Queen of the Valley

Wikipedia tells us that “the Queen of the Valley,

the train pictured on the front of this post card, was a named train on the Central Railroad of New Jersey (CNJ). Operating from 1911 to 1967 it was the longest continuing operating train of the CNJ. Also, its route was the longest in the system, operating on a 179.5 mile route. The train left the Jersey City CNJ Communipaw Terminal, traveled south to Bayonne (but not stopping, until the train's later years), traversed the harbor at Elizabethport, headed west along the CNJ's Main Line. It continued past Elizabeth's CNJ station, Plainfield Station, to High Point station and Hampton, the end point for the regular NJ Transit Raritan Valley Line commuter service. From there, the route continued to Phillipsburg's Union Station, Easton, Pennsylvania, Bethlehem's Bethlehem Station and Allentown's Allentown Station. From Allentown, the train traveled along the territory of the Reading Railroad, continuing west to Reading (Reading Outer station) and finally to Harrisburg. In the mid-1930s it ran six days a week. In the early 1960s it was daily in operation.” The message on the back of the post card caught my attention. First of all, because it is typed. Who puts a post card into a typewriter to write the message? Evidently, Tom Acheson does. His message refers to a railway strike so I did some research. Here is what I found: In Canada, on August 23, 1973 a national railway strike began in earnest after various work stoppages and disruptions in different regions of the country. The country’s economy was so dependent on the railroad that thousands of workers were laid off, materials were not moved to ports for export and tourists were stranded. On September 1, 1973, after a non-stop debate in Parliament, a back-to-work bill was passed, the Senate approved it and royal assent was given. The union spokespersons did express some doubt about the law, but they said the railroad would be up and running again in a couple of weeks, after the tracks and equipment had been thoroughly inspected. Soon, the uncertainty of the union spokespersons became real. Canadian National Railway workers walked off the job a week later. Two trains were abandoned, and the passengers were left to fend for themselves. Eventually, the labour dispute was settled and all was well with the world. The above information was taken from these two websites: https://www.nytimes.com/1973/09/02/archives/a-bill-to-end-rail-strike-is-approved-in-canada-crippling-effects.html https://cdsun.library.cornell.edu/?a=d&d=CDS19730907.2.24&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN-------

The post card is one of 18 that I have from Bob Fremming. I know nothing about him, except that he lived in Dallas, Wisconsin..... and published at least 18 different post cards.