Is Seventy Years Ago Today is Still an Antique?

The Atlantic Coast Line Railroad needed its own exotic Miami-bound passenger train after rival Seaboard Air Line Railroad (SALRR) debuted its very successful Silver Meteor on February 2, 1939 connecting New York with Miami. To keep pace the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad (ACLRR) inaugurated its own version in December of that same year and called the service The Champion.

In conjunction with the Florida East Coast Railway the train provided daily service between New York and Miami. The train featured a beautiful livery and because both the ACLRR and SALRR served the very trendy vacation destination of Florida, their passenger trains to the Sunshine State remained popular through the late 1960s! However, both railroads’ flagship trains served essentially the same market. So, when Amtrak took over all American intercity passenger train operations in the spring of 1971 AMTRAK elected to keep only the Silver Meteor.

This post card is certainly not as old as those that I have recently added to this blog. However, it is older than I am, so I consider it to be old. It was mailed 70 years ago today. That's an antique in my books! The author is informing a friend of the latest happenings in her life. "Dear Lottie, guess you don't know we have been in Florida a couple month. I like it here but Dick doesn't. Too damp he says. Everything green and flowers blooming. Lovely poinsettias. It is a little cook the last couple days but has been warm. I have a little cold so I stayed home from church today. There is one across the street that I go to. I hope you are as well as common. Love Lille Busch"

The post card is printed by the Curt Otto Teich corporation. This post card falls into the Linen Post Card style. The numbers in the bottom right of the front of the card indicate the year that it was printed - 1941. The number is 1B-H1056. The B tells us that it was printed in the 1940s and the 1 in front of the B specifies the first year of the 40s. The H in the number is a code for telling us that this is a Linen Post Card. This is post card design number 1056 out of 2693 designed printed in 1941.

Ninety Seven Years Ago Today

The picture on the front of this post card is from inside the Royal Gorge. It is called this or "The Grand Canyon of the Arkansas River". This is because it is between 8 and 10 miles long (depends on where you start the measurement) and over 2,500 feet deep. It is a midget compared to the real Grand Canyon, but if haven't been to Arizona, this one is impressive.

In this picture, the train has just passed over the suspended bridge. Here the walls of the canyon are so narrow that the only way they could support the bridge deck was from above. I have other post cards that give a better and closer view of it. In this picture the red girders come to a point over the back of the train and the bridge is also red-ish.

The post card was written on December 14, 1920 (the date is written in the same handwriting as the rest of the message). But, using my super-super magnifying glass, I have come to the conclusion that it probably was not mailed until two days later. The number to the right of the 1 is too round to be a 4 in the cancellation mark.

The message is a friendly thank you. "Dear Anna & all; just got the pictures from Katherine yesterday, sure think they are beautifull (sic) and thank you many times for them and Gladys thanks the girls for her's (sic) too. I never saw any photos as pretty as they are. What are you going to do Xmas? I don't know if we will get to go to Hastings or not." Then, because she ran out of room at the bottom of the card, the author signed her name at the top, left of the card: "From Nellie".

Did you notice the cute little fellow at the top, middle of the card? This little alien-like critter is the logo (along with the arrow up the middle) of the H.H. Tammen Company. Those are their letters in the middle of the arrow. This company was a novelty dealer and important publisher of national view-cards and Western themes in continuous tone and halftone lithography. Their logo does not appear on all their cards but other graphic elements are often remain the same. H. H. Tammen (1856-1924) Harry Heye Tammen was born in Baltimore, Maryland on March 6, 1856, the son of a German immigrant pharmacist. He attended Knapps Academy in Baltimore, then worked in Philadelphia before moving to Denver in 1880.

In 1895 Tammen formed a partnership with F.G. Bonfils (whom he had met at the Chicago World's Fair) and they became co-owners and co-editors of the Denver Post. Their publishing business flourished, and Tammen's business successes made him a wealthy man. In 1917 Buffalo Bill Cody happened to die while in Denver, and Tammen (one of the city's biggest boosters) offered Cody's widow $10,000 if she would allow Cody to be buried in Denver; she accepted, and the ensuing funeral procession drew 50,000 people. He established the H.H. Tammen Trust in 1924, providing essential health care for children of families who cannot afford to pay. Tammen died July 19, 1924. The H.H. Tammen Curio Co. was in business until 1953, and possibly as late as 1962.

