At night the stewardess brings pillows to coach passengers and helps
them tilt their seats back. In some cars, each seat has a leg-rest that
pulls out, making a sort of couch for anyone who wants a nap.
[Illustration]
The stewardess usually gives extra attention to children. She may read
them stories in the playroom at the end of one car, or give them crayons
and coloring books, or play records for them. She even has a supply of
diapers for small babies and a refrigerator to keep their milk cool.
A streamliner is really a sort of hotel on wheels. The observation car
is like a lobby, with big soft chairs and sofas, tables full of
magazines, a radio and desks for writing letters. At one end is a
telephone booth where you can call up anyone you want to. This telephone
works by radio. The radio operator on the train connects you with a
regular telephone operator who completes the call over ordinary phone
wires.
[Illustration]
If you need a haircut, you can visit a barbershop on the train. Porters
will press your clothes and shine your shoes for you. You can buy ice
cream sodas at the snack bar. A businessman who wants to do some work
can ask the train’s stenographer to type out letters for him. And no
matter how disagreeable the weather is outside, a streamliner is
comfortable for it is air-conditioned.
Most fun of all are the streamliners that have double-decker cars called
Vista-Domes and Astra-Domes. The dome sticks up above the car like an
oversized caboose cupola. Like the freight brakeman, you can sit in the
upper deck, look out through the windows in the dome and see everything
around you. Daytimes there may be mountains. At night, you can lean back
in the adjustable seat and watch the stars.
[Illustration]
Streamliners go very fast, but not too fast for safety. Beside the track
are signs that tell the engineer what the speed limits are. For extra
safety, the locomotive may have a powerful headlight that sends out its
beam like a searchlight. The beam travels across the sky in a
figure-eight movement far ahead. People on highways see it and are
warned to stop at grade crossings in plenty of time.
[Illustration]
EATING
The galley is the kitchen in the dining car. It has to be worked like
those puzzles that won’t come out right unless you move the pieces in
just the proper order back and forth into one tiny little space. When
you see all the food being loaded into the diner for one trip, you can’t
believe there’s any space left over for cooking.
But everything has been planned ahead of time so that it all fits inside
the car. The cooks and the waiters have all gone to school where they
learned how to prepare and serve food for dozens of people without
getting the small galley cluttered up and out of order. Many diners have
mechanical dishwashers.
People eat so much on diners that railroads buy bananas by the boatload,
meat and butter and coffee by the carload. One road has its own potato
farm and turkey ranch.
[Illustration]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account