Comfort and luxury on the rails: here's what train travel in the United States looked like in the 1950s

Comfort and luxury on the rails: here's what train travel in the United States looked like in the 1950s

Categories: North America | Travel | World

Once the United States could boast of the most developed railway transport system in the world, but after the Second World War, the Americans actually deliberately destroyed the mass transportation of people by rail.

The last breath of the Great Railway Era was the 1950s, which were the beginning of the end. At that time, the Sunset Limited was still running – the oldest named train in the United States, running since November 1894. We suggest you take a look at its cars.

Comfort and luxury on the rails: here's what train travel in the United States looked like in the 1950s

These amazing photos from the digital collections of SMU libraries were taken by American photographer Robert Yarnall Ritchie and demonstrate the luxury of the Sunset Limited Southern Pacific Railway in 1950.

Comfort and luxury on the rails: here's what train travel in the United States looked like in the 1950s

Comfort and luxury on the rails: here's what train travel in the United States looked like in the 1950s

At the beginning of the XX century, the length of the US railways reached a fantastic 416 thousand kilometers even by modern standards. In the 1950s, the "Great Rail Pogrom" began in America, which led to the decline and degradation of almost all railway transport, and especially its passenger part.

Comfort and luxury on the rails: here's what train travel in the United States looked like in the 1950s

But then the Great Rail Pogrom began, which lasted until the 1970s. Grandiose railway stations built in the rail "golden era" were ruthlessly demolished, reconstructed and simply abandoned.

Comfort and luxury on the rails: here's what train travel in the United States looked like in the 1950s

Comfort and luxury on the rails: here's what train travel in the United States looked like in the 1950s

Already in 1957, a sharp reduction in passenger traffic on the railways began. The development of high-speed air transport made traveling by rail for a long distance an anachronism. By 1965, only 10,000 passenger cars remained in regular operation in the United States, which was 85% less than in 1929.Comfort and luxury on the rails: here's what train travel in the United States looked like in the 1950sComfort and luxury on the rails: here's what train travel in the United States looked like in the 1950s

Comfort and luxury on the rails: here's what train travel in the United States looked like in the 1950s

Comfort and luxury on the rails: here's what train travel in the United States looked like in the 1950s

Comfort and luxury on the rails: here's what train travel in the United States looked like in the 1950s

Comfort and luxury on the rails: here's what train travel in the United States looked like in the 1950s

Comfort and luxury on the rails: here's what train travel in the United States looked like in the 1950s

Comfort and luxury on the rails: here's what train travel in the United States looked like in the 1950s

Comfort and luxury on the rails: here's what train travel in the United States looked like in the 1950s

Comfort and luxury on the rails: here's what train travel in the United States looked like in the 1950s

Comfort and luxury on the rails: here's what train travel in the United States looked like in the 1950s

Comfort and luxury on the rails: here's what train travel in the United States looked like in the 1950s

Comfort and luxury on the rails: here's what train travel in the United States looked like in the 1950s

Comfort and luxury on the rails: here's what train travel in the United States looked like in the 1950s

Comfort and luxury on the rails: here's what train travel in the United States looked like in the 1950s

Keywords: USA | North America | Train | Travel | World | Railway | Cars | 50s | 1950s

Post News Article

Recent articles

The history of sugar, or How the "sweet life" of mankind began
The history of sugar, or How the "sweet life" of mankind began

Although today it is customary to scold sugar harshly, people have not yet learned to do without it. The history of mankind is ...

The toughest military training from around the world
The toughest military training from around the world

Read and find out that there is something else to do in the army besides peeling potatoes. Making a bridge at gunpoint. Breaking ...

14 things that everyone who lived before the Internet era remembers
14 things that everyone who lived before the Internet era ...

Now, with just one small device, we can exchange instant messages, buy books or music, get any necessary information and much more. ...

Related articles

This collection of items Seized from air passengers by the TSA will make your day
This collection of items Seized from air passengers by the ...

Can you tell what snakes, ninja shurikens, eels and grenades have in common? It's simple — all this is periodically seized ...

The amazing story of the Cocaine Bear — a bear who ate 34 kilos of smuggled cocaine
The amazing story of the Cocaine Bear — a bear who ate 34 ...

The story of drug smuggling has a lot of amazing occasions, but the case of Coca Bears — one of the most impressive. He became a ...

Red thread on the wrist. Where did it come from and what does it mean
Red thread on the wrist. Where did it come from and what does ...

Madonna, Johnny Depp, Annie Lorak, Lady Gaga, Olga Buzova, Philip Kirkorov, Leonardo DiCaprio, what unites these stars of domestic ...