One Hundred and Fifteen Years Ago Today

On 13 April 1897 Lucian D. Ross, Thomas Burk, James L. Lindsay, W.T. Doubt and Kurnel R. Babbitt organized the Cripple Creek District Railway Company to operate a 6.25 mile standard gauge electric line between Cripple Creek and Victor. The Articles of Incorporation were amended 17 November 1899, at which time the line’s name was changed to Colorado Springs and Cripple Creek District Railway. An extension to Colorado Springs opened in April 1901. From 1897 to 1904 the Colorado Springs and Cripple Creek District Railway remained under the control of local investors. After gaining control of the line through stock ownership in 1904, the Colorado & Southern directed operations until 1911. After the line lost money due to competition from the Florence and Cripple Creek Railway and the Midland Terminal Railway, the Colorado & Southern, in 1911, leased the Colorado Springs and Cripple Creek District Railway to the Florence and Cripple Creek. In 1915 this lease was transferred to the Cripple Creek Central Railway, which also controlled the Midland Terminal Railway. By 1917 most rail traffic in the area was directed to the Midland Terminal Railway. The loss of the Bear Creek Bridge in May 1918 cut off all direct traffic from Colorado springs. The Colorado Springs and Cripple Creek District Railway was declared bankrupt in 1919, at which time it went into receivership. All operations ceased in 1920 and the line was sold for scrap.

I do not know who the printer or the publisher of this post card is. Although there is a hint in the lower right corner of the cover picture, I cannot break the code.

But this card is being added to my blog because at 10:30 this morning it will have been mailed 115 years ago. The message is quite serious: "Dear Uncle, This to let you know Rollie has been in the hospital since the morning of the 8th - a bad case of strangulated hernia and also took the appendix. A difficult operation and he'll be in bed 3 to 4 weeks - away from work 2 months. Is doing splendidly. Father will write later. Love to you all from us all. Lottie."

I can only imagine the kind of medical coverage that they had back then. My guess is that there were 2 months of his life when there was absolutely no income while he was off work. Thank God for family!!

One Hundred and Twelve Years Ago Today

The CNoR (this is the official reporting mark, not the C.N.R. on the post card) main line reached Edmonton.

It arrived in Edmonton on November 24, 1905 - just about three months after Alberta became a province in Canada. However it took another 8 years for this railway to reach the British Columbia border past Jasper. During this interval, the CNoR built a number of branch lines in the province, concentrating in central and north central Alberta.

Th post card was mailed on May 22, 1907, just over 110 years ago. The message is from a brother to his sister telling her that she will be surprised to know that he is in Edmonton. He will send more news about how this happened in the future. He did include his mailing address for her to reply.

The post card was made in Germany and published by the Edmonton Music Company. This was before World War I when all trade with Germany came to a screeching halt and the North American printers took up the cause of printing post cards. Notice that it is a "PRIVATE POST CARD", a technical term for the postal service of those days. That is a picture of Edward the 7th on the stamp.

One Hundred and Nine Years Ago Today

The Lucin Cut-off is a railroad line which included a railroad trestle which crossed the Great Salt Lake in Utah. Built by the Southern Pacific Company between February 1902 and March 1904 across Promontory Point, it bypassed the original Central Pacific Railroad route through Promontory Summit where the Golden Spike was driven in 1869. By going west across the lake from Ogden, Utah to Lucin, Utah, it cut off 43 miles and avoided curvatures and grades. The trestle was eventually replaced in the late 1950s with a parallel causeway built under contract by the Morrison Knudsen construction company. I am very excited to be able to say that I have a piece of wood from the original trestle in my possession. I got in from these people: Trestlewood.com/story


The Williamson-Haffner Engraving Company existed and was headquartered in Denver, Colorado from 1905 to 1915.

The company was a publisher of lithographic souvenir books and view-cards of the American West. While their views were largely based on photographic reproduction, many scenes were artist drawn. They also produced comic postcards. This post card was a photographic reproduction printed by another company but published by the Williamson-Haffner Co. I have 5 post cards of extremely similar images. 4 of them were printed by the company I would love to be able to identify. It has the words "POST CARD" over an American flag draped over a staff lying sideways (see the top of this card). I have many, many post cards from this printer. Unfortunately, none of them identify the printer, only the publishers.

