I was lucky enough to have a Dad who loved railroading. When the train left our local station for the last time in 1960, never to return into service, my Dad made sure he put my sister and me on it and we enjoyed a quick ride to Reading, PA. When we got there I noticed he had tears in his eyes. It was on a train he had traveled to California on his way to Hawaii where he was stationed at the Army barracks and was nearly killed by a Japanese Zero as it passed overhead on its way to Pearl Harbor. It was on train that he came back to PA to marry my Mom and then back on the train the same day to go back to Hawaii. As a child he had taken the train from Brooklyn NY into Manhattan to get groceries for his Mom and Dad. I sure do wish we had not abandoned the train in order to make General Motors rich, so rich that they broke the bank, took bailout money from us taxpayers and then divided it up amongst their executives. Don't get me wrong, I love my car, but I hate the money grubbing executives who screwed us up and polluted our planet.
You forget that that the railroad owners were just as greedy too. There was an entire political party whose platform included turning over the railroad to the government because farmers could barely afford to ship their goods due to the owners continuing to Jack up prices.
General Motors also made locomotives. Their Electro-Motive Diesel Division or EMD made many diesel-electric locomotives like the one in this film, and still does to this day, although it is now owned by a subsidiary of Caterpillar.
This is the way great videos should be made and this one is a classic. At 83 now, this is nothing new and I have been a train enthusiast for the past 75 years. The best video I can think about to explain passenger trains to young kids, it covers everything.
1940. I may be 70 now, but when this was made, my parents had not even met, and I would not arrive on Earth for eight more years. As a kid in the 1950's, I used to love to take the train down to White Sulphur Springs, West Va. My Dad worked at the Greenbrier..And a colleague of ours (up at Columbia University, come to think of it), her father made a nice living as a Pullman porter, which was a plum job for an African American in the still-Jim Crow days of 1950's. He put his kids through school, and was the envy of many, for such employment. Guess it's all in the way you look at things...
Cynthia Hawkins I was also born in 1948. My Grandfather worked for the Louisville & Nashville, in KY. In the 1950’s, we took trains from Buffalo to KY. Sometimes we had sleeper rooms
the metro north railroad used to have a payphone before most had cell phones and this payphone wasn't cheap., I once used the metro north to white Plains every week to work.
Amazing how formally people dressed back then. Also, those steamer trunks and suitcases -- no rollers. Also, real working kitchen with fire in the stoves.
Up until about the late 60's people dressed to go on a trip. It was not unusual to buy new clothes just to travel in. Going to the train station or an airport was a big deal and quite exciting. It made you feel special in a way and you loved the experience as much if not more than the destination really. Then things changed and they changed very rapidly and it was considered "square" to dress up or conform in any way. The hippie movement of the 60's was all about tearing down the "establishment" in every way possible way.. from dress.. to music ..to physical appearance ..to mind altering drugs..to politics.. to godlessness and anything that used to be the cultural norms. It was as if a wrecking ball had hit the heart and soul of America. And here we are today..inching our way ever closer to the complete other end of the spectrum into some anarchical Mad Max world. Its depressing and I'm sorry for sounding that way friend but I've personally lived both sides of this and trust me we irretrievably lost something truly worthy of holding on to ...and we have neither the humility, desire, fortitude nor any clue on how to find our way back to a sense of personal honor, responsibility and civility. I'm just as guilty as anyone else..I watched it happen.. and I'm not proud of being a bystander. "America" died ..and it did so without notice, mourners or even a proper funeral. Its each man for himself now.
@@rapturebound197 Deregulation of the airline industry played a part in this--one no longer had to be wealthy to fly. It's probably just as well that people don't have to "dress up" for such trips, but I believe a certain standard ought to be expected and maintained; perhaps "corporate casual" would be appropriate.
@@bobjacobson858 Hi Bob. I hear you man.. but it's more than the actual style itself or the "classification" of the clothes. You won't find humility, dignity or honor on a clothing rack..its simply not for sale. Rich or poor ..blue or white collar..those are things you 'get out of bed with'..you've either got them or you don't. I guess it's more about 'the attitude' than it is 'the attire'..that makes the man. Know what I mean.
@@rapturebound197 That's an excellent point. Courtesy and behaviour are just as important. As soon as people open their mouths and speak, the differences become apparent.
Mr. Schroder was a a member of, what was then, one of the strongest unions in the nation. He, Mr. Owens, and the conductor, ran the train until their shift was up. Then, they stopped the train (wherever it was, inluding the Middle of Nowhere), got off and went wherever they were staying till they could deadhead home. If you were a passenger, you hoped that they reached the place where the next crew was ready to take over - or you waited till the crew got there. The fellers were pretty well taken care of . . .My grandfather was a conductor and my uncle, an engineer, on the B&O in WV and MD in the 30s and 40s.
Born in 1940 I enjoyed my first long train trip in 1945 when my mother, I and my new brother traveled to return home to St. Louis after visiting relatives in Shelbyville, Indiana. My uncle had driven us there. I remember every detail of the trip there (we had to drive through a river), including a crowd of soldiers and sailors in the back of our train coach and the really good eats in the diner. A totally different world. I have what is known as autobiographical memory; I remember everything in detail. It is a blessing, but bittersweet.
@@bobsemple7660 You clearly don't know what you're talking about. It took days to cross the US by train at that time, so of course the accommodations were better. You're comparing a luxury train to commuter trains, and they aren't the same. Nor do they shove 5000 people in a plane. You also don't understand how big the US is.
