for CPRR @   http://cprr.org/Museum/Car_Builders_Dictionary/index.html

 

 


 

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Posted by AgentKid on Thursday, November 19, 2015 4:54 PM

Mike, that second picture is one of those photos from my school days that is burned into my memory banks so deep it will never leave. I will be up now trying to remember who those people were. It was an ethnic group displaced from eastern Europe.

Bruce

 

So shovel the coal, let this rattler roll.

"A Train is a Place Going Somewhere"  CP Rail Public Timetable

"O. S. Irricana"

. . . __ . ______

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Posted by wanswheel on Thursday, November 19, 2015 4:36 PM
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Posted by AgentKid on Thursday, November 19, 2015 10:26 AM

Deggesty

Bruce, was there not also a colonial class, wherein the passengers provided their own bedding? Or was this the emigrant class?

 

Yes, service was provided in Colonist cars. This service was for homesteaders. There was coach service and of course First Class sleeper service as well.

Bruce

 

So shovel the coal, let this rattler roll.

"A Train is a Place Going Somewhere"  CP Rail Public Timetable

"O. S. Irricana"

. . . __ . ______

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Posted by Deggesty on Thursday, November 19, 2015 7:22 AM

Bruce, was there not also a colonial class, wherein the passengers provided their own bedding? Or was this the emigrant class?

Johnny

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Posted by AgentKid on Wednesday, November 18, 2015 11:01 PM

Murphy Siding
Were there other, not so fine options for the railroad experience? Like the airlines' stuff them in like sardines system?

I recall reading that until the Boeing 707's came on the scene that under modern day consumer protection laws airlines would not be able to operate. In the era of piston engine powered passenger service if you flew over a certain amount of distance it was a statisical certainty that you would die in a crash.

As for "emmigrant class" on the CPR, it was a well kept secret that emmigrant class and second class service were the same thing in the same cars. During the days of Canada being part of the British Empire it was promoted as emmigrant class to European homesteaders coming to Canada, but second class to British homesteaders. "We are NOT emmigrants, We are British Subjects!"

Bruce

 

So shovel the coal, let this rattler roll.

"A Train is a Place Going Somewhere"  CP Rail Public Timetable

"O. S. Irricana"

. . . __ . ______

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Posted by Murphy Siding on Wednesday, November 18, 2015 9:42 PM

Paul of Covington

 

 
ChessieCat123

 

    In the 7th minute of this link they mention an experimental atomic switch lamp that is self-powered and would last for twelve years.   Does anyone know anything about this?

 

 It sounds like it was a better idea than the atomic toilet. 

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Posted by Murphy Siding on Wednesday, November 18, 2015 9:41 PM

schlimm

 

 
PNWRMNM
There was price competition until prevented by government regulation, see item 1.

 

When Paul Reistrup was in charge of passenger services on the B&O, he experimented with flexible (demand-based) fares, as I recall in the late 1960s.

 

 How would that work in the regulated era?  Was something like you could do it, but only if your rates were published?

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Posted by schlimm on Wednesday, November 18, 2015 9:42 AM

PNWRMNM
There was price competition until prevented by government regulation, see item 1.

When Paul Reistrup was in charge of passenger services on the B&O, he experimented with flexible (demand-based) fares, as I recall in the late 1960s.

C&NW, CA&E, MILW, CGW and IC fan

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Posted by Paul_D_North_Jr on Tuesday, November 17, 2015 8:17 PM

Wizlish
 
Paul of Covington
... they mention an experimental atomic switch lamp that is self-powered and would last for twelve years.

http://www.newspapers.com/clip/2521970/krypton85_powered_railroad_signal/

http://www.newspapers.com/clip/2521970/krypton85_powered_railroad_signal/

In one of his 1960's - 70's columns, John Kneiling derided the atomic switch lamp as being one of the few research projects sponsored by the AAR, because it was non-controversial and wouldn't upset the status quo - quite the opposite of most of his proposals !