I have seen the message on the back of the post card several times. It must have been popular at the turn of the last century. "I don't know where I'm going, but I'm on my way." I am pretty sure that the word "Dearest" was scratched off much later by another "collector"; and the "mn365 20" looks like it was added after, too.

The post card was mailed 109 years ago today at 3:30 in the afternoon.

One Hundred and Six Years Ago Today

The First World War was not even four months old; it would be another four years before the significance of November 11th would take hold of the world.

And yet, this father made it a special day for his daughter. They went up to the top of Mount Lowe to make a day of it and he sent her a little reminder of their special time together. The message on the post card says, "Dear Daughter, Just a line from Mt. Lowe and although you are with me I wished to surprise you with a card. Love from Papa" How great is that?

In 1889, David MacPherson, a former Santa Fe Railway civil engineer, planned a steam powered railroad into the mountains behind Pasadena. In 1891, MacPherson and Thaddeus Lowe, a public figure from the Civil War, incorporated the Pasadena and Mt. Wilson Railway. Land near Mt. Wilson was unavailable, so Lowe ran electric trolley cars through Altadena into Rubio Canyon. At the terminus, Lowe built a pavilion transfer station and "The Great Incline". Designed by Andrew Halladie, cable car inventor, the incline was California's first electric cable hoisting mechanism. It traveled 1/2 mile to Echo Mountain summit where Lowe built a powerhouse, Chalet, the Echo Mountain House,

a casino (used as a dance pavilion and dormitory), an observatory, residential car barn, gardens, gas holder, zoo and water system. "The White City on the Mountain" was world famous. Echo Mountain House rose 4-stories with a 400 foot wing providing office space, social and recreational halls, a dining room, curio shop, shoeshine stand and 70 rooms. A massive dome crowned the structure. The interior was finished in natural wood.

Henry Huntington (Pacific Electric Railway System) bought the railway in 1901.  "Red Cars" ran from Los Angeles to Rubio Canyon.  Huntington strengthened the bridges and upgraded the track of the Mt. Lowe Line.  The casino collapsed during a sever gale on December 9, 1905.  The roof flew 60 feet, landing on the powerhouse.  Huntington constructed a modern incline mechanism in a new powerhouse.  For the Alpine Division, he built open-air crossbench cars and expanded the Alpine Tavern.  Amenities included a dining room, billiard room, music room with floor, card room, circulating library and souvenir shop.  Recreation included croquet, tennis, riding, hiking an miniature golf.  Bungalows surrounded the hotel.  A nearby silver fox farm added ambiance.  For the next 30 years, the Mt. Lowe Line was Southern California's favorite lodestone.  Another windstorm destroyed the observatory in 1928.  September 15, 1936, fire completely gutted Alpine Tavern.  Although Pacific Electric weighed rebuilding the hotel, the Depression destined the end of the line. 

One Hundred and Thirty Two Years Ago

The front of this post card is a reproduction of a poster from 1945. It commemorates the sixtieth anniversary of the driving of the last spike in the Canadian transcontinental railway. World War II had just finished and these were pretty heady days in Canada - similar, I am sure, to the days after the completion of the cross-Canada railway. The driving of the last spike happened at Craigellachie, British Columbia at 9:22 A.M. 132 years ago today.

From Wikipedia: The circumstance of the CPR's last spike ceremony led several spikes to assume the honour of being the "last spike". In contrast to the ceremonial gold or silver final spikes often used to mark the completion of other major railroads, the Canadian Pacific Railway's "Last Spike" was a conventional iron spike identical to the many others used in the construction of the line. The symbolic iron spike driven by Donald Smith was badly bent as he pounded it into the railway tie. Roadmaster Frank Brothers extracted the spike and it was given to Smith as the "last spike". Smith had the bent spike straightened and cut several strips of iron from it which were mounted with diamonds and presented to the wives of some of the party assembled at Craigellachie. This spike was later donated to the Canada Science and Technology Museum in Ottawa. This post card below was issued on the 100th anniversary of the driving of the last spike. It includes a commemorative stamp printed by Canada Post.

