What car was the barber usually located on the First Class Trains (Super Chief, 20th Century Limited, etc), was it the lounge car?
CMStPnP What car was the barber usually located on the First Class Trains (Super Chief, 20th Century Limited, etc), was it the lounge car?
Johnny
Deggesty Yes, the barber shops were in lounge cars--and if there were a bathroom, it also was in the lounge car.
Rio Grande Valley, CFI,CFII
DeggestyYes, the barber shops were in lounge cars--and if there were a bathroom, it also was in the lounge car.
OK, thanks.
Depends a little on which railroad / train, and what time frame. 80' wood Pullman Palace cars had a combination baggage / lounge car that featured a bathtub and barber chair. Those cars were often used as a smoking car, and ran at the head of the train. Since it was mostly men who smoked 100+ years ago putting the barber up with the smokers made sense.
Pullman built 5 Baggage-Buffet-Lounge-Barber Shop cars in 1925 and were assigned to the B&O. Capitol Bridges, Capitol City, Capitol Garden, Capitol Hill and Capitol Home. Later in 1947 the B&O bought these cars.
I finally saw the film, "The Sting" a while back. Did any train have a card room? I assume there were rooms for business meetings on trains catering to business men that could be used for this purpose. Just wondering.
I tend to doubt it. Also note that the Pullman Conductor is acting as the dealer in the game in question, a practice which would have probably led to his dismissal.
As well as I could tell the card game in the movie was held in a drawing room, and the conductor felt safe. But if a Pullman Inspector were on board he may have gone hunting for the Pullman conductor.
I see. Great movie, in any event. But, besides barbershops, what other amenities would a train like that have? Besides dining and club cars.
54light15I see. Great movie, in any event. But, besides barbershops, what other amenities would a train like that have? Besides dining and club cars.
So one item that you do not see today on Amtrak is most of the first class trains had waiting room lounges outside the restroom so that you could wait your turn to use the restroom in an adjoining seperate room. You can see this on some of the Hiawatha cars that are still running around on tourist lines unmodified. Typically the ajoining lounge had frosted glass into the hallway but clear glass to the exterior of the car. On the Hiawatha cars the adjoining restroom lounge had approx 4-8 seats with the backs facing the exterior wall.
I believe the NYC 20th Century Limited had a special room for the NYSE tickers but not 100% sure on that. Some trains had a special compartment or small room for accepting mail, postcards/letters from the train, and Western Union telegrams to be sent or recieved.
I seem to remember as well there was a special room onboard for a Nurse on some trains, other trains a specific crew member was trained as a RN and performed other duties.
Santa Fe Super Chief had a special room for small groups to reserve it called the Turquiose Room for eating and/or lounging....it was under the Vista Dome floor in the sunken part of the car.
Thats all I remember.
Coaches also often had lounge areas in connection with the toilet facilities. Often, this was the only place in a coach in which smoking was allowed. However, the worst night I ever spent in a coach was in a Frisco coach restroom which had one chair just outside the private area--and the room was unheated. (night of 1/1/62, from Jesup to Atlanta). The coach was filled with people who boarded in Jacksonville after watching the Gator Bowl game tTe previous night I enjoyed two facing sleepy hollow seats,
Is my memory at fault for remembeering thTorqe Turquose Room is being in the non-dome dining car? Not under a dome?
Correction. The Turquose Room was in the Lounge car, but at one end of the car, the end adjacent to the dining car. The area under the dome was where snacks and drinks were sold.
The Turquoise Room on dome lounges 500-505 was in the "short end", which ran next to the dining car. There was a passage from the under-dome bar lounge for beverage service.
Most dome coaches had fairly large lounges under the dome as part of the rest rooms area. End or center rest room lounges were common on low-density long-distance coaches as well.
The last lounge cars in regular service with a barber shop (whether or not a barber was actually available) were the NewYork Central's Atlantic Shore and Lake Shore, part of the 1948 20th Century. After NYC dropped Pullman at the end of 1958, the cars were sold to Rock Island, which removed the barber shops, renamed Lake Shore to Pacific Shore, and operated them for another 10 years on the Golden State.
Didn't the railroads also at one point segregate cigarette from cigar smokers way back. Thought it was considered impolite earlier in the 1900's to smoke a cigar in the prescence of a lady (remember the scene from the movie Titanic where the men all went to a special room on the ship to drink brandy and smoke cigars). I think that was partially true for social ettiquette of the time.
I don't remember seeing a barber on a train, but Dad's pass never allowed us on the premier trains. When I rode those, it was in 60's and they were probably gone. But I do remember a lounge area next to the toilet with chairs and a mirror. You had to open the restroom door to access it and then another door for the toilet. The lady who sat next to Dad on way to CA had small baby with her and she rode the whole trip in the lounge area of restroom, that way she did not disturb anyone if the baby cried or needed diaper changed. That had to be a long 2 days for her. Men's restroom lounge was for smokers and they had a curtain instead of a door for that area. If you sat farther back in the car, you could smell the smoke. Our first overnite trip on B&O had a smoker car where Dad could go and they had a nurse attendant on that train too. She dressed in powder blue like an airline attendant. Only other time I ever saw that was on original CZ with the Zephyrettes who took dinner reservations and were nurses also.
