Fascinating stuff Becky!
I wonder how many Ohio regiments went off to the Civil War from that old Union Station? I wonder how many came home there as well?
That Great Lakes Exposition must have been a sight to see. I wonder why we don't do anything like that anymore? Eh, why ask why? Who knows?
Not a World's Fair, but Cleveland's Great Lakes Exposition of 1936-37 had an interresting railroad connection. Especially if you were a railfan!
For starters you had the Timken roller bearings exhibit in the Hall of Progress:
Travelling to the fair by rail? You could use the new (7 years old) Cleveland Union Terminal:
The Public Square exits would have put you just steps away from the expo's main entrance on Mall C:
Or, if you were more of a Pennsy fan, you could arrive at the old 1864 Union Depot, although modified a bit as loco development necessitated opening the roof so as not to asphyxiate everyone:
Here's where the railfanning would come into play.
The depot is at the bottom center of the photo above. The main expo grounds extend from the Horticultural Gardens just to the left of old Municipal Stadium to that large white rectangle above center right. And just look at all those bridges accross the tracks!
This one, which had the Court of the Presidents (one monument for each President who was born or elected from a great lakes state, 16 in all) probably would have had the grandest view:
If you worked at one of the concession stands that is!
Trains, trains, wonderful trains. The more you get, the more you toot!
That stained-glass entrance to the L&N station is absolutely jaw-dropping! I tried a little research to see who made it (Tiffany? Maybe?) but couldn't find a thing.
I did find out the L&N built the station to rival competitor Southern Railway's station, and after seeing pictures of the SR's station for sheer elegance I'd have to say the "Old Reliable" didn't just rival 'em, they beat 'em!
The L&N station's now used as a "magnet" high school for STEM studies, i.e. "Science, Technology, Engineering, Math" and is quite successful.
That old station's still earning it's keep, which is excellent. That's the only way a big antique like a train station can survive.
Good idea for a model railroad club in that old station Mr. Jones, but unfortunately the building's spoken for. Maybe interested students could start one? Like Dave Klepper did when he was at MIT? Dave's old club is still there and still going strong.
There IS an old train station that I know of with a resident train club, it's the old Erie station in Hillsdale NJ, the Bergen County Model Railroad Club occupies the second floor.
Here's the station. www.subwaynut.com/njt/hillsdale/index.php
Click on any photo to enlarge.
Not as grand as that L&N station, but still charming. The club's not pictured but I can take care of that.
Here's a video of a BCMRC Christmas season open house. Nice!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhD0Qj87Fsg
New Jersey's got a pretty vibrant model railroad culture, which kind of makes sense, everything else is illegal up there!
Penny Trains Looking around at info from the fair I went to, , I discovered that the whole fair site was created around the Louisville and Nashville Depot: The depot housed a restaurant during the fair and the nearby L&N Hotel housed craft demonstrations sponsored by Stokely Van Kamp. Like much of the fair site buildings, it fell into disrepair, burned and was torn down. Lucky for us railfans the depot survives.
Looking around at info from the fair I went to, , I discovered that the whole fair site was created around the Louisville and Nashville Depot:
The depot housed a restaurant during the fair and the nearby L&N Hotel housed craft demonstrations sponsored by Stokely Van Kamp. Like much of the fair site buildings, it fell into disrepair, burned and was torn down. Lucky for us railfans the depot survives.
Looks like a nice place for a huge model railroad club. Let's build the world's largest layout inside it.
Jones 3D Modeling Club https://www.youtube.com/Jones3DModelingClub
Overmod I can save you the trouble. Have fun! You will particularly appreciate some features of the maps at the end when you get there...
I can save you the trouble.
Have fun!
You will particularly appreciate some features of the maps at the end when you get there...
Cheers, thanks a lot for the links, Overmod."...There is a Trylong, a Trylong which has had its eye on you since the World of Tomorrow was only a dream and a dump...."
Reminds me of the fate of "my" dear PRR S1, the Train of the Tomorrow, a broken dream which became some pieces of scrape just ten years after the Worlds Fair...
