CRUISING THE PAST: THE GREAT PULLMAN STREAMLINERS THAT SERVED GLAMOROUS PALM SPRINGS FROM THE 1920s UNTIL THE 1950s.
By Michael L. Grace | November 14, 2008
A promotion from the Southern Pacific (Grace Collection).
A major element in the development of Palm Springs was the Southern Pacific Railroad. At one time the SP offered passenger service on over eight daily trains. The destination was a retreat for movie stars and the very rich. They heyday for the winter resort were the 1950s. Bob Hope, Lucille Ball and Frank Sinatra made the place a major destination. Cruising the past (http://cruiselinehistory.com/) explores the many deluxe streamliners that brought visitors and stars to the desert.
Arrival of THE SUNSET LIMITED at West Palm Springs en route form New Orleans to Los Angeles and San Francisco in 1940 (Grace Collection).
The SP served Palm Springs from a Spanish style station especially built for the resort in the late 1930s. SP, at one time, had eight daily trains serving the desert resort for passengers escaping the harsh winters of the USA or wanting the desert climate for their health.
Desert resorts were the destinations of visitors (Grace Collection).
The Santa Fe and Union Pacific, through their rail connections in Riverside and San Bernardino, joined the SP in providing the major form of transportation well into the 1950s.
Passengers arriving aboard the Santa Fe and UP trains where driven in Grey Line limousines from the two major Inland Empire cities to the Palm Springs hotels and resorts.
The GOLDEN STATE heading out of Palm Springs - 1950s (Grace Collection).
The SUNSET LIMITED, GOLDEN STATE, SUPER CHIEF and CITY of LOS ANGELES were the “retro” way of getting to the glamorous desert resort. Unlike Amtrak, all these trains provided daily service on a year round basis and operated on time.
Palm Springs Southern Pacific Station located on Tipton Road, off 111, on the way to Whitewater - early 1950s (Grace Collection) (.
In 1877, as an incentive to complete a railroad to the Pacific, the US government gave Southern Pacific Railroad title to the odd-numbered parcels of land for 10 miles on either side of the tracks running through the Southern California desert around Palm Springs. The even-numbered parcels of land were given to the Agua Calientes. In 1884, Judge John Guthrie McCallum of San Francisco arrived in Palm Springs with his family, seeking health for his tubercular son. The first permanent non-Indian settler, McCallum purchased land from Southern Pacific and built an elaborate aqueduct. In 1909 Nellie Coffman’s Desert Inn opened.
Rock Island and Southern Pacific operated the GOLDEN STATE LIMITED and the APACHE. Both were daily trains from Chicago with through Pullmans from Minneapolis - St. Paul, St. Louis and Kansas City. This is ad is from the 1930s (Grace Collection).
By the time Palm Springs was incorporated in 1938, the Village of Palm Springs had become world famous as a winter playground for Hollywood stars, European royalty and business tycoons, all who came to enjoy the endless sunshine and serenity of the desert.
THE GOLDEN STATE LIMITED arriving from Los Angeles at West Palm Springs Station in the early 1950s en route to New Orleans (Grace Collection).
Until the 1950s, a vast majority of visitors traveling long distances came by train.
SP 1950s brochure advertising Palm Springs service aboard the SUNSET LIMITED (Grace Collection).
Air travel was very primitive until after World War 2 and business travel did not really surpass the trains until the mid-1950s.
The Eisenhower’s aboard a private rail car (Grace Collection).
Many people were afraid to fly including First Lady Mamie Eisenhower who came to Palm Springs each winter by private railway car into the late 60s attached to the Santa Fe SUPER CHIEF. President and Mrs. Eisenhower would then leave the train at San Bernardino and drive to Palm Springs. Palm Springs heritage as a resort destination was historically entwined with the direct passenger train services of the Southern Pacific Railroad and the connecting services of the Santa Fe and Union Pacific Railways.
Club Car scene from from restored SP passenger lounge (Grace Collection).
Up until the mid-twentieth century these three American railroads provided the majority of long distance transportation to the resort community. The SP had eight trains serving Palm Springs directly, with service from New Orleans, Chicago and Los Angeles. The SP’s SUNSET LIMITED and the GOLDEN STATE LIMITED provided deluxe Pullman service served Palm Springs daily from Los Angeles, Chicago and New Orleans.
Other SP trains connected in Los Angeles with service to San Francisco, Portland and Seattle. Until the late 1940s there was through service from San Francisco to Palm Springs. The Santa Fe and Union Pacific Railways also competed with the SP for passenger business.