I have been to Craigellachie; it is what many would call "in the middle of nowhere". It is near half-way between Salmon Army, to the west, and Revelstoke. There is a lovely little tourist booth at which you can purchase several souvenirs and read about the history of the CPR's last spike ceremony. I have a T-shirt!!

One Hundred and Eight Years Ago Today

This is another of the post cards in my collection that are related to the Royal Gorge in Colorado. I was collecting this theme of post cards long before I went there to see it with my own eyes. My wife and I decided to vacation in the state of Colorado a few years ago. Because we were in Colorado we included 3 train trips in the itinerary. Pikes Peak was the first one. The Durango & Silverton was the second and the Royal Gorge was the last one. We paid a bit extra to be able to sit in the cab with the engineer. We saw all the sights that are connected to the Royal Gorge in my post cards except this one; it's called "The Crevice". It looks like it might be near the hanging bridge. There are no signs to point them out, so we went past this, but I am not sure when we did.

This post card was mailed 108 years ago today. The message is from one good friend to another. It tells the receiver that the sender is now working in the "mail service". It adds that he has to "learn the work before I get any money". This would not be an acceptable practice today. YAY Progress!!! He does add later that "I like this fine." so I am glad he was happy with what he was doing.

You will notice that the logo in the top, middle of the card appears again. I have this on so many of the post cards. I would love to know who it belonged to.

One Hundred and Twenty Two Years Ago

Today's blog entry is dedicated to my good friend Aline, whose birthday is today. She is MUCH younger than this post card, but she does speak French. Why do I add this little tid-bit you ask? Read the rest of the posting:

Almost everyone who is into trains must know about this famous accident that happened in Paris. And, of course, I have a post card that commemorates the event. Unfortunately, the post card is not from 1895. It is from, at the earliest, 1963; it contains a 5-digit zip code to New York on the back. Zip codes were introduced to the United States in January of 1963.

The official title of the incident on the front of this post card is "Montparnasse Derailment". I can make out the words "CHEMIN DE FER" and "DE L'OUEST" on the side of the building. What we see in the picture is then engine.

The whole train consisted of the locomotive (No. 721), three luggage cars, a post office car, and six passenger coaches. The only person hurt in the accident was a woman on the street below who was struck by some of the falling concrete as the engine burst through the wall.

I just received another post card in the mail 16 days ago with a picture on it depicting the same accident. A good friend of ours was in Europe. While she was in Paris at the Musee d' Orsay where she picked up this post card. On the back of the post card she writes, "I suspect I will see Colette before either of you see this!" She was right. Colette had coffee with her on October 2nd; we received this card on the 6th of October.

This incident happened on October 22, 1895 - One Hundred and Twenty Two Years Ago today.

One Hundred and Two Years Ago Today

This post card was mailed to his father one hundred and two years ago today by Bert. I know this because the message reads: "Dear Father, This is certainly a beautiful city and a good place to live. Things are very lively here & so many tourist the street are certainly black. Your son Bert."

The post card was published by the Van Ornum Colorant Co. centered in Los Angeles, California.

From 1908 to 1921 they published lithographic view-cards, mostly depicting scenes of southern California. Their corporate symbol on the back of this post card is also the divider between the message and the address. It is a stylized palm tree, like so many that one can see in Southern California.

ANGEL'S FLIGHT was open from 6 a.m. to 12 p.m. daily. The round trip fare was 5 cents. I have, in my collection of collectables, a certificate with the history of Angel's Flight and a promise to rebuild once Bunker Hill's community renovations are done. We purchased it on one of our trips to downtown. It is probably 50 years old itself. That is nothing compared to the age of this post card!

Built in 1901 by Col. J. W. Eddy, was a commercially operated miniature cable railway transporting passengers up and down the steep slope of Bunker Hill, between Hill and Olive Streets. The line climbed 315 feet up the 33 1/3 percent gradient from its starting point just south of the entrance to the Third Street Tunnel. Colonel Eddy promoted the line, which

opened in 1901. He had been a friend of Abraham Lincoln before the Civil War. Angels Flight was built to allow residents of the wealthy Bunker Hill neighborhood to get to and from the business district near the Plaza. Eddy also set up a telescope and later a tower to attract tourists. It was an observation tower that rose 100 feet above the tunnel mouth, and commanded a view of the San Gabriel Mountains. You can see it in the middle of the post card against the sky.