@@bobsemple7660 China, you mean the country that used steam powered locomotives up until 2005??? China is large, but it doesn't have the highway system the US does. Nor does it allow people to travel freely as we do.
They are similar to the metro north railroad which I used to take to White Plains but I haven't been to White Plains in years because now the court records with social security disability;ity appeals are mostly electronic.
What a great era and railroad (B&O). They tried their busy best in passenger service into the 60s while the Pennsylvania RR and NYC failed. I was an NPS Ranger at Harpers Ferry. Walked through that tunnel a few times! Amtrak’s Capital Limited now rides those same rails.
Mr Owens the Conductor who was responsible for the entire train looked like a very stern timekeeper. Contrast this with today's Amtrak conductors....Do today's Amtrak conductors even carry a pocket watch? Well at any rate, Mr Owens and Mr Shroader have no doubt passed on that great railway in the sky....RIP.
mr. owens and mr. schroader are now burning in hell with harison hunter,csx and planing precision railroading to haul coal into hell to keep the fires burning.
I have ridden Amtrak 3 round trips this year. The conductors have been great. Even went out of their way to yell ..."Allllll abooooooard !!!!" when I asked if they would for my youngest. One of them had a pocket watch which he had to purchase for himself. Which is doubly appreciated considering how little they are paid.
I loved the images of Harper's Ferry. It's still as beautiful today as it was then, and is still a lovely sight from a seat on today's Capital Limited.
It was produced by ERPI Films in 1938. ERPI eventually became Encylopedia Britanica Films, which had a large catalog of educational films. Eventually the film was remade in 1955, in Kodachrome, using the Sante Fe Super Chief as "The Passenger Train," using footage from a 1948 produced ATSF promotional film.
It's very interesting seeing what must be a very early diesel locomotive paired with old-fashioned heavyweight cars. A combination of the old and hyper-new.
Yep, they were Federal employees charged w/protecting the US Mail. That could be anything from somebody's love letter, to jewelry, checks, etc, so they were armed.
@@xxchefwalterxx1 you are pathetic fool, always thinking of drugs, men were built differently then, they were tough as nails, they didn't whine abt a finger cut, they were paid shit and WERE HAPPY ABOUT IT! DO YOU KNOW WHY, because my father started his life as a 14 yr old boy laying rails in southern Illinois, on the Ole Illinois lines, by early morning, they be breaking there backs, laying rails, by 8 in morning,, sweaty buckets of percious water from there bodies, day in and day out....he work that god forsaken hot n humid southern Illinois summers, until he and his family moved to work in Kennewick Washington, where at 16, the same, however, before they laid the rails, they had to walk the line, and take long like shovels and flipped the rattlesnakes off before they could evening lay those rails....after World War 2 was over, and his pa's work was gone for the US. Army, they headed back home, and my father worked the rails, through out high school, he eventually worked himself up to the ticket office and then to the telegraph operator position. He did this after he married my mom, and then the Korean War came and off to war he went, a hardened man by hard labor and the terrors of shredded men laying everywhere he walked, that man I called my father came home with a silver star and a bronze star pinned on his chest. He never cried abt the hardships he had to endure, he only cried when he remembered the friends and soldiers that never made it home! And you know what he nevet became a drunk, or a pathetic drug user taking evety fucking drug in the world and then like so men losers boys slobbering and snot and piss running down their legs, beg and cry, HELP ME HELP AMERICAN CITIZENS I NEED HELP BECAUSE IM A DRYG ADDICT OR IM TO WEAK TO GET OFF MY LAZY ASS TO WORK! WORK HE did for the next 35 years.. now my father and my mother have earn their rest. Not once complaining about what the Jones had, they were happy, with JUST ENOUGH IS ENOUGH.
My great grandfather was a chef on the B&O and was killed in a train crash. I dont even want to imagine being in a crash in a train gally. I wish I knew more about him, or the crash. I wasn’t told much more than that so if anyone knows about it I’ll like to hear it. It would have been around 1900-1910 (maybe) and his name was (George?) Vance.
A video given to me by the post mistress of a resort in Death Valley shows a makeover of the B&O to the tune of some $25 million dollars that later became the American Orient Express. It had a short life. But during its resurrection, it gave American railroad passengers the way we once were. Unfortunately, the American Orient Express derailed in Mexico, with 2 thirds of the carriages so seriously damaged that the balance were sold to the Xanterra Corporation in Colorado but that venture soon proved unsuccessful, and the remaining carriages were put out to pasture.
Sad that the short-range airline industry has robbed America of such great trains like these. And not just America. Here in Europe there are only a few true overnight trains left while planes are crowding our skies. It must be so much better to buy or book a ticket, have it inspected and board a comfortable hotel on wheels, instead of waiting for hours to cram yourself into a claustrophobic flying tube.
I can get from Boston to Miami in about 4 hrs by plane or 38 hrs by train. Cramped as it may be, I'd rather spend that time at my destination than riding in either vehicle.
Vyash Tuijnman Not really, overnight trains are not needed because trains are so much faster. Munich to Berlin in less than four hours. Faster than flying.
Gotta shake your head in wonder. A plethora of comments about the mental shortcomings of people in 1940, and Americans of certain political views, or all Americans; comments about the simplistic nature of the narration...but today’s wise audience fails to notice the banner: “Produced by Erpi Classroom Films, Inc., in collaboration with...Teachers College, Columbia University.” How would you have described these things to a small child in the mostly rural society of 1940, who had never seen or heard of a tunnel? Primitive early television was still nearly ten years in the future for almost everyone, longer for many.