The famous SUPER CHIEF brought visitors from the east (Grace Collection).
The Santa Fe provided service to San Bernardino, with limousine service to Palm Springs, from Chicago aboard such famous all-Pullman trains as the SUPER CHIEF and the CHIEF. The Union Pacific provided service aboard the famous CITY OF LOS ANGELES from Chicago to Riverside where limousine service was available to Palm Springs.
At one time both the SP and Santa Fe maintained ticket offices in downtown Palm Springs.
Passengers slumbered in Pullman comfort (Grace Collection).
The Southern Pacific’s GOLDEN STATE LIMITED seen approaching Beaumont, having just left Palm Springs on its way into Los Angeles (Grace Collection).
Southern Pacific began to downgrade their services in the early sixties and many visitors to Palm Springs who were traveling by train from eastern cities took the SUPER CHIEF, CHIEF or CITY OF LOS ANGELES. The Santa Fe and Union Pacific maintained superior and deluxe passengers trains until Amtrak took over in 1971.
In 1951, Highway 99 was improved to four lanes in the populous areas and more people started driving to Palm Springs. The airfield, built to handle military cargo and personnel planes, became Palm Springs Regional Airport and more flights were offered to the desert in the 1950s.
Rail travel decreased through the 1960s and in 1971 Amtrak took over all passenger rail in the USA. Southern Pacific, despite a good deal amount of reservations from eastern cities to Palm Springs, during the 1960s petitioned the Interstate Commerce Commission to shut the Palm Springs station and discontinue their trains.
What had been eight trains daily serving Palm Springs in the heyday of rail travel became a three times a week service by Amtrak.
The Southern Pacific wanted out of the passenger business because they wanted their tracks free for freight. This attitude carried over into Amtrak. Today, the Union Pacific owns the Southern Pacific and has maintained a very negative attitude toward Amtrak. This has resulted in passenger trains being delayed up to seven hours operating between Los Angeles and Palm Springs. At one time the SUNSET LIMITED and GOLDEN STATE LIMITED were traveling between Palm Springs in less than three hours.
Topics: PULLMAN, STEAMSHIP LINES | 4 Comments »
CRUISE HISTORY: 1929 CRASH HAPPENED WHILE MILLIONARIES WERE CROSSING THE ATLANTIC ABOARD CUNARD LINE SHIP - THEY BECAME PAUPERS OVERNIGHT - TODAY IT WOULD BE ABOARD A JET
By Michael L. Grace | November 13, 2008
Wonderful Cruising the Past (http://cruiselinehistory.com/) video showing Cunard Line’s RMS Berengaria as it was “crossing the pond” when the 1929 Wall Street crash happened. Passengers left England as millionaires and arrived in New York without a penny. The Berengaria was featured in The Beautiful and Damned, by F. Scott Fitzgerald.
Click below to read more:
Topics: CRUISING THE PAST VIDEOS, CUNARD LINE, UK STEAMSHIP AND CRUISE LINES | 33 Comments »
PRESIDENT-ELECT BARAK OBAMA RODE THE RAILS AND WON CRUCIAL PRO-AMTRAK SWING VOTERS ON HIS CAMPAIGN TRAIN
By Michael L. Grace | November 12, 2008
Obama standing on the observation platform of his campaign train
President-elect Barak Obama earlier this year won many “railway enthusiast” swing voters by taking an all-day, 100 mile trip by train “along the Philadelphia area’s Main Line and on west to the capital in Harrisburg.” We explore this on (http://cruiselinehistory.com/) cruising the past.
Ironically, Obama rode in a private rail car where sixty years ago the only African-Americans aboard would have been the Pullman Porters or chefs. It proved to be a lucky political ride for Obama in the tradition of Eisenhower, Truman and Roosevelt.
Obama greets supporters.
Certainly, Obama is not the first to campaign by train. Harry Truman is famous for his 1948 whistle-stop tour that covered 22,000 miles, and even the car in which Obama rode–a Georgia 300 Lounge Car–has in the past “carried Presidents Jimmy Carter, George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton.”
Obama crosses tracks and greets the lady Amrak conductor.
But as the presidential campaigns have become more hectic and demanding, the carbon footprint of campaigning–done usually by SUV or private jet–has skyrocketed. Trains, as we’ve seen, are less carbon intensive than either SUV or private jet.
President Truman aboard his campaign train holding up the Chicago Tribune which announce he’d lost the election - A famous journalistic blunder because Truman won!
