Train songs: "On the Achison, Topeka and Santa Fe (ATSF), which won the 1947 Academy Award for best song and originally was written for the movie THE HARVEY GIRLS. It was the musical centerpiece and like many musicals, strains of the music found itself in other songs and background music. The production number featuring the song was amazing, even going by Golden Age studio standards. I've you've seen the clip from it in THAT'S ENTERTAINMENT, you've actually seen only about a third of the footage of just that number. And;
and "The Wabash Cannon-Ball"? I believe the latter was not a train with a heritage that dates back to the 19th Century, but instead a day run that dates from the late 1940s wihen Wabash management gave it the name "Wabash Cannon Ball" because people knew the folk song and some of the glamour might attach. I recall the irony in the late Sixties when the Norfolk & Western filed with the ICC to discontinue the train and there was a lot if ignorant journalism to the extent that the mean ol'RR wanted to discontinue a living American legend,
I can't think of a second song written in praise of the ATSF (as opposed to the one about working in the Harvey House restaurant) but the RR did a lot of advertising, even into the early sixties, so it's entirely possible there is a jingle praising some passenger train or the RR itself.
OK, I can be wrong, but even if I'm totally wrong haven't I bumped into an alternate possiblity? - al
PS: I don't think the Pennsy ever had its own song (at least not a popular song), but Glen Miller's hit "Pennsylvania Six Five Thousand" refers to the Commodore, at that time a RR-owned hotel. I think there was a tunnel directly from Penn Station to the hotel but if not, the Commodore is just across the street. Last time I checked (about a year ago), the Commodore was still there and had the same phone number! It has just been numericized with the area code first (212) 736-5000. - al
The Chattanoga Choo Choo left Pennsylvania Station about a quarter to four...You read a magazine and you're in Baltimore. DInner in the diner, nothing could be finer....
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The Orange Blossom Special on the Seaboard line. I don't think the questions has to do with railroad songs or jingles howerver. I'm gonna guess the answer is National Parks served. The Santa Fe advertised itself as the Grand Canyon line.
Mark
So far no cigar, but mentioning Topeka is a step in the right direction.
Al, you're thinking of the Hotel Pennsylvania.
http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e390/MikeMacDonald/PE6-5000.jpg
http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e390/MikeMacDonald/Penn1931.jpg
Cities in it's corporate name? That can't be it. New York, New Haven and Harford is also three and the question said ATSF had more than the NH. Nickel Plate had four. Milwaukee Road had 3.
Hmmm.
-Don (Random stuff, mostly about trains - what else? http://blerfblog.blogspot.com/)
wanswheel Not a locomotive. In fact not even railroad property, except as in a trademark.
Not a locomotive. In fact not even railroad property, except as in a trademark.
I'm halfway there...could you give us another clue as to the other railroad with two? RF&P is yet another railroad that has one, but virtually all of its connections had none.
Just had a flash...the other railroad is/was the Denver & Salt Lake. We're talking about railroads with state capitals in their corporate name.
Carl
Railroader Emeritus (practiced railroading for 46 years--and in 2010 I finally got it right!)
CAACSCOCOM--I don't want to behave improperly, so I just won't behave at all. (SM)
CShaveRR Just had a flash...the other railroad is/was the Denver & Salt Lake. We're talking about railroads with state capitals in their corporate name.
That's got to be it. But, there's also the Boston and Albany, which was separate from the NYC for quite a while...
CShaveRR, Yes, state caps and the not quite Boston & Albany. Your turn.
wanswheel CShaveRR, Yes, state caps and the not quite Boston & Albany. Your turn.
I'm pretty sure they did run all the way into Boston in the 19th Century, but their track ended at not-quite-Albany. Is that what you meant?
I think the B&A went to Selkirk, NY... Maybe they bypassed Albany by a bit?
TrainManTy I think the B&A went to Selkirk, NY... Maybe they bypassed Albany by a bit?
Johnny
The Post Road connection didn't get built until after NYC leased the B&A, and in any event, it ended in Rensselaer. The last couple miles across the bridge to Albany Union Station would have been over NYC, for sure.