By the way, people living in a remote area might not understand that when there is a world class event going to happen in a tier one city, hotel rooms and all kinds of the motel and cheap guest house must be fully booked months or years in advance. If the fair is open to the general public, some people would ask their relatives or friends who live in that city for accommodation. Not many people nowadays understand or remember that World's Fair used to be as important as the Summer Olympic in many people's heart who were living in the Western World.
I Like Ike...... repeat several times
Yes, The Donald bought it from the bankrupt Penn Central. Nobody wanted it as it was run down. Turned it all around and made a lot of money. It really was his start to much success.
Thats Mayor Ed Koch and Governor Carey alongside Mr. Trump. The other fella is Robert Dormer with Urban Development.
The guy with the beard in the background photobombing the scene is probably Mike.
MiningmanWhere to stay when you're visiting the World' s Fair ? Well the Hotel Commodore of course!
Pays to follow up how this building had more lives than a cat.
First it was one of Donald Trump's early 'triumphs' in the mid-Seventies, as the Grand Hyatt. Then it got rebuilt a decade ago...
Meanwhile, the Biltmore, which was rebuilt into office space in the crazy days of the 1980s, is being turned into a tech-company incubator... I'm tempted to see about space there.
Overmod Flintlock76 "Trylongs and Perisites" ... now THAT'S a book I'm going to keep an eye out for in my travels, there's got to be one out there somewhere. I can save you the trouble. Have fun! You will particularly appreciate some features of the maps at the end when you get there...
Flintlock76 "Trylongs and Perisites" ... now THAT'S a book I'm going to keep an eye out for in my travels, there's got to be one out there somewhere.
Yes, the map at the rear, if followed, would direct you where you did not want to go.
Johnny
Thanks Overmod! Am I going to have some fun with that!
Commodore Hotel? Wonder who they named that after?
Just went through the book. Wonderful! And I'm VERY impressed with the armament the apartment house doorman has, a cannon AND a Browning Automatic Rifle!
Hmm, I'd forgotten there were so many "turn-offs" on the Palisades.
Flintlock76"Trylongs and Perisites" ... now THAT'S a book I'm going to keep an eye out for in my travels, there's got to be one out there somewhere.
Yes, that's the book! Thanks, Mike.
Note the swarm of trylongs and perisites that are about to descend upon an unsuspecting householder in New York City.
I was still in grammar school when I first read the book--and found it amusing.
From Mike: https://pictures.abebooks.com/MIDWAYBK/8703653832.jpg
"Trylongs and Perisites," that's hysterical! A neat twist on "Trylon and Perisphere."
Now THAT'S a book I'm going to keep an eye out for in my travels, there's got to be one out there somewhere.
I don't remember all that the book contained (I thought I saved it when I had to downside six years ago); one suggestion was that your son sit out front with a rifle at hand; another was that you install pay toilets in the house; a third one, that might work with a maiden aunt, was that you and your wife eat breakfast au naturel.
I also do not remember the definition of "trylong," but "perisite" is self-explanatory.
Deggesty I was never able to get to a world's fair. The closest I ever came was reading a book, entitled Trylongs and Parasites, that we had. It was a compendium of how to discourage out of town relatives or friends from coming to sponge upon you and how to get rid of them if they should come to stay at your house when they came to see the 1939 Fair.
I was never able to get to a world's fair. The closest I ever came was reading a book, entitled Trylongs and Parasites, that we had. It was a compendium of how to discourage out of town relatives or friends from coming to sponge upon you and how to get rid of them if they should come to stay at your house when they came to see the 1939 Fair.
Johnny, you made my day! I just finished cleaning my laughing tears...
I expect the book included all of the creative and funny excuses for a property owner to protect his personal space. If someone has a guest house available, (not guest room), it would be fine. But living in a relatively small apartment in the Big Apple with one or two more family guests for a week must be painful. Some may consider it an ultra-generous "virtue" but imagine after you worked hard for 8 hours straight in office and finally came home after a serious traffic jam, only to find out that there were some long queues outside all the toilets of your apartment and your metal train collection is abusing by your friend's 5-years old children...