And millions of Americans rely on trains to get to work, especially in busy corridors such as New England. So perhaps Obama was pandering to the train swing vote? Is there even such a thing?
Maybe.
It is well known defeated presidential candidate John McCain wanted to dismantle Amtrak and was anti-rail.
Amtrak has been seeing record ridership, and hitching its star to Obama’s rising star didn’t hurt.Riding along in a “patriotically decorated private rail car” Obama spread his message of change by asking people to “get on board the change train.”
Whether or not Obama will increase funding for public transportation remains to be seen, but it’s worth repeating that millions of Americans rely on public transportation to get where they need to go.
Seen in that light the voters that use public transportation may rightly be considered a swing vote helping elect Obama our next president. A friend of mine restored the following private car similar to the one used by Obama’s.
A framed photograph of heiress Marjorie Merriweather Post as seen in the observation salon of private car Chapel Hill — this is similar to private cars used for presidential campaigns and the one Obama used.
DeWitt Chapple, Jr. restored the car in 1971.
Chapple seen on the private car observation platform. Similar to the car Obama used for his campaign that may have won him the presidency.
Chapple retained the car’s number, but added the name Chapel Hill after his alma mater, the University of North Carolina, in Chapel Hill. It has been chartered for whistle stop tours.
The Chapel Hill was originally built in 1922 for Post Cereals Heiress, Marjorie Merriweather Post, and stock broker and investment banker E.F. Hutton.
Originally christened Hussar, the car was used for company business and personal travel between their principal residence in New York City; their Hispanic-Moresque winter estate, “Mar-a-lago”, in Palm Beach; and Camp Topridge, the couple’s summer retreat in the Adirondacks of upstate New York. It was also used extensively for entertainment, as Post was known as a lavish hostess.
A great story by Hugh Sidey from Time Magazine with photos of many former presidents aboard their campaign trains follows:
When Politics Rode the Rails
By Hugh Sidey - Courtesy of TIME MAGAZINE - Sunday, Mar. 19, 2000
The great American political-campaign trains were like the dinosaurs. Just when they reached legendary size and importance, they were on their way to extinction, courtesy of the airplane.
The greatest of all the trains ran for Harry Truman in 1948, when he clicked off 31,700 miles and delivered 356 speeches (16 in one day). Truman astonished his own political experts and the world that year by beating Republican Thomas Dewey, who was so confident of victory that he was choosing his Cabinet before any vote was cast.
“Oh, it was just great,” remembers Bob Donovan, who, as a young reporter for the New York Herald Tribune, was with Truman the whole way. “We saw this country like never before; the wheat fields, the mountains and the little towns. Thousands and thousands of people came out and gathered around the train. It was Harry Truman’s country and his kind of people. He loved it all.”
Truman traveled in the ponderous and luxurious private car named Ferdinand Magellan, originally made for President Franklin Roosevelt. It was paneled in oak with four staterooms, bath and shower, and 6,000 lbs. of ice for air conditioning. The car was sheathed in steel-armor plating and 3-in. bulletproof glass. When they were out in the open, Truman liked the train to hit 80 m.p.h., and he would watch “our country” slide by while telling stories and sipping a little good bourbon–ready at each stop to “give ‘em hell” and introduce “the boss,” Bess Truman. The most famous campaign picture of all time is of a grinning Truman standing on the platform of the Magellan in St. Louis, Mo., holding up an early edition of the Chicago Daily Tribune with the headline dewey defeats truman.
In truth, trains were used for political moments from their start. But in the early days, presidential candidates did not storm the country seeking votes. William Henry Harrison actually campaigned on a train in 1836. Not until the turn of the century did modern rail campaigning begin, with William McKinley and candidate William Jennings Bryan. Theodore Roosevelt devised the full campaign train, a rolling complex with living and office cars.
The golden age of presidential train travel was introduced by Franklin Roosevelt, says author Bob Withers (The President Travels by Train: Politics and Pullmans; TLC Publishing). During his 12 White House years, Roosevelt set the all-time record of 243,827 miles by rail, most of them at a leisurely pace, wandering through America, luxuriating in the vast beauty, campaigning, inspecting Depression-era projects and, later, defense plants. Then came Truman with a political purpose and his Missouri determination.
The airplane was what did in the campaign train, but television played a role–and so did the shifting U.S. population. “Trains used to come to the front door of America,” says Bill Withuhn, an authority on trains at the Smithsonian. “Now they go to the backyards.” Depots are shuttered; junkyards and weed patches and winos too often greet the rail traveler.