Airline travel was still in it's infancy, trains were the standard from of travel. The standard airliner of the day was the DC-3 that flew at only about 200 mph and carried from 21 to 32 passengers. I believe that the station at the opening was Union Station in Wash. DC, interestingly the tracks and tunnel and bridge in Harpers Ferry still carries trains today.
Its hard on our conductor here, but exactly, he gives his All for the love of his job and the responsibility of all who DEPEND ON HIS SKILLS. He is a "MAN OF THE PAST". Long forgotten, rush, rush rush, have to get there! I think there should be both for the flyer and the fearful non flier's. And if you look at buses of America thete a by gone area. I know it is expensive to keep rails and cars and buses running, but NOT all of us can swing 600.00 one way, let enough round trip at 600.00. Another bone to pick, you NEVER EVER SEE A TRAIN OR BUSES RUNNING DUE SOUTH OR NORTH, why? Its always east coast and running buses and trains mostly like run a southern route. Dropping city like Albuquerque, Phoenix, ( you getting the drift ) its from eastern coast, down to Florida, through the deep portions of the south, swinging up into California to L.A. at least that's how it was the last time, abt 17 yrs ago, now abt 36 yrs ago, you could take the old Amtrak from Chicago, wind through until you pulled into Flagstaff Az, I lived there then, and what a lovely and beautiful way to travel. For few bucks more, you could travel right into L.A. What a waste for peeps who are non flier fans, and not to fond of bues either. The main fact is this, if you needed not be in a hurry, it was awesome, and better yet, it gave the not to wealthy two aacesses to travel, than fearing a jet ride. It's all gone, and it will never be again....
very good 🎥 movie! THE EA TYPE LOCOMOTIVES WERE THE VERY FIRST E UNIT'S EVER BUILT BY EMC!Later EMD!AND THAT EA IS PRESERVED AT THE B&O MUSEUM IN BALTIMORE MD!
@6:30 . "A tunnel ....a big hole bored through a high steep hill". This film is similar to that Flying High movie.(granted it is pitched at kids more than likely)
at 2am we can assume Mr. Shroder is both awake and asleep... until the we hear the sound of twisted metal. wait.. that would be Mr. Schrodinger. never mind.
@A. Wellknownmyth yup. That is true. After a lot of research, I think it would have been better if Germany won the first world war because the harsh conditions of their surrender created the Nazi juggernaut sucking the entire world into a bloody cesspool.
The Federal Express was the Baltimore & Ohio's daily passenger train that ran between Boston and Washington. Unlike the FedEx of today, it did not take a week to travel 600 miles nor stop in one place for five days.
The former Firemen in this infant diesel era are now known as "Diesel Attendants, the Engineer's assistant," who takes care of misc mechanical duties. Interesting.
Wow, what a way to travel. The 'Edwardian Dining room' so unlike the canteens of machine dispensed crap they offer today. I had the chance to travel on a first class train in Europe in the 1970's and it was a memorable experience. Certainly didn't realize at the time that this gentile mode of travel was in its death throes. There are still a few luxury trains around but you have to be a billionaire to enjoy them.
The engineers don't wave from the trains anymore, not like they did back in 1954,when I was a boy, I'd hang around the tracks, watching those trains going to Louisville and back.
This is very interesting. I didn't know diesel-electric engines existed back in 1940. My guess would be that the diesel-electric engines were very new at that time when most other passenger and freight train engines were still using coal. Perhaps someday, all trains will go electric or use some other form of advanced source of clean power (that hasn't been developed yet) as technology continues to evolve.
Lots of things happened..none of them good. Its not long before we'll be living in a Mad Max movie. Civility and dignity have died. It's a terrible loss really. Take care.
People used to dress to travel. Look at pics of train platforms in the 40s-men are in suits & hats, women w hats and gloves. Same for air travel in the 50s & 60s. I’m 58 and remember my first airline flight at about age 6. Sunday best for everyone on board. Now it’s how many slobs can we squeeze into this tin can.
Civilizations, like stars, go through a predictable evolution. During their ascendancy, societies develop more and increasingly sophisticated rules of behavior, until they become a choking thicket. Realizing this, society then tries to abolish the rules which make no sense, which snowballs until the society no longer has the "bones" to stand up. Following the collapse, there follows a period of anarchy, and the process starts anew, always with the thought that THIS society will endure forever.
@@rapturebound197 Not so much Mad Max as you'll see much more rigid socioeconomic segregation . You'll see a lot more things like Sam's & Costco stores where membership is required for more than one reason . "They won't let just anyone wonder in off the street " Or even anywhere near their neighborhood for that matter .
This is an educational film intended for an audience of small children who were born during the Great Depression. Thus, many details, such as crew changes, were left out, and simplified explanations made of other things, such as what a menu was. Many kids watching this film may have never been to an eating establishment with a printed menu.
In those days, before online banking and things such as western union, it was commonplace to send huge amounts of cash by mail, hence, there was a major threat of robbery, in Britain, one of the biggest thefts in history occurred when a mail train was hijacked, for example.
Yep- RPO men. Carried .38 special revolvers as their issued weapon. These guys even sorted incoming and outgoing mail which came in and went out “on the fly” in heavy canvas sacks. The Cars had an outside hook for catching the sacks. Great era, while it lasted. 👍🏼
That E unit EMD locamotive in this film is now restored and at the B&O railroad museum amd although it no longer has its prime mover itis fully restored to original look just like this movie.