I was never able to get to a world's fair. The closest I ever came was reading a book, entitled Trylongs and Perisites, that we had. It was a compendium of how to discourage out of town relatives or friends from coming to sponge upon you and how to get rid of them if they should come to stay at your house when they came to see the 1939 Fair.
Miningman Overmod-- Thanks for pointing out the fate of the D&H coach. It must have been beyond the beyond to have been scrapped. Not good to lose pieces like this.
Overmod-- Thanks for pointing out the fate of the D&H coach. It must have been beyond the beyond to have been scrapped. Not good to lose pieces like this.
Thank you Miningman for posting that 1933 World's Fair poster. 1933 was the golden age of Art Deco world, I love the style, the tones of the color and the overall layout, especially how they highlight the engine with a light circle.
Regarding the D&H Coach built for the World's Fair, here is an article of it, another Raymond Loewy's work:
M636C ....The club car was not an observation. It had two end windows in the guard's compartment which was a very common feature of British trains. The guard's compartment at the opposite end of the World's fair train in the articulated sitting cars had identical end windows. Only locomotives 6220-6224 were blue and silver. 6225-6229 were red and gold and 6230-6234 were unstreamlined painted maroon. The locomotive that went to the USA was 6229 painted red and gold. It was renamed and renumbered as 6220, while 6220 was renumbered 6229 but remained blue and silver. So the train that went to the USA represented the train intended for normal service in 1940, but these never entered service due to WWII starting in September 1939. The only changes were the sleeping car and the club car for the traveling crew. The train cars were not returned to the UK until the war ended. Peter
....The club car was not an observation. It had two end windows in the guard's compartment which was a very common feature of British trains. The guard's compartment at the opposite end of the World's fair train in the articulated sitting cars had identical end windows.
Only locomotives 6220-6224 were blue and silver. 6225-6229 were red and gold and 6230-6234 were unstreamlined painted maroon. The locomotive that went to the USA was 6229 painted red and gold. It was renamed and renumbered as 6220, while 6220 was renumbered 6229 but remained blue and silver.
So the train that went to the USA represented the train intended for normal service in 1940, but these never entered service due to WWII starting in September 1939. The only changes were the sleeping car and the club car for the traveling crew.
The train cars were not returned to the UK until the war ended.
Peter
Thank you very much, Peter; for the detailed info of the Coronation Class and Coronation Scot, my favorite streamlined engine when I was a child! I always think that the LMS Stanier D1902 65′ restaurant open first (or third) car itself was already as luxury and comfort as a buffet lounge car or even a dining car in America in the 1940s, let alone there was at least two kitchen car in the consist of a Coronation Scot.But the travel time of the Coronation Scot was only 6 hours 30 mins, unlike many LD premier train in the States, I shouldn't compare an apple with an orange.
It is also interesting to see how the LMS from the UK sent a Coronation Scot trainset with streamlined skirting and a modified "Club (observation) car" at the end of the consist. The Coronation Scot never used that maroon + golden stripes livery, had no skirting and observation club car when running in the UK.
The train the LMS sent to the 1939 World's Fair was one of two sets being built to replace the 1937 Coronation Scot trains in 1940. The train that went to the fair was missing an articulated pair of sitting cars which included guard's and luggage space. These were replaced by a sleeping car and a club car to accomodate the crew travelling with the train on the tour of the USA. The other train was completed after WWII but was not fitted with skirting and was painted in standard maroon without the gold stripes, and the cars returned from the USA were similarly altered.
The club car was not an observation. It had two end windows in the guard's compartment which was a very common feature of British trains. The guard's compartment at the opposite end of the World's fair train in the articulated sitting cars had identical end windows.
So the train that went to the USA represented the train intended for normal service in 1940, but these never entered service due to WWII starting in September 1939. The only changes were the sleeping car and the club car for the travelling crew.
Flintlock76 Oh that's cool! Since we're on a "World's Fair" roll, looky what I found... Two amateur home movies from the 1939 Fair, shot on 16mm film and pretty well done. This one's four minutes long, and features one of the locomotives we've been discussing. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WT8piY6kYNo This one's twelve minutes long, mostly of the "Railroads on Parade" pageant. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUZGLL26_e8 Hope everyone likes 'em as much as I did!