Two thirty-inch gauge counterbalanced cars, seating thirty-eight passengers each, operated on the line. The track had three rails with a passing siding in the middle. Only up-bound passengers had to pay. The city required the company to maintain a parallel stairway for people who didn't want to pay.

The Bunker Hill neighborhood gradually declined over the years until the 1960's when the city decided to "renew" it. The city promised to save the line's equipment and to rebuild it. The last day of service was on May 18, 1969. In early 1995, construction began at a new location, 4th and Hill Streets, using the original rail cars, station house, and the two end station arches. The original driving mechanism was put back, but is no longer used. The trestle and track structure are new. The line reopened on February 24, 1996. It was quickly shut down again when a person died on the funicular. The Angel's Flight can still be seen today, but it is not in use.

One Hundred and Five Years Ago

Most of this below is from our favourite source of information: Wikipedia. This is a picture of a train sitting at the station in Parry Sound. Parry Sound is a town in Ontario, Canada, located on the eastern shore of the sound after which it is named. Parry Sound is located 160 km south of Sudbury and 225 km north of Toronto. It is the seat of Parry Sound District, a popular cottage country region for Southern Ontario residents. It also has the world's deepest natural freshwater port, which makes it a great spot for a railroad terminus.

The body of water that gives the town its name was surveyed and named by Captain Henry Bayfield in the 19th century, in honour of the Arctic explorer Sir William Edward Parry. In 1857, the modern town site was established near the Ojibwa village of Wasauksing ("shining shore") at the mouth of the Seguin River. In the late 19th century, rail service was established, making the town an important depot along the rail lines to Western Canada.

Via Rail's Canadian (the train route from Toronto to Vancouver and back) transcontinental passenger train serves the Parry Sound railway station three times a week both east and westbound. Westbound passenger as well as Canadian Pacific Railway and Canadian National Railway freight trains are carried over the Seguin River by the Parry Sound CPR Trestle, a visible presence in the center of town.

The post card was mailed One Hundred and Five Years Ago today. It is a note from Helen to Mrs. Smith testing to see if she has the correct address.

The 20th Century Limited: 81 years ago today

The following is taken from the website: http://www.american-rails.com/20th-century-limited.html They wrote up a much better description of the Twentieth Century Limited than I ever could.

"The New York to Chicago corridor was one of the most hotly contested passenger markets east of the Mississippi and New York Central’s 20th Century Limited competed with Pennsylvania Railroad's Broadway Limited for top honors, a rivalry which persisted for decades (based from historic traffic figures the Century did have a slight edge over the Broadway). Few trains have carried the aura of Central's original streamlined version of the Limited, which featured perhaps the greatest example of shrouding ever applied to a steam locomotive. As flag bearer of the "Great Steel Fleet" the Limited's service was second-to-none, matched only by the Broadway. As interest in rail travel waned after World War II and a merger with Pennsylvania looming by the late 1960s NYC chose to discontinue its once proud creation fearing service would slip unacceptable levels."

The summary on the back of the post card reads: "The Century is more than a train - more than a thing of steel and steam and electricity - more than an achievement of American engineering genius. Through thirty-three years of continuous service, the 20th CENTURY LIMITED has come to represent the spirit of American transpotation."

The post card was published by the New York Central Lines, the railroad company that dominated the passenger train service between New York City and Chicago. This post card was mailed 81 years ago today, September 28, 1936.

One Hundred and Four Years Old Today

The Royal Gorge (also Grand Canyon of the Arkansas) is a canyon on the Arkansas River near Cañon City, Colorado. With a width of 50 feet (15 m) at its base and a few hundred feet at its top, and a depth of 1,250 feet (380 m) in places, the 10-mile-long canyon is a narrow, steep gorge through the granite of Fremont Peak. It is one of the deepest canyons in Colorado.

On April 19, 1878, a hastily assembled construction crew from the Santa Fe began grading for a railroad just west of Canon City in the mouth of the gorge. The D&RG whose end of track was only ¾ of a mile from Canon City raced crews to the same area, but were blocked by the Santa Fe graders in the narrow canyon.

By a few hours they had lost the first round in what became a two-year struggle between the two railroads that would be known as the Royal Gorge War.

