Southern Pacific Railroad Train, Sunset Route, circa 1913

Southern Pacific Railroad Train, Sunset Route, circa 1913

 

For those who were missing the trains.... This stunning example of postcard art advises in the caption on the reverse of the Southern Pacific Railroad's safety achievements in 1913.

Logging - III

Then rail 'em out for further milling...

 Logging Train in California

 American Lumber Co Mill, Albuquerque, New Mexico

Logging - II

Haul 'em, saw them...

Poor darn horses... surely those two horses weren't expected to haul that load?!

Logging Load on skids - logs rolling across ground - makes it possible for two horses to pull a huge load of logs. Someone suggested these are Morgan horses, that like Clydesdales, are bred to haul heavy loads.

Logging Camp in Kentucky Mountains, with donkey engine for basic milling before transport to lumber mill.

Logging - I

Chop 'em, fell 'em - get outta the way! T-i-m-b-e-r!

 Logging timber in Washington with double handled saws

 Felling a tree in Idaho

Hay Fever

Another band that was coy about having their faces shown (see first post on this blog). This time in the New York - Canada region.

Farming Pastoral Series Published by W G MacFarlane Buffalo New York and Toronto circa 1910.

Make hay while the sun shines!

Roadside America - Gas Station, Wisconsin Dells

A popular collecting niche for Roadside America postcards is gas stations.

Here's a particularly nice one, the Lower Dells Filling Station, Wisconsin Dells, WI linen postcard, sporting a Phillips 66 sign.

The caption on the reverse boasts "superior service with courteous attendants at your command".

I drove past the Dells a few weeks back, but I didn't spot anything approaching this level of service or architectural aesthetic.

Trains, trains, trains...

From streamliner trains, to miniature trains, to train diners, to toy trains... on postcards, we've got 'em all!

Streamliner Train Diner - Roadside America

Trains, Roadside America-style

The Boggs Bros Airway Diner US 101 San Diego CA on a linen postcard

 click image for larger view

Baseball postcard: Looking For A Home Run

circa early 1900s. click image for larger view.

What this little guy lacks in technique, he makes up for with heart. Play ball!

A pity they can't stay this age because I've heard that when they grow up they're real bears!

Little Miss Muffet and postcards

Artist signed Marsh Lambert, postally used 1917 (click image for full view)

Little Miss Muffet,
Sat on her tuffet...

But she got off her tuffet to mail a postcard!

Why don't you mail a postcard?

Mr Pineapple Head - Fantasy Postcard

Some of the expressions and humor on vintage postcards are lost to us today as usage & word definitions have changed over time.

While I get the obvious reference and visual association with pineapple in the card below, the meaning of the reference to "Indian" is less obvious until one does some digging around and finds the use of the pineapple by indigenous peoples of the Americas.

The past as they say is a foreign country.

circa 1910

Full Steam Ahead - The New Zealand Railways Gang At Oamaru circa 1905

Then there are rppc trains...

The New Zealand Railways Gang At Oamaru circa 1905. Produced as a Christmas Greeting postcard as was the custom at train stations at the time. 

(click on image for larger view) 

 

A Q Class locomotive of New Zealand Railways at Oamaru, South Island circa 1905. RPPC was sent as a Christmas greeting to family members from the gang at the Oamaru station. Sender remarks that the loco's lamp is one of the latest electric lamps from a workshop in Chicago.

Many decades later I rode the freight trains at Oamaru with my uncle who was a guard (conductor - yeah, I know no passengers so no tickets to punch; a guard "guarded" the train, not for "security" but "(rail)road" safety). By those times, diesels had taken over. Good times - toasting sandwiches on the pot belly stove in the caboose (guard's van). In the steam era, got to ride up front in the cab, shoveling some coal, blowing the whistle, hand on the throttle or whatever they call it, head out the window, cinders in the eye...

Sadly, kids can't do that anymore thanks to occupational safety and health. Go play a video game, kid. Wouldn't trade those memories for anything (sniff). God bless you Uncle Norman, up there in the big roundhouse in the sky.

Streamliner Trains - Part IV - The Atlantic Coast Line Railroad

Linen postcard examples of the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad, depicting the Champion and Florida Special trains of the 1940s and 50s. Click on images for larger views.

Streamliner Trains - Part III - Southern Pacific Railroad

For the enthusiasts of steam locomotives, a Southern Pacific streamliner on the Daylight Express run in California:

click on image for larger view. linen postcard, circa 1940s

Streamliner Trains - Part II - A Medley of Western Railroads Los Angeles

This streamliner line up in Los Angeles in the 1960s consists of the Southern Pacific, Union Pacific, and Santa Fe - all three in a row...

 click on image for larger view. chrome postcard, circa 1960s.

Streamliner Trains - Part I - Santa Fe Railroad

There are streamliner trains - influenced by the art deco period - of the 1930s to 1950s

The linen postcards of streamliner trains are the most impressive. Here are some views of trains of the Santa Fe line:

A full on image of a Santa Fe streamliner

(click on image for larger view)

A Santa Fe streamliner passing through the orange groves of California. linen postcard

(click on image for larger view)

Miniature Railroad Trains

There are miniature trains:

Coney Island Dreamland Amusement Park Miniature Train, circa 1910

(click on image for larger view) 

Miniature Train at Nut Tree Farm, Vacaville, California,  circa 1960s

(click on image for larger view)