CShaveRRAll righty, then--as long as we're talking "Capitals" and "twos", give me the names of two railroads that had "Chicago" (the railroad capital, of course!) in their name, but never reached the city. I had two railroads in mind when I came up with this, but there definitely are at least two more.
Carl, the only one I can think of offhand is Chicago and Illinois Midland.
Carl,
Johnny beat me to the C&IM but I'm sure of one other. the Chicago Heights Terminal Transfer. I also believe the C&EI only went to Dolton and reached Chicago from there via the Chicago & Western Indiana.
Carl.
After posting my prior reply I remembered that the Big Four (CCC&StL) only ran to Kankakee and reached Chicago via the IC from there. I also thnk the Monon (CI&L) reached Chicago via another road, possibly the C&WI.
Mark, you are right on all three counts. Now, is Carl counting track only, or is he allowing operating over the C&WI?
Not to mention the Chicago & New York Electric Air Line. Anyhow here's the next question.
When built, the first rail bridge south of St. Louis across the Mississippi River was owned by what corporation and used by what railroads?
KCSfan Not to mention the Chicago & New York Electric Air Line. Anyhow here's the next question. When built, the first rail bridge south of St. Louis across the Mississippi River was owned by what corporation and used by what railroads? Mark
Johnny,
Yes, but the Eads Bridge was at St. Louis. The question referred to the first bridge south of St. Louis. I need to clarify that what I meant was not the first one built but the first one going down river from St. Louis.
Going back to Carl's previous question, I think we can add the North Shore (CNS&M) which IIRC ended at Howard St. in Evanston and ran over the Chicago Rapit Transit (later the CTA) from there to the loop.
Yes, Mark, I was reading too fast. South of Memphis, we have two bridges at Memphis, one at Vicksburg, one at Baton Rouge, and one at New Orleans. The last two are definitely not in the running, so we are left with Vicksburg, with the VS&P using it. Memphis--Kansas City, Fort Scott and Memphis bridge and Iron Mountain bridge (or was it Rock Island?). I guess that the Frisco (KC,FS&M) was first.
You seem to be misreading my messages. Not south of Memphis but down the river south of St. Louis. That would place it between St. Louis and Memphis.
KCSfan Johnny, You seem to be misreading my messages. Not south of Memphis but down the river south of St. Louis. That would place it between St. Louis and Memphis. Mark
http://books.google.com/books?id=nt8DAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA721&dq=Thebes+Bridge
http://books.google.com/books?id=sdhbTuYxgNsC&pg=PA4&dq=Cotton+Belt+Thebes
Deggesty KCSfan Johnny, You seem to be misreading my messages. Not south of Memphis but down the river south of St. Louis. That would place it between St. Louis and Memphis. Mark Sorry, Mark, I thought that Memphis is south of St. Louis. If you had added, "north of Memphis," I would have remembered the Missouri-Illinois Railroad. The bridge was also used by the MP and the Cotton Belt. I do not recall any other bridge between the two cities. Johnny
From the given coordinates, I would guess either Cape Girardeau(sp?), Missouri or Cairo, Ill. - a,s,
The railroad bridge at Thebes, IL was owned by the Southern Illinois & Missouri Bridge Company(SIMBCO). At one time three railroads owned a portion of SIMBCO: Chicago & Eastern Illinois, Missouri Pacific, and St. Louis Southwestern. The C&EI sold its interest in SIMBCO to MP in 1945, but maintained trackage rights over the bridge for a fee.
SSW9389 The railroad bridge at Thebes, IL was owned by the Southern Illinois & Missouri Bridge Company(SIMBCO). At one time three railroads owned a portion of SIMBCO: Chicago & Eastern Illinois, Missouri Pacific, and St. Louis Southwestern. The C&EI sold its interest in SIMBCO to MP in 1945, but maintained trackage rights over the bridge for a fee.
While a number of you contributed info about the Thebes Bridge, SSW was the only one to identify the SI&MBCo as the original owner of the bridge so I think he should get to ask the next question.
Actually five RR's set up the SI&MBCo and each had a 20% ownership of the Co. I was surprised to se the Illinois Central as one of them but at the time the IC had a line running from Cairo to Thebes.
http://www.geocities.com/TheTropics/8199/thebes.html
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