Every candidate since Truman has had a train ride or two, but most of those have been nostalgic photo ops designed to relieve the monotony of modern airports, programmed motorcades and polished television studios. Lady Bird Johnson led a first ever First Lady’s whistle-stop through the South for four days in 1964. There have been no follow-ups.
The stories of train campaigning will grow with each retelling. A few political veterans recall Tom Dewey’s blurting into an open mike when his train lurched backward that he must have “a lunatic engineer.” The New York Times’s Scotty Reston ended his account of that particular incident with this line: “And then the train took off with a jerk.”
Theodore Roosevelt once lifted a lagging but sprinting reporter aboard a departing train amid much laughter and cheering. Woodrow Wilson came back to his car to spy a couple of hobos hanging under it. Wilson invited them to ride inside with him. Over-awed, the tramps declined, suggesting that the President had more important concerns.
George Elsey, who was a young aide on Truman’s great campaign trains, remembers the hard work, the sleepless nights preparing speeches and organizing the regular presidential business that continued in spite of the campaigning. Once, when he took papers to Truman, who was dining with Bess, she looked up at Elsey and said, worried, “You look peaked. Have you had anything to eat?” No, admitted Elsey, who had been just too busy for food. “Here,” she said, pushing her piece of apple pie to him, “you can eat this, and I shouldn’t.” The Ferdinand Magellan with Harry Truman rolled on into history that night, fueled by apple pie.
Topics: STEAMSHIP LINES | 3 Comments »
CUNARD LINE’S QE 2 LEAVES SOUTHAMPTON FOR THE LAST TIME ON FINAL VOYAGE AND SAILS INTO CRUISE SHIP HISTORY
By Michael L. Grace | November 11, 2008
Cunard Line’s QE2, which had run aground hours earlier, tonight sailed serenely out of Southampton, England, on a tide of emotion on its last-ever voyage. With hundreds of passengers waving from the decks and thousands of spectators watching from the shores of Southampton Water, the 70,000-ton Cunard liner headed off into cruise ship history as reported by Cruising The Past (http://cruiselinehistory.com/).
Final Farewell of the QE 2
Fireworks flashing from the shore, the Dubai-bound ship paused so that its master Captain Ian McNaught could tell the crowd, in a message shown in Southampton’s Mayflower Park, how QE2 has been “a symbol of British excellence for 40 years”.
Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II poses with former Captains of the QE2 during the Queen’s final visit to the QE 2 liner at Southampton, Monday June 2, 2008.
It was all so different from the vessel’s inglorious entry into Southampton early today when, as strong westerly winds blew, the liner had run aground on a sandbank near the Isle of Wight.
QE 2 being helped off sandbar earlier today by tugboats.
The ship moved off from its berth in Southampton’s eastern docks and was halted alongside Mayflower Park before finally sailing away from Southampton on a 16-day voyage to Dubai. Last year Cunard announced that it was selling the QE2 to the Dubai World company for around £50million, with the vessel becoming a floating hotel and tourist attraction.
Today in his farewell message, Captain McNaught said: “For almost 40 years, QE2 has been acclaimed all over the globe as a symbol of British excellence.” He added that the vessel had returned to Southampton 726 times in its long career, having been launched by the Queen in 1967, and having come into service in 1969.
But this time the ship would not be coming back, he said, adding: “QE2 has striven to serve Southampton and serve her country with flair and fortitude. “But now her sea days are done and she passes on to a new life in a new home. We wish her well.”
Earlier Prince Phillip had joined crew members in observing the Armistice Day two-minute silence, during which a Tiger Moth aircraft had dropped one million poppies on the QE2. The vessel had been requisitioned and used as a troop ship in the Falklands War in 1982 and the Duke met crew members who had sailed to the South Atlantic on the ship as well as the former captains of HMS Ardent, Antelope and Coventry - ships that were lost in the Falklands campaign.
After meeting past masters of the QE2 and then having lunch, Prince Phillip watched a fly-past of the vessel by a Harrier Jet and also saw sail-pasts by Royal Navy vessels. Presenting to the Mayor of Southampton a painting of the QE2 which was unveiled by the Queen when she made her farewell visit to the liner in June this year, Prince Phillip joked that the QE2 interfered with his sailing off Cowes in the Isle of Wight.
The QE2 will reach Dubai on November 26 and will then be handed over to the Nakheel Company, which is part of Dubai World, and the creators of the Palm Jumeirah, the largest man-made island in the world.