Oh that's cool!
Since we're on a "World's Fair" roll, looky what I found...
Two amateur home movies from the 1939 Fair, shot on 16mm film and pretty well done.
This one's four minutes long, and features one of the locomotives we've been discussing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WT8piY6kYNo
This one's twelve minutes long, mostly of the "Railroads on Parade" pageant.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUZGLL26_e8
Hope everyone likes 'em as much as I did!
Those are some very great film of the 39-40 World's Fair, Wayne. The 39-40 World's Fair took 3 years (1936) to construct and prepare. When I saw the Loewy K4s moving onto the stage, I have a thought that all these beautiful streamlined steam engines, like the Dreyfuss Hudson and Loewy's K4s, were prepared to appear in the World's Fair before they were built.
I am not familiar with NYCentral's history, but according to "PRR Chronology", it mentioned about Raymond Loewy wrote a letter (a few year before the World's Fair) to PRR, expressed his will to participate in 1939-1940 World Fair. Loewy wanted his works to be remembered by the whole world but the Dreyfuss Hudson successfully grabbed the limelight of the prewar world since 1938, one year before the World's Fair, but the PRR still have one "open secret weapon" under construction. Note the (overly) streamlined shrouding of 3768 (Loewy K4s) was kept intact until the end of 1939-1940 World's Fair.
((( NO!!! )))
Miningman
On a bittersweet note, it was confirmed on RyPN last week that the very last of the special D&H 'World's Fair' coaches has finally been scrapped. (Jones1945 will relish the link to Raymond Loewy, I think!)
Perhaps Mike can research their history and provide us with some interesting pictures. I know of very little 'scholarship' on the long-distance services developed to serve prospective Fair traffic, as opposed to the last-mile service to Flushing Meadows. (And I suspect there will be a glaring absence of similar promotions on the parts of any Northeastern railroads still providing passenger service for the '64-'65 Fair ... hope I'm very wrong.)
Well jeez Erik, I couldn't mention 'em all!
OK, here's a few more...
"Confessions Of A Nazi Spy," "Dark Victory," "Goodby Mr. Chips," "Young Mr. Lincoln," "Drums Along The Mohawk," which doesn't refer to that classic 4-8-2 operated by the NYC, "Gunga Din," "Beau Geste," wow, gotta stop!
How did anyone make the time to see all those movies?
I just followed a link "Penny Trains" suggested and guess what's on there, a whole buncha 1939 World's Fair railroad stuff! Check this out...
http://www.rgusrail.com/nynywf.html Locomotives displayed!
Bottom arrow, scroll to the right to see everything.
http://www.rgusrail.com/fairnynywf.html The railroad's fair brochures!
Same as above. NOW I understand how a seven-year-old Dave Klepper was turned into a fanatic railfan for life! "American Railroads" must have made one hell of an impression on him!
If the whole '39 Fair was this good it's no wonder my mother says it was better than the one in'64! There wasn't anything this cool in 1964!
Here's the main link to the site. http://www.rgusrail.com
You won't believe what's in there! Thanks Becky! Thanks so much!
Flintlock76 Kind of makes sense though, 1939 was the greatest year for movies, "The Watershed Year" it's been called by film historians. Those same historians say you could make a career out of studying the films released by Hollywood in 1939. Let's see, "The Wizard of Oz," "Gone With The Wind," "Stagecoach," "Wuthering Heights," "Dodge City," "The Hound Of The Baskervilles..."
Kind of makes sense though, 1939 was the greatest year for movies, "The Watershed Year" it's been called by film historians. Those same historians say you could make a career out of studying the films released by Hollywood in 1939.
Let's see, "The Wizard of Oz," "Gone With The Wind," "Stagecoach," "Wuthering Heights," "Dodge City," "The Hound Of The Baskervilles..."
What? No mention of "Union Pacific"?
In some ways it makes sense that 1939 would be the best year for the movies with the economy starting to get back on its feet and the European theater of WW2 not starting later in the year. It took a few post war years for the economy and mood return to somewhat normal, but TV was having an impact.
Why the dearth of World's Fairs in the US? After Disney built EPCOT, what more could you want?
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