Passenger Radios On Board Burlington's 1937 Denver Zephyrs

[Modelcar]

....There was an AT&T heavy double cable line {2 cables}, perhaps 3" in dia. and it passed our home about no farther away than 50'.

We always did wonder if the lightning hit might have run along that cable line and fed the power to our antenna line somehow.....

[larsend]

What limits reception on the AM Radio Band is the noise (lightning, thunder static, and other radio stations you do not want to hear.)

Back in the 1930s there were fewer AM Radio Stations on the air, hence less interference from undesired radio stations.  In fact the FCC designated several Radio Stations as "Clear Channel Stations."  Most of these Clear Channel Stations , especially those in the Midwest, were able to be heard all over the Contental USA.

Today, the FCC has allowed other stations to broadcast on the Clear Channel frequencies, destroying their coverage.

Listening to the AM radio band in the 1930s was much more enjoyable than it is now.

[Modelcar]

....Back in about 1960 we were down in Florida....a bit north of Orlando.  Had a little portable radio AM / Short Wave Zenith model....a rather small one.  Remember at night tuning thru it to see what it would do...{it was rather new}, and picked up KDKA, Pittsburgh.  That's a good 1000 mile in distance.  Of course that was not moving...Actually believe I was laying in bed.

[rjemery]

....Sure that was probably necessary to pick up the distant clear channels.  I remember back in the 30's at home we had an antenna {wire}, out from the house perhaps a 100' in length.   I also remember once the lightning got it and we never found an inch of it.  It blew the knobs off the radio {floor model}, across two rooms.  End of radio.  100' antenna was grounded with a brass rod deep in the ground too.

You may have been the victim of ground currents.  A lightning strike may have hit elsewhere nearby, but ground currents would have intercepted the wire and used it as a conduit.  

I was once caught inside a thunderstorm atop a mountain, and I know all about ground currents first hand.  I'm very lucky to be here.

[rjemery]

Of course radios were sometimes found in lounge cars and would be touted in timetables and advertisments as an example of how up to date a particular train was. As I recall in that era antennas would be mounted on the roof top and run nearly the entire length of the car.

I didn't address antennas because I thought either with home console models or on board desktop models, that aspect would have been well covered.  I'm still skeptical about long lasting and clear reception on a moving train. 

[rjemery]

Agree, that thought of having an AM radio on a moving train does raise some questions.

But consider many clear channel 50,000wt stations were on the dial back in the 30's and 40's....KDKA....WBZA....and many more and many of these stations could be heard for hundreds and hundreds of miles. {At night}.

Yes, but radios of that era that picked up distant radio stations were of the console variety, stationary, and could be finely tuned.  Even then due to atomospheric changes, radio reception often had to be kept constantly re-tuned.

A table top model on a moving train to me makes little sense.  I don't think it would have had the range.  Offering a radio may have been more a gimmick than having any actual practical value.

A train approaching Denver or especially Chicago would not be traveling at a high rate of speed.  A listener could tune in a local station and probably catch 15-20 minutes of a program before the final stop.

 

[Modelcar]

....Sure that was probably necessary to pick up the distant clear channels.  I remember back in the 30's at home we had an antenna {wire}, out from the house perhaps a 100' in length.   I also remember once the lightning got it and we never found an inch of it.  It blew the knobs off the radio {floor model}, across two rooms.  End of radio.  100' antenna was grounded with a brass rod deep in the ground too.

[KCSfan]

Of course radios were sometimes found in lounge cars and would be touted in timetables and advertisments as an example of how up to date a particular train was. As I recall in that era antennas would be mounted on the roof top and run nearly the entire length of the car.

I recall lying in my roomette berth one night in about 1960 on either the Ak-Sar-Ben or American Royal Zephyr listening through earphones to a trainsistor radio. I had to do a lot of fine tuning to get any kind of reception at all.

Mark

[Modelcar]

Agree, that thought of having an AM radio on a moving train does raise some questions.

But consider many clear channel 50,000wt stations were on the dial back in the 30's and 40's....KDKA....WBZA....and many more and many of these stations could be heard for hundreds and hundreds of miles. {At night}.

[rjemery]

The Burlington's Denver Zephyr's in 1937 offered desktop radios "for private use in bedrooms, compartments and drawing rooms."  I have to wonder of what value an AM radio would be on a speeding train averaging at least 60 mph.  These were overnight trains between Denver and Chicago, so any radio listening would be done at night when reception was better.  Nevertheless, at that speed, any radio station that could be received would soon be out-of-range.  Given that the train itself was constantly changing position and orientation, fine turning should have been all but impossible.

Anyone have any idea how well received or effective these radios were?  I don't believe radios were offered on any other trains of the day.