Over the next few months the ship will undergo extensive refurbishment before taking up a permanent docking on a specially-constructed berth on the Palm Jumeirah.
The new-look vessel will have a heritage museum displaying artefacts from the ship and from maritime history.
The QE2 has sailed nearly six million nautical miles, gone round the world 25 times, crossed the Atlantic more than 800 times and carried more than 2.5million passengers.
Goodbye QE2 - the world will miss you!
Topics: STEAMSHIP LINES | 1 Comment »
THE WOMAN WHO LIVES ON THE QE 2 MAKES FINAL VOYAGE ABOARD CUNARD LINE’S FAMOUS LINER AND SAILS INTO CRUISE SHIP HISTORY
By Michael L. Grace | November 11, 2008
With the Cunard Line’s QE2 heading into retirement, many people are losing their favourite place to spend a holiday and the crew is losing a workplace.But 89-year-old Beatrice Muller is actually losing her home. She is the QE2’s only permanent resident and she is making cruise ship history as reported by Cruising The Past (http://cruiselinehistory.com/).
Some years ago she sold her property in the US to live on the liner full time.
Beatrice Muller, seen in the main lounge at tea, has been a full-time resident of the QE2.
“I have been on this wonderful ship off and on for 14 years. This is now my only home,” she told BBC News.
Cruise ship holidays had never appealed to Mrs Muller until, in 1995, she stepped on board with her husband, Bob.
Both were taken by it and and returned year after year until Mr Muller died on board in 1999 as the ship sailed out of Bombay.
Mrs Muller, from New Jersey, has no grandchildren and most of her friends had died or moved, so her sons suggested she live on board.
Nine months later she moved into a cabin on the legendary 67,000-tonne liner. With an average speed of 24.75 knots it is probably the world’s fastest retirement home.
She pays about £3,500 a month and says she prefers it to any retirement home.
With elegant surroundings, lavish meals, cocktails and dancing every night it is easy to see why Mrs Muller fell in love with the ship.
She said: “We’re spoiled to death, we get to see the whole world and meet the most incredible people.”
In the morning she reads a print-out of The New York Times, works on her memoirs and calls on friends.
Then she plays bridge until tea, followed by cocktails and dancing.
Once the liner reaches Dubai, Mrs Muller, known as Bea to the crew, will be without a home, although she has no plans to return to dry land.
“I’ll keep on staying at sea, I don’t want to go back to housekeeping,” she said.
Topics: STEAMSHIP LINES | 2 Comments »
CUNARD LINE’S LEGENDARY QE2 RUNS AGROUND TODAY ON FINAL VOYAGE
By Michael L. Grace | November 11, 2008
QE 2 - Arriving today at Southampton
One of the world’s most famous cruise ships, the Queen Elizabeth 2, briefly ran aground on Tuesday before arriving in its home port for the last time, its owners said, as it makes cruise ship history.
The 70,000-ton vessel ran onto a sandbank off the Isle of Wight as it approached Southampton, where it was paying its final call before heading to Dubai where it will become a floating hotel as reported by Cruising The Past (http://cruiselinehistory.com/).
Two tugs helped by the rising tide managed to re-float it, and the ship eventually arrived in port 15 minutes behind schedule.
“She touched a sandbank called Brambles but with the tide rising she was able to get away,” said Eric Flounders, a spokesman for the QE2’s owners Cunard.
September 20 1967: Queen Elizabeth II and John Rannie attend the launching of the QE2, Clydebank, Scotland
“We are not aware at this stage of any damage to the vessel and everything is proceeding today as planned. We don’t know exactly what happened for the vessel to get stuck,” he added.
US cruise operator Carnival sold the QE2 for about 50 million pounds in November last year to Istithmar — the investment arm of state-owned tourism company Dubai World.
After being refurbished the vessel will be turned into a five-star hotel at a specially-constructed pier on the world’s largest man-made island, The Palm Jumeirah.
Launched by her namesake in September 1967, the QE2 is Cunard’s longest-serving ship. The 963-feet long ship weighs 70,000 tonnes and can carry up to 1,778 passengers and more than 1,000 crew.
She has travelled 5.5 million nautical miles — the equivalent of travelling to the moon and back 13 times — undertaken 25 world cruises, crossed the Atlantic more than 800 times, and carried more than two million passengers.
Cruising The Past will have complete coverage of her final day in Southampton.