Lincoln Paul that’s just when the video was made. Railroads tend to keep thier rolling stock for quite a while, even back then. I doubt it is from the 1890’s but it is totally possible that dining car is from as early as 1920
Riding on American trains really sucks now, it is about like riding on a roller coaster but with more bumps, every body should ride one at least once so you can see how bad they really are! Then when you have to switch to a connecting train you can sit there in the station and wait 2 or 3 hours, and if that does not suit you then you can walk! And be sure to bring lots of money for the dining car, the food is really good but VERY expensive! Have fun at least you only have to wait 2 or 3 hours at the first station because the trains are always running late, enjoy your trip ! 😂😂
I wonder if it is the Capitol Limited , which went to Chicago, or the National Limited, which went to St. Louis, both were famous named passenger trains on the B & O.
"In the dining car the waiter hands the passengers a menu --- a large card with lists of food" Glad they explained this, I always assumed it was some kind of before-dinner cocktail.
America should have made continuous significant investments in passenger rail transportation between major cities. We should have been a world leader, enhancing and innovating the experience. Sad.
Well, when the carrier can add an entire railroad car to the train at rather inconsequential weight gain to carry luggage, each traveler could indeed bring a large trunk. A box car is pretty big inside and a baggage car is just a nicely appointed version of the same thing.
I was lucky enough to have a Dad who loved railroading. When the train left our local station for the last time in 1960, never to return into service, my Dad made sure he put my sister and me on it and we enjoyed a quick ride to Reading, PA. When we got there I noticed he had tears in his eyes. It was on a train he had traveled to California on his way to Hawaii where he was stationed at the Army barracks and was nearly killed by a Japanese Zero as it passed overhead on its way to Pearl Harbor. It was on train that he came back to PA to marry my Mom and then back on the train the same day to go back to Hawaii. As a child he had taken the train from Brooklyn NY into Manhattan to get groceries for his Mom and Dad. I sure do wish we had not abandoned the train in order to make General Motors rich, so rich that they broke the bank, took bailout money from us taxpayers and then divided it up amongst their executives. Don't get me wrong, I love my car, but I hate the money grubbing executives who screwed us up and polluted our planet.
Thinks to Obama we lost 150K in retirement on that deal. And I think the money went to the unions. Straight pay off for votes.
You forget that that the railroad owners were just as greedy too. There was an entire political party whose platform included turning over the railroad to the government because farmers could barely afford to ship their goods due to the owners continuing to Jack up prices.
General Motors also made locomotives. Their Electro-Motive Diesel Division or EMD made many diesel-electric locomotives like the one in this film, and still does to this day, although it is now owned by a subsidiary of Caterpillar.
This is the way great videos should be made and this one is a classic. At 83 now, this is nothing new and I have been a train enthusiast for the past 75 years. The best video I can think about to explain passenger trains to young kids, it covers everything.
1940. I may be 70 now, but when this was made, my parents had not even met, and I would not arrive on Earth for eight more years. As a kid in the 1950's, I used to love to take the train down to White Sulphur Springs, West Va. My Dad worked at the Greenbrier..And a colleague of ours (up at Columbia University, come to think of it), her father made a nice living as a Pullman porter, which was a plum job for an African American in the still-Jim Crow days of 1950's. He put his kids through school, and was the envy of many, for such employment. Guess it's all in the way you look at things...
Cynthia Hawkins I was also born in 1948. My Grandfather worked for the Louisville & Nashville, in KY. In the 1950’s, we took trains from Buffalo to KY. Sometimes we had sleeper rooms
Even in black and white you can tell the train exterior is clean, unlike today's trains.
"Each person who rides the train must buy a ticket at the ticket counter ---- to the place where they are going."
A Tunnel. A big hole bored through a high steep hill. That has to be a classic.
@@ronsmith6662 The Chief cook, who is called the chef. Now we educated!
A gracious bygone era and not a smart phone in sight. Ahhh, bliss!
the metro north railroad used to have a payphone before most had cell phones and this payphone wasn't cheap., I once used the metro north to white Plains every week to work.
Rain Coast e
It is a sad world when the phones are smarter than the users!
Amazing how formally people dressed back then. Also, those steamer trunks and suitcases -- no rollers. Also, real working kitchen with fire in the stoves.
Yep no Radar Rangers onboard I guess
Up until about the late 60's people dressed to go on a trip. It was not unusual to buy new clothes just to travel in. Going to the train station or an airport was a big deal and quite exciting. It made you feel special in a way and you loved the experience as much if not more than the destination really.
Then things changed and they changed very rapidly and it was considered "square" to dress up or conform in any way. The hippie movement of the 60's was all about tearing down the "establishment" in every way possible way.. from dress.. to music ..to physical appearance ..to mind altering drugs..to politics.. to godlessness and anything that used to be the cultural norms. It was as if a wrecking ball had hit the heart and soul of America. And here we are today..inching our way ever closer to the complete other end of the spectrum into some anarchical Mad Max world.
Its depressing and I'm sorry for sounding that way friend but I've personally lived both sides of this and trust me we irretrievably lost something truly worthy of holding on to ...and we have neither the humility, desire, fortitude nor any clue on how to find our way back to a sense of personal honor, responsibility and civility. I'm just as guilty as anyone else..I watched it happen.. and I'm not proud of being a bystander.