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Posted by Wizlish on Tuesday, November 17, 2015 7:32 PM

Paul of Covington
... they mention an experimental atomic switch lamp that is self-powered and would last for twelve years.

Not only a NYC phenomenon...

http://www.newspapers.com/clip/2521970/krypton85_powered_railroad_signal/

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Posted by Paul of Covington on Tuesday, November 17, 2015 1:25 PM

   Thanks, Wanswheel.   That brings back memories of the innocent optimism about the future of atomic power in the fifties.   I still remember Eisenhauer talking about "atoms for peace."

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Posted by 54light15 on Tuesday, November 17, 2015 1:08 PM

Krypton? Don't tell Superman! He won't be able to keep the Special from going off that collapsed bridge if any of them lights are around.

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Posted by wanswheel on Tuesday, November 17, 2015 12:51 PM

 

Excerpt from New York Central Headlight magazine, June 1957

The research center is studying a new  type of atomic switch lamp which will burn brightly for 12 years without fuel or maintenance. The lamp is filled with krypton isotope 85 gas which reacts with a phosphor coating on the glass to produce a self-luminous glow. If such lamps grow weak, they can be returned to their brightness merely by refilling them with the krypton isotope. Tritium, another radioactive material is also being investigated as a similar source of lamp energy.

 

http://www.canadasouthern.com/caso/headlight/images/headlight-0657.pdf

 

http://www.canadasouthern.com/caso/images/modern-railroads-1160.pdf

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Posted by Paul of Covington on Tuesday, November 17, 2015 12:19 AM

ChessieCat123

    In the 7th minute of this link they mention an experimental atomic switch lamp that is self-powered and would last for twelve years.   Does anyone know anything about this?

_____________ 

  "A stranger's just a friend you ain't met yet." --- Dave Gardner

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Posted by Paul_D_North_Jr on Monday, November 16, 2015 9:16 PM
"The view of the viaduct from in front of the dinercoach travel on the Erie" by Hilton, George W., from Trains, May 1972, pg. 20 &etc.
 
An entertaining recollection of train travel for those who couldn't afford Pullman - PDN.
 
There was a particular term for the kind of car that Mac is describing, but I can't remember it at the moment.   
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Posted by MidlandMike on Monday, November 16, 2015 7:18 PM

In the old days they also had tourist sleeprs.  I guess the modern equivalent was the slumbercoach.

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Posted by PNWRMNM on Monday, November 16, 2015 2:17 PM

Murphy,

Yes, passenger fares were regulated starting about the same time as freight rates.

Coach was the basic service offering going back to day 1.

Sleeper cars, which came to be dominated by Pullman were introduced after the Civil War.

Diners were added to selected premier trains starting about 1880.

The "last class" sevice was "emmigrant cars" starting to the best of my knowledge again shortly after the Civil War. I think some emmigrant cars were simply coaches with unpadded seats, while some seem to have been mixed freight and passengers in which a family would load all their stuff and ride west, cooking their own grub on the built in stove. My understanding is that emigrant cars usually operated as the second passenger train on the main lines and probably in local freight service if a branch line was involved.

There was price competition until prevented by government regulation, see item 1.

Mac

 

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Shipping the most precious commodity
Posted by Murphy Siding on Monday, November 16, 2015 1:58 PM

   I was going to mention Soylent Green, but I don't know how many people would make the connection. Mischief

     As I read about passenger trains and the good old days, the picture being painted is pretty consistent, warm and fuzzy.  The railroads all put their best foot forward to pull out all the stops in getting passengers to ride their trains, and not those of the competition.  Sleepers, fine dining, observations cars, etc. are always talked about.  Heck, if you were to believe some of the advertising, it apprears one line gave you a pillow and a kitten for your sleeper.


      To be honest, it all sounds  really neat, but it raises some questions.....

Were passenger fares regulated the same way that freight rates were?

Were there other, not so fine options for the railroad experience?  Like the airlines' stuff them in like sardines system?

Was there price competition for passenger business?

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