Steam & Excursion > Car Hosts on Excursion Trips

Excursion train trips were always good times for most of us back when the B&O Railroad (then Chessie System) and the Western Maryland Railway operated them.  The Baltimore Chapter of the NRHS and the private car group Railroad Passenger Cars (RRP) thoroughly enjoyed running public excursion train trips from the Baltimore area heading up to places like Hagerstown, Cumberland, and Oakland, Maryland for an all day excursion, especially in the fall when the leaves were changing colors.  These trips attracted not only members of these rail organizations, but many others including train fans and the tourists who just enjoyed riding to see the scenery and historic places along the way.  It was very important to have hosts and hostesses on board to help the passengers enjoy these trips.  RRP was able to have several ladies to volunteer as hostesses as per the photos attached.  Photos courtesy of RRP, Baltimore, now in my collection.
John in White Marsh.

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cuter than the hosts we had for UP steam trips out of  Denver!

Very pleasant examples of how it takes so many people to make a passenger operation successful. Thanks for sharing these images.

I was car hosting on the Hooper on a Chessie Safety Express trip when the car was reserved for Congressional staff members and their families--and we got side-swiped by a freight returning from Philadelphia to Baltimore and Silver Spring.  No one was hurt, thank God, and the Chessie PR lady came through the car--smooth as silk--smiling and reassuring everyone.....


.....on the Safety Express!

Art House

aehouse Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I was car hosting on the Hooper on a Chessie
> Safety Express trip when the car was reserved for
> Congressional staff members and their
> families--and we got side-swiped by a freight
> returning from Philadelphia to Baltimore and
> Silver Spring.  No one was hurt, thank God, and
> the Chessie PR lady came through the car--smooth
> as silk--smiling and reassuring everyone.....
>
>
> .....on the Safety Express!
>
> Art House
By chance Art, do you have a photo of that Chessie PR Lady?  I might have known her.  Also, I'm pretty sure that the 3302 "Edward G. Hooper" was not damaged from the sideswipe from the passing train.
John in White Marsh, Maryland

Thank you, John.  Your photos are most enjoyable.

-John

Rode the HOOVER on Safety Express out of Grafton, WV.

rr caboose

ClubCar Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

> By chance Art, do you have a photo of that Chessie
> PR Lady?  I might have known her.  Also, I'm
> pretty sure that the 3302 "Edward G. Hooper" was
> not damaged from the sideswipe from the passing
> train.
> John in White Marsh, Maryland

John,

I do not have a photo, as I was very busy that day. I recall the Chessie PR lady was an older woman, and knew her business.

The outer panes of glass were broken on many of the windows, with some powdered glass making it into the car, but, thankfully, no one was hurt. There had been a kid standing in the vestibule moments before when the sideswipe (a loose TOFC door) banged along the side.  This was a Silver Spring-Philadelphia roundtrip, a rare itinerary for the Safety Express. We returned late in the evening, well after dark.

Art



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/05/24 08:30 by aehouse.

Years before the CR-caused wreck at Chase, MD, 
PennCentral or ConRail had requested and agreed to reimburse 
Potomac Yard car inspectors to secure side doors on freight cars,
destined northbound on the Northeast Corridor.

The doors that were the 'weakest' were the 'plug' doors, that when 
opened are supported on a track with rollers on the door. 
When closed and secured, the plug-door fits into the car side and is 
trapped on all 4 edges for solid support. The supporting vertical rods 
rotate to move the door flush with and into the car side.

It was common for RR customers, that received their stock in 'plug-door' 
box cars, to 'release' cars with open, or no secured plug doors...

PY car inspectors closed, secured and 'wired' the latches of the closed 
and secured plug doors.  The function of the 'wires' was to visually confirm 
that the doors were secured and locked.

A few cars a week were found to have faulty securement mechanisms,
and those were set-out, --- for a trip to the running-repair shop for 
problem resolutions.  Some doors were in such bad shape, on the 
repair tracks, that the faulty door was dismounted, and secured inside 
the box car, and the car directed to 'home shop' for repairs.

The challenge was that sometimes high-speed passenger trains could dislodge 
those unsecured plug-doors.  A plug door, by itself weighs a couple of tons!
They're very heavy, so every ConRail northbound train had every plug-door
was closed, secured and 'wired'.

Of course, PY was out of business in 1990, and Amtrak has successfully 
kept most freight trains OFF the NEC. 

Thanks for your attention.

​W.

The plug door menace seemed to be a big thing 30 years ago. We had all sorts of safety bulletins about them and we were verboten to shut them without a car toad around.

They don’t seem to be on the radar like the old days anymore.

Regards

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