Yes, many, if not all, of the first lady attendants on board passenger trains were nurses, and the roads proudly announced this fact in their public timetables. The Southern even had the names and pictures of the nurses in the first timetables after the introduction of the Tennessean. Each train which carried a nurse had a private room for her.
CMStPnP Didn't the railroads also at one point segregate cigarette from cigar smokers way back. Thought it was considered impolite earlier in the 1900's to smoke a cigar in the prescence of a lady (remember the scene from the movie Titanic where the men all went to a special room on the ship to drink brandy and smoke cigars). I think that was partially true for social ettiquette of the time.
Almost. The smoking room on the Titanic and other passenger ships of the time was there to provide an exclusive "all-male" enclave free from feminine chatter (sorry ladies, it was another world back then!) when the first-class male passengers, typically men of importance, could smoke, drink, relax, enjoy other male company, do business deals, discuss politics and other things the ladies shouldn't concern their pretty little heads with.
Again, sorry ladies, it was their world, not mine! I enjoy female company!
The smokes were typically pipes and cigars, cigarette smoking by men was considered effeminate at the time. Male cigarette smoking wouldn't become common until the First World War, cigars and sometimes pipes were impractical in the trenches.
Wrist watches were considered "sissy" prior to WW1 as well, real men wore pocket watches, the bigger the better! However, pocket watches were impractical in the trenches as well, but that's another story.
Welcome to the forum, newcomer, and so long to Firelock76 as he just fades away.
After my first retirement I learned a valuable lesson: stay busy. Travel. Build. Fix. Plant. But you seem to be a man of action, while laziness is a way of life for me.
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"A stranger's just a friend you ain't met yet." --- Dave Gardner
Firelock, as I recall from the book, "All Quiet on the Western Front" cigarettes were considered stylish by the younger men. Cigars were for old guys. I recall a photo of second-class men on one of the big Cunarders, these being business travelers I assume and most of them had cigars. Imagine the smell. Not to mention, tobacco chewing was big back then (ugh.)
Hi 54light! Well, there's cigars, and there's cigars. Some smell better than others. At any rate tobacco's a lot like coffee, it always seems to smell a lot better before it's ignited. Ever walk into a good tobacconist shop? MMMMM-MMMM! Even non-smokers enjoy the aroma.
Chewing tobacco? I tried it while I was in the Corps. It's not as nasty as you think it is but it's not something I used on a regular basis, just from time to time to be sociable with the Southern boys.
Here's a postcard from my collection showing the barbershop and shower on The Overland Ltd., circa 1912.
For more views of famous trains and car interiors, visit my private postcard collection blog at https://railroadpostcards.blogspot.com/
Russ
Modeling the early '50s Erie in Paterson, NJ. Here's the link to my railroad postcard collection: https://railroadpostcards.blogspot.com/
"Modeling the early 50's Erie in Paterson NJ..." but you live in Ohio?
You must be a New Jersey exile like I am!
Flintlock76"Modeling the early 50's Erie in Paterson NJ..." but you live in Ohio? You must be a New Jersey exile like I am!
I am, Flint. Born and raised in Hawthorne between the Erie main line and the NYS&W. I was raised with the Erie main almost in my backyard. RS-3 cab ride as a kid, trips to Hoboken in Stillwell coaches, rode the DL&W ferries while they were running, mostly with my late father and then when I had an office clerk job in Manhattan. My office even looked out over the roof of Grand Central Terminal!
I thought so Erie! Lady Firestorm and myself are from Paramus. No railroad through our town, but there was the Erie just to the east in River Edge and to the west in Ridgewood. I grew up on the east side of town, Lady F on the west, and we could both hear the trains from our yards.
Both still there of course.
Ever hear of this website? www.subwaynut.com
A pretty remarkable site. The man's made it his mission to photograph every train station i the US (and then some) and New Jersey Transit gets quite a bit of attention. The Pascack Valley Line and old Erie Main Line are well represented. Check it out, you may see some familiar sights. Some things haven't changed all that much.
Lucky guy you, with an RS-3 cab ride! I've never had a cab ride, but one of my earliest memories is a NYC steam engine on the West Shore Line, I think possibly in Bergenfield.
Steam lasted longer on the West Shore than on other parts of the Central's system. Two Kingston steam West Shore photos are on the Ulster and Delawzre thread, I think Classic Trains. Along with four U&D photos. Glad I rode behind steam on both.
Quite true David. I read in "Trains" several years ago steam lasted on the West Shore until 1956, which would jibe with that early memory of mine. I couldn't have been more than three years old at the time but I can close my eyes and see it as if it were yesterday. Make a heck of an impression on me!
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