Monday, May 26, 2008

Chicago Rail Fair 1948 Slides Set Number 5

The final day of slides from the Chicago Rail Fair. I will start with some of the fair buildings and scenes, and then to more Railroad equipment. The first image is of the adobe in the Santa Fe Railroad exhibit.

Here is another one of the structures in Santa Fe, the first building.

There was also stations constructed for the display. Here is a typical station along the C.& N.W.R.R. (The Chicago and Northwester Railroad) with a diesel engine display sitting on the siding.

The Pullman company was also represented at the fair. The company sponsored and built a large tower. Pullman was one of the premier railroad coach builders along with running the sleepers on many railroads.

Finally a nice over view of the fair. I still like the looks of flags flapping in the breeze.

Now on to some more equipment. This is once again dedicated to Richard from Viewliner, Ltd. Also please correct me if I make any mistakes on the equipment. The first is the observation car from the Golden Rocket. The train was to be a high speed train jointly operated by SP and Rock Island. The route would be from Chicago to Los Angeles.

A gorgeous shot of an EMD (Electromotive diesel) engine from Southern Pacific in its bright yellow livery.

And to show it was not just passenger cars, here is a nice freight car from the Burlington Route.

Also a historic combination car from the Cumberland Valley Railroad, circa 1890.

One of my favorite images is the back end of this observation car from the Milwaukee Road of their Hiawatha train set.

9 comments:

The Viewliner Limited said...

WOW!!! Again these are the greatest pictures I have ever seen of RR Fair. You are dead on about the observation car and thanks again for the dedication, truly appreciated. The UP EMD is awesome. The shots from the Santa Fe Indian Village are fantastic. Thanks again Matterhorn. You can tell Walt got a lot of inspiration from this fair. What an awesome post!!!

Major Pepperidge said...

Holy Moly! I thought that we were done with the Rail Fair, but we get a whole of additional slides! Wonderful.

Major Pepperidge said...

whole BUNCH, that is. D'oh!

Anonymous said...

What a fantastic time machine experience looking at these. Those color slides put you right there. Thanks for taking the time to scan and post them. That Hiawatha pic is outstanding. Of course that beautiful Union Pacific...wow. That Burlington freight car pic is really funny. I love the three women ignoring it. Hey ladies, did you notice it’s “to be equipped with UNIT TRUCKS”!...Let’s face it, you had to really be into trains to get excited about a freight car.

Anonymous said...

"A gorgeous shot of an EMD (Electromotive diesel) engine from Southern Pacific in its bright yellow livery."


Don't you mean Union Pacific ?

Although, you weren't far off -

1901: Union Pacific Railroad acquires control of Southern Pacific. In the following years, many SP operating procedures and equipment purchases follow patterns established by Union Pacific.

1913: The Supreme Court of the United States orders the Union Pacific to sell all of its stock in the Southern Pacific.

1984: The Southern Pacific Company merges into Santa Fe Industries, parent of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway, to form Santa Fe Southern Pacific Corporation. When the Interstate Commerce Commission refuses permission for the planned merger of the railroad subsidiaries as the Southern Pacific Santa Fe Railroad SPSF shortens its name to Santa Fe Pacific Corporation and puts the SP railroad up for sale while retaining the non-rail assets of the Southern Pacific Company.

October 13, 1988: Rio Grande Industries, parent of the Rio Grande Railroad, takes control of the Southern Pacific Railroad. The merged company retains the name "Southern Pacific" for all railroad operations.

1996: The Union Pacific Railroad finishes the acquisition that was effectively begun almost a century before with the purchase of the Southern Pacific by UP in 1901, until divestiture was ordered in 1913. Ironically, although Union Pacific was the dominant company, taking complete control of SP, its corporate structure was merged into Southern Pacific, which on paper became the "surviving company"; it then changed its name to Union Pacific. The merged company retains the name "Union Pacific" for all railroad operations.

The Blue Parrot said...

I love the view of the Pullman building! I wonder if they let visitors try out their hand at the Maintenance of Way equipment shown on the left.

"Why, certainly! Step right up and try out your hand at the hydraulic Ballast Tamper!"

CheriBibi said...

Wow, now that the Santa Fe Railroad exhibit has to be what inspired the hotel Santa Fe in Disneyland Paris. I had no idea.
Google some pictures for it, it's amazin !! Thank you for the pics ! Everything makes a certain sense on the origin of the name and structure sytle.

Anonymous said...

I've just found an article about a Paul Bunyan AA from the 49 Rail Fair: http://blog.modernmechanix.com/2007/07/30/paul-bunyan-comes-to-life/

Kid 43 said...

The pictures are the first color pictures I have ever seen of the RR fare. And they are beautiful! I attended the Chicago RR fare at age 5 and my picture was taken in front of the UP diesel in b&w. I also vividly remember the Hiawatha skytop exactly as it appears in the picture. Wow! Thanks.