Nostalgia & History > What were Presto Log's used for on UP diners?

There is an interesting article within the latest Milwaukee Railroader magazine that includes a company memo issued in 1970 decribing how to stock a UP dining car. This was for use on the UP-MILW joint trains 103 and 104. Not having been on anything pre-Amtrak I wonder why they would need Presto Logs on a dining car. Can someone tell me what they used them for?

They actually cooked on and baked in, wood fired stoves.

Yes, indeed.

Up to Amtrak time, I think; maybe even after until HEP.

I rode the Southern Crescent in summer of'76 and they used the same logs. Extra's were stacked in the small corridor outside the galley service door. At the time my dad and I thought it was strange then too.

The D&RGW diner at Joshua Tree still has it's pile of logs that it came with in storage up above the galley. We never had the heart to burn them, so there they sit. We tried contemporary PrestoLog brand logs, but they sooted up the flue almost immediately due to the high wax content. Coal turned out to be a much better fuel, and it gives the Rib Roast a particular smokey flavor!

dcautley Wrote:
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> They actually cooked on and baked in, wood fired
> stoves.
>
> Yes, indeed.
>
> Up to Amtrak time, I think; maybe even after until
> HEP.

Used them right up to HEP conversion

My mom baked and cooked and heated our small house with Presto Logs 'til I was 16. I think they were bigger back then.(They were 18 for a dollar when I was a kid!) I noticed the ones today seem smaller in diameter. Kinda like candy bars or Hostess cupcakes. Anyway, just ramblin'.......Pat

Milwaukee Wrote:
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> There is an interesting article within the latest
> Milwaukee Railroader magazine that includes a
> company memo issued in 1970 decribing how to stock
> a UP dining car. This was for use on the UP-MILW
> joint trains 103 and 104. Not having been on
> anything pre-Amtrak I wonder why they would need
> Presto Logs on a dining car. Can someone tell me
> what they used them for

Google Presto Log History for some interesting reading including this article :http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/sia/32.1/br_8.html

Have you tried these?

http://www.pacificfirewood.com/products_prestologs.html

>We tried contemporary PrestoLog brand logs, but they sooted up the flue almost immediately due to the high wax content. Coal turned out to be a much better fuel, and it gives the Rib Roast a particular smokey flavor!

Burning coal in a stove designed for wood is a sure way to destroy it.

Are there any restrictions on a purist PV diner using these while being pulled by Amtrak?

Here is a photo of the kitchen of a UP dining car. Presto logs were used in the oven on the right.

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The distinctive Presto-Log smell wafted up from Seattle's King Street Station to Fourth Avenue above, right up until the Superliners came to town in late '79 or '80. On the Starlight it was usually from a former Santa Fe pre-war Budd diner, looking very sooty and beat.

Dee-licious!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/06/10 23:05 by Notch16.

1moose Wrote:
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> Here is a photo of the kitchen of a UP dining car.
> Presto logs were used in the oven on the right.


Which diner is this, might I ask?

IIRC, U.P. preferred to have part of the diner operate on Presto-Logs because they will burn even if the car is snowed in. Getting vapor from underfloor propane tanks, on the other hand, might be questionable at 30 below zero in a Wyoming blizzard.

- Doug Debs

DWDebs/2472 Wrote:
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> IIRC, U.P. preferred to have part of the diner
> operate on Presto-Logs because they will burn even
> if the car is snowed in. Getting vapor from
> underfloor propane tanks, on the other hand, might
> be questionable at 30 below zero in a Wyoming
> blizzard.
>
> - Doug Debs

Which happened when the COSF got stuck at Yuba Pass in Jan, 1952

Waybiller Wrote:
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> 1moose Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Here is a photo of the kitchen of a UP dining
> car.
> > Presto logs were used in the oven on the right.
>
>
> Which diner is this, might I ask?

It is UP 5001. It is a former UP lunch counter/diner. Here is a picture of the lounge/dinning room.

---

Wow, is there ANY interior that '70s era "wood paneling" can't cheapen the look of? At least there's no shag carpet in this otherwise very nice car!

davew833 Wrote:
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> Wow, is there ANY interior that '70s era "wood
> paneling" can't cheapen the look of? At least
> there's no shag carpet in this otherwise very nice
> car!

Well, I suppose it could be original stuff. I'm not sure about the heritage of this particular car, but I believe some of them were built in the late 50's and early 60's when wood paneling was quite the rage, so it's possible that it could be original?

If you think wood paneling is bad, I'm sure someone out there may have photos of some of the "upgrades" done by private parties to ex-diners in an attempt to take riders back to the (so called) "golden age" of rail transportation at the end of the 19Th Century. Yes, imagine your worst nightmare come true complete with curtains, walls, and window shades decorated in colors not normally found in nature, imitation gas lanterns, and upolstery on the chairs who's colors and fabric "spoke to you", giving these cars what we used to call the "French whorehouse look". Naturally, I can't speak to the authenticity of the nickname as it relates to those places, but as I remember, the name stuck.

I cheated a little... This picture is Pacific Railroad Society's car "Starlight Cafe" (Ex-UP 5001) and the history page for the car indicates the paneling is a '70s addition that PRS is planning to remove. However, I definitely recall riding in UP-owned excursion cars during the early '80s that had been "upgraded" with shag carpet and may very well have had similar paneling too. I don't think railroads, especially in the waning days of passenger service, were opposed to interior "improvements" that came straight from Pay-N-Pak. (I have a particular dislike for this kind of cheap paneling since my circa-1903 house was full of it when I bought it-- along with the requisite cottage cheese lowered ceilings.)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/07/10 15:41 by davew833.

davew833 Wrote:
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> I cheated a little... This picture is Pacific
> Railroad Society's car "Starlight Cafe" (Ex-UP
> 5001) and the history page for the car indicates
> the paneling is a '70s addition that PRS is
> planning to remove. However, I definitely recall
> riding in UP-owned excursion cars during the early
> '80s that had been "upgraded" with shag carpet and
> may very well have had similar paneling too. I
> don't think railroads, especially in the waning
> days of passenger service, were opposed to
> interior "improvements" that came straight from
> Pay-N-Pak. (I have a particular dislike for this
> kind of cheap paneling since my circa-1903 house
> was full of it when I bought it-- along with the
> requisite cottage cheese lowered ceilings.)

Great shots of the interiors. Is the kitchen still servicable?

davew833 Wrote:
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> At least there's no shag carpet in this otherwise very nice
> car!

Oh we have other cars with shag carpet! Our 4-4-2 sleeper Imperial Bird has that Brady Bunch look! The diner's kitchen has been kept in operating condition. The paneling was installed during the 70's when PRS only saw the cars as tools for the excursion department. Because of that attitude the car department did several "improvements" that we now wish they hadn't. We have become a museum sort of by default. One of these days we will get around to removing the paneling. You will note the streamliner logos in the glass partition, these were installed a few years ago to replace some cheesy looking plastic panels that looked like they came from a Shakey's Pizza parlour. Every year PRS does a Breakfast in the Diner fundraiser. I will be sure to post the next one in the excursions section.