Unfortunately, I do not know anything about the printer of this post card. The only tell-tale sign of who this could be is the logo partially covered by the postmark and cancellation stripes. This logo is on so many of my post cards, and yet, I cannot definitely say who it belongs to. Some day....

I have two other post cards that are the same as this one. One has the publisher of it as being the Gray News Company of Salt Lake City, Utah. The message on that post card, mailed in 1912 says, "We are still in state of many wives". That is the entire message!!

The post mark on the top, middle of the card with the picture and the first message, above, is from 104 years ago today at 1:30 AM. It was sent from Montrose, CO to Rutherford, NJ. The address is written right-side up, but the message is upside down. It basically says that the sender is on her way to Jake's, she hopes the receiver is feeling better, that she will get over the see mother (maybe they are sisters) and that the sender hopes to be home toward the end of November.

Today in history: the picture on this post card's date

The engine on the front of this post card is an EMD FP7A. The EMD means that it was manufactured by the Electro-Motive Division of General Motors. The FP7A is the model of engine. The FP7A model was designed to be a diesel engine that carried a steam generator as part of the cab. This allowed the engine to pull and heat passenger trains. This model was also an improvement over the previous EMD E-units because the company changed the wheel configuration to give the engine better traction pulling up grades. The engine was rated for 1,500 horsepower.

The company started building the FP7A units in June of 1949 and the final one rolled out of the factory in December of 1953 after about 380 of these engines were built. This particular engine on the post card was one of the last ones. It was built in December of 1953 as part of order number 3169-A2. Its serial number is 19065. Originally built for the Alaskan Railroad as number 1512, this picture shows it as part of the Wyoming & Colorado Railroad on September 23, 1989 – 28 years ago today and almost 64 years after it rolled into service.

I have looked on the internet and I can find a picture of the same engine in service. The picture is dated January 1, 1996. The engine was serving the Wyoming Scenic Railroad in that picture. Let’s hope that it has had a long and fruitful life and that someone is still enjoying it today.

I found this information about the publishing company on their website: Founded in 1964 by the late Carl H. Sturner, Audio-Visual Designs has been a leader in providing high quality railroad images products for over 4 decades. The business was originally located in Earlton, NY. The name was derived by the products sold at the time – audio soundtracks of trains well as visual items (post cards, books, & calendars). The first All Pennsy Calendar was published in 1966 and for many years used exclusively the photos of Don Wood, a long time friend of Carl's. In the late 80's, Carl started showcasing other photographer's work as well.

Railroad Christmas cards were added to the line of products early on and with a few exceptions have featured real photos of trains in action. Three railroad books have been published by Audio-Visual Designs: I Remember Pennsy, Locomotives in My Life, and The Unique New York and Long Branch: all of which were projects worked on by Carl and Mr. Wood. Audio-Visual Designs has also published books for other non-railroad related organizations. By the time of his untimely passing in 1995, Carl had grown Audio-Visual Designs into an established icon in the railfan community - providing an enjoyable aspect of both the railfanning and model railroading hobbies. We serve many excursion railroads, museums, and hobby shops with stock post card images, greeting cards, custom products and the All Pennsy Calendar.

Pick An Orange As You Go By

This post card is published by the M. Kashower Company out of Los Angeles. It is from the "white border era" of post cards, which means it was printed between 1915 and 1930. That puts it in the right time zone because the company only existed from 1914 to 1934.

It is a stylized picture of a steam train passing through an orange grove in southern California. I lived in So. Cal. for many years starting in 1959 and I can attest that, while this is certainly stylized, it is possible that a similar photo could have actually existed, including the mountain in the background.
This route (The Golden State Limited) began running on November 2, 1902 from Chicago to Kansas City to El Paso, then it went on to New Mexico and Arizona and finally arrived in Los Angeles. It was a partnership between the Rock Island Line and the Southern Pacific. The journey was 2,762 miles long, making it the longest route in the United States. Canada had a route longer, so this was the second longest train route in North America. It took about 63 hours to complete the journey from Chicago to Los Angels. The Golden State Limited used Pullman passenger cars exclusively. The route began as a seasonal experience, but in 1910 the Golden State Limited began to run all through the year until its demise in 1968. Limited was dropped from the name in May of 1947.