"America" died ..and it did so without notice, mourners or even a proper funeral. Its each man for himself now.
@@rapturebound197 Deregulation of the airline industry played a part in this--one no longer had to be wealthy to fly. It's probably just as well that people don't have to "dress up" for such trips, but I believe a certain standard ought to be expected and maintained; perhaps "corporate casual" would be appropriate.
@@bobjacobson858 Hi Bob. I hear you man.. but it's more than the actual style itself or the "classification" of the clothes.
You won't find humility, dignity or honor on a clothing rack..its simply not for sale. Rich or poor ..blue or white collar..those are things you 'get out of bed with'..you've either got them or you don't.
I guess it's more about 'the attitude' than it is 'the attire'..that makes the man. Know what I mean.
@@rapturebound197 That's an excellent point. Courtesy and behaviour are just as important. As soon as people open their mouths and speak, the differences become apparent.
Mr. Schroder was a a member of, what was then, one of the strongest unions in the nation. He, Mr. Owens, and the conductor, ran the train until their shift was up. Then, they stopped the train (wherever it was, inluding the Middle of Nowhere), got off and went wherever they were staying till they could deadhead home. If you were a passenger, you hoped that they reached the place where the next crew was ready to take over - or you waited till the crew got there. The fellers were pretty well taken care of . . .My grandfather was a conductor and my uncle, an engineer, on the B&O in WV and MD in the 30s and 40s.
Thanks for the ride.I didn't want it to end.
Wonderful! I was born in 1940 and saw these kind of trains when I was little.
Born in 1940 I enjoyed my first long train trip in 1945 when my mother, I and my new brother traveled to return home to St. Louis after visiting relatives in Shelbyville, Indiana. My uncle had driven us there. I remember every detail of the trip there (we had to drive through a river), including a crowd of soldiers and sailors in the back of our train coach and the really good eats in the diner. A totally different world. I have what is known as autobiographical memory; I remember everything in detail. It is a blessing, but bittersweet.
Marvellous...and very educational. Notice how back in the 1940s and 60s nearly everyone dressed up to take the train ride!...
A civilized way of travel as compared to our crappy crowded airlines of today!
I don't have a problem with air travel. MUCH shorter time that what a train can do...
@@bobsemple7660 Actually I HAVE been to Europe. Evidently you've never been to the US.
@@bobsemple7660 You clearly don't know what you're talking about. It took days to cross the US by train at that time, so of course the accommodations were better. You're comparing a luxury train to commuter trains, and they aren't the same. Nor do they shove 5000 people in a plane. You also don't understand how big the US is.
@@bobsemple7660 China, you mean the country that used steam powered locomotives up until 2005??? China is large, but it doesn't have the highway system the US does. Nor does it allow people to travel freely as we do.
Planes were once glamourous and exciting. Now they are merely air buses.
Very good film of the 40th. It's instructive and besides showing the quality of the staff and the trip. I liked to see it. Thanks.
The narration in this presentation is given toward grade school children, many of whom have never seen a train.
wagonmaster1974 it’s for grade school children
They are similar to the metro north railroad which I used to take to White Plains but I haven't been to White Plains in years because now the court records with social security disability;ity appeals are mostly electronic.
Yes and even poor stupid Liberal's like yourself! Fake name: @Big Bill O'Reilly
Trains had been around way before the 30's and to places that today you wouldn't believe. Most children knew about trains.
@Big Bill O'Reilly No, so you can understand.
What a great era and railroad (B&O). They tried their busy best in passenger service into the 60s while the Pennsylvania RR and NYC failed. I was an NPS Ranger at Harpers Ferry. Walked through that tunnel a few times! Amtrak’s Capital Limited now rides those same rails.
Mr Owens the Conductor who was responsible for the entire train looked like a very stern timekeeper. Contrast this with today's Amtrak conductors....Do today's Amtrak conductors even carry a pocket watch? Well at any rate, Mr Owens and Mr Shroader have no doubt passed on that great railway in the sky....RIP.
mr. owens and mr. schroader are now burning in hell with harison hunter,csx and planing precision railroading to haul coal into hell to keep the fires burning.
david wells edgy
Geez David, hate railways do we? Harrison Hunter and the likes of Mr. Owens and Mr. Schroeder bare no comparison whatsoever.
Pocket watches? You foamers are something else.
I have ridden Amtrak 3 round trips this year. The conductors have been great. Even went out of their way to yell ..."Allllll abooooooard !!!!" when I asked if they would for my youngest. One of them had a pocket watch which he had to purchase for himself. Which is doubly appreciated considering how little they are paid.
Such an excellent documentary to absorb some old-world charm!
I ran locomotives for the B & O and also The C & O was a fireman but often allowed to take the controls
How many fires did you put out in your career?
@@eipip1ez he didn’t put out fires he kept the fire going for the boiler
I loved the images of Harper's Ferry. It's still as beautiful today as it was then, and is still a lovely sight from a seat on today's Capital Limited.
Thomas Stambaugh harpers ferry is a wonderful part of America
A marvellous film.
Opening scene is of Union Station, DC, as the Columbus Statue is in view.
Union Station, DC was used for the final scene of the "Silverstreak" crashing through the station.
We used to take the B&O to D.C. when I was a kid. It took about 20 hours. I think it left from the Polk Street Station in Chicago. I miss trains.
Louis Brizzolara I love trains and use them all the time in Germany
i wonder if they ever let poor Mr. Schroeder out of the locomotive so he could sleep and eat?
