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RailroadTreasures offers the following item: New York Central’s Great Steel Fleet 1948-1967 BY Geoffrey Doughty Hard Cover New York Centrals Great Steel Fleet 1948-1967 BY Geoffrey Doughty Hard Cover 120 Pages 1995 revised editionIt may become obvious to the reader that this book was truly a labor of love and was not written without a sense of regret. Our society owes a great debt of gratitude to the railroads for they played a vital role in the development of the country and are a source of its wealth. A nation’s strength is often measured by its transportation resources-especially its passenger trains.Many people grow up waving at trains. They don’t wave at bus drivers or at airplane pilots, but they wave at locomotive engineers. No other industry has such a following. Passenger trains took on lives of their own; they could be relied upon; people set their watches by their passing.Up to the early 1950s, the passenger train was a crucial thread in the fabric of the United States. The train connected the cities and towns. Its demise helped erode these bonds and we lost a sense of cohesion.There were two conflicting points of view about the demise of the passenger train in the 1950s and 1960s. The first postulated that the railroads abandoned the passenger while the second argument claimed that the passenger abandoned (deserted) the train. The truth lies somewhere in between. It was a vicious cycle-one (either one) led to the other- and once started, it became difficult to reverse. Only during the August 1966 airline strike did rail travel experience a sudden and brief rebound, but when the strike was over, the downward spiral resumed.If any railroad could have made passenger service profitable, certainly New York Central could have. The railroad spent millions of dollars on stations, equipment, property, labor, and advertising: It was a tremendous investment to make the passenger service earn a profit, in spite of all the barriers, and it kept on trying as the losses increased. All too soon, the railroad was in trouble and its great passenger train fleet was sapping its strength. Something had to be done. It had to cut its losses.To many, in an historic sense (it was, after all, William K. Vanderbilt is credited as saying, “The public be damned!”), the railroad may have been big and impersonal, but the advertising department and employees made the patron feel like an honored guest who was always welcome. That attention and good will created a bond that was weakened only by the convenience of the car and airplane.I wrote this book to savor both the intangibles of travel and the hardware which are the genesis of great memories. It is not intended to be a comprehensive account of New York Central’s long distance passenger operations, which were on an enormous scale, but rather a representative overview of them. I chose to cover the passenger trains which New York Central itself promoted in its advertising as the “world’s largest passenger fleet.” It is only one chapter in the history of New York Central operations, but a remarkable one.The Great Steel Fleet of 1948-1967 will bring back memories for some and for others it will offer a glimpse at how first-class travel was defined and experienced. Either way, I hope you enjoy the ride.
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Category: Collectibles:Transportation:Railroadiana and Trains:Paper:Books:1900-Now
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