Steam & Excursion > 80 Years Ago Railfans - Different Cameras & Different Attire Too!

As many railfans will bo headed out trackside over this Holiday weekend, it is fun to look back and see what railfans "back in the day" looked like and what cameras they were sporting.  This great photo By Herb Arey demonstrates how things have changed.

These railfans are have gotten off a Sierra Railroad excursion train in the yards of the newly re-opend Pickering Lumber Corp in August 1937.  They present quite a sight.


Martin



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/03/15 04:09 by LoggerHogger.

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What, no jackets, ties and hats?  Gerry

Interesting to note that the attire in this picture is typically western US.  Contemporary pictures from the eastern part of the country seem to show a lot of the fans in coats and ties, likr sn excursion was some sort of the formal occasion.  

Thats formal for the west, casual is levis and a tee shirt.

The person in the middle, dressed all in white? Who goes on a steam excursion dressed in white?

People my age count years... It's only 78 years ago. Let's
not make them older than they are.

;-)

John.

The all white is a woman:  that explains it.

Lot of small cameras and the inevitable Graflex.   I don't see any selfie sticks tho.

HotWater Wrote:
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> The person in the middle, dressed all in white?
> Who goes on a steam excursion dressed in white?

The question is HW,  what about the guy in the dark shirt? A dark shirt between memorial day and labor day? Please....

Cheers, Dave

Anyone remember "high water pants"....!!!

Don---Napa

Guy on the far right is Eddie Haskell.

Interesting photo gear.
Ed K. 

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A few points.

1. The slim build of most of the photographers. Ninteen-thirty-seven was before widely-available, highly-processed food, and also when food costs as a proportion of income was extremely high (it's 11% today, 30 years ago it was 17%, and I've seen estimates as high as 40% during the depression); thus, limiting caloric intake. Also, phyical exersion was more common.

2. The pants are to the waistline, not the hips (even though today's pants show the measurement to be from the waist, they are actually cut to fit the hip, and that is how most people wear them). I'm not sure when the trend to hip started, but some say in the late 1950s, early 1960s, and some have speculated that it was the result of expanding waistlines.

3. All shirts are button down. Though tee-shirts were around, most were used as undershirts. It was rare to see an adult wearing a  tee-shirt.

4. Leather shoes.
 

I wonder if they a just posing for a photo, or are they in a photo line actually photographing something?  If it is a photo line, what is their subject?

2nd guy on the right looks like Francis Guido. Editor Western Railroader.

tomstp Wrote:
<<> The all white is a woman:  that explains it.<<

Gasp! Pheobe Snow on holiday?

Martin, did you take that photo?  Happy Fourth of July.

tomstp Wrote:
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> The all white is a woman:  that explains it.

The late Judy Sandberg, Steve's mother, of 261 fame, often dressed in a white suit.  I've seen her spend the day riding on 261 or other engines and still be spotless, in white.

-John

Standing on the rails...tsk, tsk!

I like "Mr Casual", third from left. Left hand in pocket and his other hand holding a camera (or some other device) to his eye!