They were allowed to take drugs back then
MrYfrank14 never
Legend has it that he is still stuck in that locomotive. Well, his skeleton is.
or even take a pee lol
Plus he's the only dude running the whole train
I just love videos like this. I wish America could be nice like that again.
great video. thanks. hard to believe that is what life was like back then.
It was produced by ERPI Films in 1938. ERPI eventually became Encylopedia Britanica Films, which had a large catalog of educational films. Eventually the film was remade in 1955, in Kodachrome, using the Sante Fe Super Chief as "The Passenger Train," using footage from a 1948 produced ATSF promotional film.
Ha ha. I like the way he described what a menu is.
The glory of rail travel in its heyday. I'm sure I'm not the only one who longs for those days.
It's very interesting seeing what must be a very early diesel locomotive paired with old-fashioned heavyweight cars. A combination of the old and hyper-new.
Wow.. for all our advancements in travel, fuel efficiencies, Low Cost Carriers etc, we really paid a high price.
I would trade it all in for a ride on this train.
My mom and I went by train up to Wisconsin Dells from Elkhart, Indiana in 1952. It seems it was coal fired, as I recall.
Oh my, that trip must have provided a lifetime of wonderful memories of train travel with your mom.... just priceless. 🙂
Wow, that postal clerk is packing a pistol! No messing around!
Yep, they were Federal employees charged w/protecting the US Mail. That could be anything from somebody's love letter, to jewelry, checks, etc, so they were armed.
Now in the year 2020, we watched THEM help steal the election. How things change...
Interesting film. I guess Mr. Schroeder works the entire trip with no sleep, no food, no potty break.
He's on meth
Most likely he did....
@@xxchefwalterxx1 you are pathetic fool, always thinking of drugs, men were built differently then, they were tough as nails, they didn't whine abt a finger cut, they were paid shit and WERE HAPPY ABOUT IT! DO YOU KNOW WHY, because my father started his life as a 14 yr old boy laying rails in southern Illinois, on the Ole Illinois lines, by early morning, they be breaking there backs, laying rails, by 8 in morning,, sweaty buckets of percious water from there bodies, day in and day out....he work that god forsaken hot n humid southern Illinois summers, until he and his family moved to work in Kennewick Washington, where at 16, the same, however, before they laid the rails, they had to walk the line, and take long like shovels and flipped the rattlesnakes off before they could evening lay those rails....after World War 2 was over, and his pa's work was gone for the US. Army, they headed back home, and my father worked the rails, through out high school, he eventually worked himself up to the ticket office and then to the telegraph operator position. He did this after he married my mom, and then the Korean War came and off to war he went, a hardened man by hard labor and the terrors of shredded men laying everywhere he walked, that man I called my father came home with a silver star and a bronze star pinned on his chest. He never cried abt the hardships he had to endure, he only cried when he remembered the friends and soldiers that never made it home! And you know what he nevet became a drunk, or a pathetic drug user taking evety fucking drug in the world and then like so men losers boys slobbering and snot and piss running down their legs, beg and cry, HELP ME HELP AMERICAN CITIZENS I NEED HELP BECAUSE IM A DRYG ADDICT OR IM TO WEAK TO GET OFF MY LAZY ASS TO WORK! WORK HE did for the next 35 years.. now my father and my mother have earn their rest. Not once complaining about what the Jones had, they were happy, with JUST ENOUGH IS ENOUGH.
That’s what mason jars are for
A great old film from the heyday of trains before Pearl Harbor (WWII) and before most of us were born.
My great grandfather was a chef on the B&O and was killed in a train crash. I dont even want to imagine being in a crash in a train gally. I wish I knew more about him, or the crash. I wasn’t told much more than that so if anyone knows about it I’ll like to hear it. It would have been around 1900-1910 (maybe) and his name was (George?) Vance.
A video given to me by the post mistress of a resort in Death Valley shows a makeover of the B&O to the tune of some $25 million dollars that later became the American Orient Express. It had a short life. But during its resurrection, it gave American railroad passengers the way we once were. Unfortunately, the American Orient Express derailed in Mexico, with 2 thirds of the carriages so seriously damaged that the balance were sold to the Xanterra Corporation in Colorado but that venture soon proved unsuccessful, and the remaining carriages were put out to pasture.
Sad that the short-range airline industry has robbed America of such great trains like these. And not just America. Here in Europe there are only a few true overnight trains left while planes are crowding our skies.
It must be so much better to buy or book a ticket, have it inspected and board a comfortable hotel on wheels, instead of waiting for hours to cram yourself into a claustrophobic flying tube.
I can get from Boston to Miami in about 4 hrs by plane or 38 hrs by train. Cramped as it may be, I'd rather spend that time at my destination than riding in either vehicle.
Marc in NA he did mention he was referring to *short-range* flights.. Which I take to mean would be equivalent to max one night's train ride
On my bucket list is going through the Canadian Rockies by train.
Vyash Tuijnman Not really, overnight trains are not needed because trains are so much faster. Munich to Berlin in less than four hours. Faster than flying.
@@lincolnpaul1814 The overnight trains may be nice for longer distances than Munchen to Berlin. Let's imagine Paris to Berlin or Berlin to Kyiv
Gotta shake your head in wonder. A plethora of comments about the mental shortcomings of people in 1940, and Americans of certain political views, or all Americans; comments about the simplistic nature of the narration...but today’s wise audience fails to notice the banner: “Produced by Erpi Classroom Films, Inc., in collaboration with...Teachers College, Columbia University.” How would you have described these things to a small child in the mostly rural society of 1940, who had never seen or heard of a tunnel? Primitive early television was still nearly ten years in the future for almost everyone, longer for many.
Airline travel was still in it's infancy, trains were the standard from of travel. The standard airliner of the day was the DC-3 that flew at only about 200 mph and carried from 21 to 32 passengers. I believe that the station at the opening was Union Station in Wash. DC, interestingly the tracks and tunnel and bridge in Harpers Ferry still carries trains today.
Alan's Mistakin' Acres you are an asshole!
@@loulasalle5480 Why? And why the personal abuse?
Its hard on our conductor here, but exactly, he gives his All for the love of his job and the responsibility of all who DEPEND ON HIS SKILLS. He is a "MAN OF THE PAST". Long forgotten, rush, rush rush, have to get there! I think there should be both for the flyer and the fearful non flier's. And if you look at buses of America thete a by gone area. I know it is expensive to keep rails and cars and buses running, but NOT all of us can swing 600.00 one way, let enough round trip at 600.00. Another bone to pick, you NEVER EVER SEE A TRAIN OR BUSES RUNNING DUE SOUTH OR NORTH, why? Its always east coast and running buses and trains mostly like run a southern route. Dropping city like Albuquerque, Phoenix, ( you getting the drift ) its from eastern coast, down to Florida, through the deep portions of the south, swinging up into California to L.A. at least that's how it was the last time, abt 17 yrs ago, now abt 36 yrs ago, you could take the old Amtrak from Chicago, wind through until you pulled into Flagstaff Az, I lived there then, and what a lovely and beautiful way to travel. For few bucks more, you could travel right into L.A. What a waste for peeps who are non flier fans, and not to fond of bues either. The main fact is this, if you needed not be in a hurry, it was awesome, and better yet, it gave the not to wealthy two aacesses to travel, than fearing a jet ride. It's all gone, and it will never be again....
very good 🎥 movie! THE EA TYPE LOCOMOTIVES WERE THE VERY FIRST E UNIT'S EVER BUILT BY EMC!Later EMD!AND THAT EA IS PRESERVED AT THE B&O MUSEUM IN BALTIMORE MD!
Such an ornate old diner! (A maintenance nightmare!)
Thank you for this video.
@6:30 . "A tunnel ....a big hole bored through a high steep hill". This film is similar to that Flying High movie.(granted it is pitched at kids more than likely)
y'all aboard ladies and gentlemen, on our time travel train.
What no crew change??????? Poor Engineer Shroder NO Sleep, or food..and 18 hours driving the train, so much for fatigue...
at 2am we can assume Mr. Shroder is both awake and asleep... until the we hear the sound of twisted metal. wait.. that would be Mr. Schrodinger. never mind.
2:18 Post Office personnel be packin' ! (armed) Fun seeing the grade crossing signals.
@vidkidxyz 😆
What a beautiful and elegant looking dining car
The woman in the white hat certainly got around...
Made Me smile THANKS!
Dinner chimes on the old trains was something
Better world than today.
That is until it caught fire in 41.
@A. Wellknownmyth yup. That is true. After a lot of research, I think it would have been better if Germany won the first world war because the harsh conditions of their surrender created the Nazi juggernaut sucking the entire world into a bloody cesspool.
Diesel in 1940 !! I am excited.
Neat and interesting!
This was when America was a great country. To turn the clock back just for a few days and relive that time.
Great looking E series slant nose AB loco set
The Federal Express was the Baltimore & Ohio's daily passenger train that ran between Boston and Washington. Unlike the FedEx of today, it did not take a week to travel 600 miles nor stop in one place for five days.
Pennsylvania Railroad
The former Firemen in this infant diesel era are now known as "Diesel Attendants, the Engineer's assistant," who takes care of misc mechanical duties. Interesting.
Kinda funny, all I could think of, Mr. Rogers narrating this video
Wow, what a way to travel. The 'Edwardian Dining room' so unlike the canteens of machine dispensed crap they offer today. I had the chance to travel on a first class train in Europe in the 1970's and it was a memorable experience. Certainly didn't realize at the time that this gentile mode of travel was in its death throes. There are still a few luxury trains around but you have to be a billionaire to enjoy them.
Engineer Schroeder is violating the "100 Mile Rule"! His union won't like that!
I am 72 and remember the trains back in the day where men wore suits and the trains were on time.
I think the guy in the engine room is my father who was a riding tech on passenger trains
The engineers don't wave from the trains anymore, not like they did back in 1954,when I was a boy, I'd hang around the tracks, watching those trains going to Louisville and back.
1940 trains.....
I like ur videos.good.keep it up👍
the menu had the 1939 Worlds fair logo on it
The World's Fair in New York ran two seasons, 1939-1940.
The water trough was cool. I suppose the fireman had to drop and retract a scoop with some care!
This is very interesting.
I didn't know diesel-electric engines existed back in 1940.
My guess would be that the diesel-electric engines were very new at that time
when most other passenger and freight train engines were still using coal.
Perhaps someday, all trains will go electric or use some other form of advanced
source of clean power (that hasn't been developed yet)
as technology continues to evolve.
An outstanding era and generation! porters, conductors but give Mr. Schroder a break!
"They give them a menu...large cards with lists of foods." :/
Fun little film, definitely made for children but enjoyable for adults as well.
What was the town shown at time point 8:29? Thanks!
Thanks for saving this video
I wish somebody had not stretched this film to make it “widescreen”. It wasn’t shot the way and the stretching distorts the picture.
Most men and women were dressed nicely...even wore hats. It was a different era and one that I wish I had lived in.
I miss my country as well. I just caught the end of an era in the UK with the passing of the 70s.
Great video!!
Wow go on Amtrak or ride on a plane today and everyone looks like they might as well be homeless . What the heck happened to America ?
Lots of things happened..none of them good. Its not long before we'll be living in a Mad Max movie. Civility and dignity have died. It's a terrible loss really.
Take care.
The traveling public now resemble hobos.
People used to dress to travel. Look at pics of train platforms in the 40s-men are in suits & hats, women w hats and gloves. Same for air travel in the 50s & 60s. I’m 58 and remember my first airline flight at about age 6. Sunday best for everyone on board. Now it’s how many slobs can we squeeze into this tin can.
Civilizations, like stars, go through a predictable evolution. During their ascendancy, societies develop more and increasingly sophisticated rules of behavior, until they become a choking thicket. Realizing this, society then tries to abolish the rules which make no sense, which snowballs until the society no longer has the "bones" to stand up. Following the collapse, there follows a period of anarchy, and the process starts anew, always with the thought that THIS society will endure forever.
@@rapturebound197 Not so much Mad Max as you'll see much more rigid socioeconomic segregation . You'll see a lot more things like Sam's & Costco stores where membership is required for more than one reason . "They won't let just anyone wonder in off the street " Or even anywhere near their neighborhood for that matter .
Sounds like an education film for children
A must see is Hitchcock's "Strangers on a Train."
What a pleasure it must have been to travel on these trains.Compare this to the discomfort and hassle of 'modern' rail travel
This is an educational film intended for an audience of small children who were born during the Great Depression. Thus, many details, such as crew changes, were left out, and simplified explanations made of other things, such as what a menu was. Many kids watching this film may have never been to an eating establishment with a printed menu.
1:00 "Money from tickets helps pay the cost of running the train." Aiming at a young audience.
At 2:20, is the mail employee carrying a gun on his belt?!
Heli-Crew HGS of course, they were agents of the government and were prepared to guard the contents of the mobile post office.
In those days, before online banking and things such as western union, it was commonplace to send huge amounts of cash by mail, hence, there was a major threat of robbery, in Britain, one of the biggest thefts in history occurred when a mail train was hijacked, for example.
Yep- RPO men. Carried .38 special revolvers as their issued weapon. These guys even sorted incoming and outgoing mail which came in and went out “on the fly” in heavy canvas sacks. The Cars had an outside hook for catching the sacks. Great era, while it lasted. 👍🏼
That E unit EMD locamotive in this film is now restored and at the B&O railroad museum amd although it no longer has its prime mover itis fully restored to original look just like this movie.
The dining car looks like it's from the 1890s, wish I could have had luncheon in it.
MerleOberon no it’s from the 1940’s
Lincoln Paul that’s just when the video was made. Railroads tend to keep thier rolling stock for quite a while, even back then. I doubt it is from the 1890’s but it is totally possible that dining car is from as early as 1920
Good video!
Images of an other era...
Riding on American trains really sucks now, it is about like riding on a roller coaster but with more bumps, every body should ride one at least once so you can see how bad they really are! Then when you have to switch to a connecting train you can sit there in the station and wait 2 or 3 hours, and if that does not suit you then you can walk! And be sure to bring lots of money for the dining car, the food is really good but VERY expensive! Have fun at least you only have to wait 2 or 3 hours at the first station because the trains are always running late, enjoy your trip ! 😂😂
I wonder if it is the Capitol Limited , which went to Chicago, or the National Limited, which went to St. Louis, both were famous named passenger trains on the B & O.
At the first part of the vid that was Washington, D.C. Union station I think
"In the dining car the waiter hands the passengers a menu --- a large card with lists of food"
Glad they explained this, I always assumed it was some kind of before-dinner cocktail.
This film is for LITTLE CHILDREN, and it is 1940, so most American kids grew up poor and had never seen a fancy restaurant, or ridden on a train.
Well, it was the 1940s, so you might not be far off...
Mr. Schroeder looks just like my dad
Where is the place where tracks emerge from a tunnel, then cross a river with a second bridge nearby? I can't read the tunnel name.
Good video, but at 6:30 the narrator gives the most hilarious line of the video. "A tunnel. A big hole bored through a high steep hill." Who knew. LOL
Why is there a GE/Alco powerplant in an EMD E unit?
I enjoyed that. Is there another part to this film?
Noice how well dressed everyone is?
Passenger rail had been defunded terribly in the USA. It would be nice if we had high speed rail in places other than the NE corridor.
America should have made continuous significant investments in passenger rail transportation between major cities. We should have been a world leader, enhancing and innovating the experience. Sad.
Not only do we have much less passenger train service now, western Canada is about to lose Greyhound bus service as well.
Love the dining car
Why don't we have dining cars like that today? Instead of these we have shitty fast food from McDonald's.
Take note Easyjet, each passenger can take one suitcase for free...that's a proper suitcase..as it used to be on the aeroplanes
Well, when the carrier can add an entire railroad car to the train at rather inconsequential weight gain to carry luggage, each traveler could indeed bring a large trunk. A box car is pretty big inside and a baggage car is just a nicely appointed version of the same thing.