Topics: STEAMSHIP LINES | 3 Comments »
CRUISE SHIP HISTORY: FAMED DESIGNER STEVE CHASE’S STEAMSHIP POSTER COLLECTION FROM THE 1920s and 1930s - FRENCH LINE, HOLLAND AMERICA LINE, HAMBURG AMERICA LINE, CUNARD LINE - FROM THE STEAMSHIP HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA
By Michael L. Grace | November 8, 2008
Steve Chase, as a freshman at the Rhode Island School of Design, had a passion for steamships. He collected a large number of posters from various steamships companies over the course of his very successful career as a major American interior designer and gave them to the American Steamship Historical Society. There are over 200 posters in the collection along with 90 ship models. The poster collection is dramatic and probably one of the most comprehensive private collections of the subject.
Pictured here are a few of the posters in the collection. They are unique examples of art styles of their era. The posters are from the 1920s and 1930s. Their bight colors and strikingly attractive designs testify to Steve’s taste as a very talented artist and designer.
Steve’s collection has been displayed at museums throughout the country. They are so rare hardly any of them can be found today. Steve was diagnosed with AIDs in the late 1980s and in 1994 his doctors advised him he didn’t have long to live.
Through earlier contacts with a student who was a member of the Steamship Historical Society of America (which Steve had joined) he arranged for his valued poster collection to be given to the maritime group. He had acquired each poster after diligently searching in each part of the world. Every poster had a special meaning to Steve.
I knew Steve in Los Angeles earlier in his career. In his fabulous Manhattan Beach apartment, Steve had wonderful posters of the French Line. We shared an interest in ships and I consider his poster collection is probably one of the finest in the world.
Besides Steve Chase’s wonderful contribution to the American Steamship Historical Society, he was a true humanitarian. Chase contributed $2.5 million to The Living Desert Reserve for construction of an administrative center and a collection of California landscape art. In addition, he was instrumental in helping establish the Desert AIDS Project and gave $1.5 million and 132 works of art to the Palm Springs Desert Museum, which opened the Steve Chase Art Wing and Education Center in 1996.
These rare steamship posters are now part of the Steamship Historical Society and are available for for exhibit at museums around the country.
The SSHSA is affiliated with Heritage Harbor, Rhode Island’s Historical Museum and an official Smithsonian Museum Partner, scheduled to open in late 2009.
For information on the posters please click here to contact the SSHSA. Credits for story and images: Steamboat Bill - Summer 1994 - American Steamship Historical Society - “The Poster Collection of Stephen Barrett Chase” by Edwin T. Dunbaugh.
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The following awards are held each year in Steve’s honor and this year are presented by Integrated Wealth Management:
CLICK HERE for information on the 2009 Steve Chase Humanitarian Awards honoring Barry Manilow.
Topics: CUNARD LINE, FRENCH LINE, FRENCH STEAMSHIP AND CRUISE LINES, GERMAN LINERS, STEAMSHIP LINES, WHITE STAR - CUNARD LINE | 8 Comments »
CRUISE HISTORY - CUNARD LINE HAS UNVEILED PLANS TO MARK THE QE2’s FINAL DEPARTURE FROM HER HOME PORT OF SOUTHAMPTON ON NOVEMBER 11TH. THE END OF AN ERA.
By Michael L. Grace | November 6, 2008
Cunard Line has unveiled plans to mark QE2’s final departure from her home port of Southampton on Tuesday 11 November 2008. After 39 years of service, which have seen QE2 sail 5.9 million nautical miles, complete 806 transatlantic crossings, carry over 2.5 million guests, undertake 25 World Cruises and answer her country’s call during the Falklands Campaign, QE2 will leave Cunard service following this final voyage from Southampton to Dubai where she will become a first class hotel and entertainment center.
The QE 2 docked in Los Angeles (San Pedro, Ca) on her 1986 World Cruise (Grace Collection).
Michael L. Grace - Cruising the Past Editor - main lounge aboard the 1986 QE2 World Cruise (Grace Collection).
The highlight of 11 November will be a farewell visit by His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh, who will be making his seventh visit to the most famous ship in the world. During the visit, His Royal Highness will observe the two-minutes’ silence at 1100 hours prior to meeting crew members who went down to the Falklands on the ship.
The Queen during her farewell visit to the ship on 2 June 2008.
His Royal Highness will then undertake a tour of the vessel, including visits to the Wardroom, Bridge, Engine Control Room and Hospital before attending a Reception in the Queens Room. There he will present a painting of QE2, which was unveiled by Her Majesty
QE 2 Newspaper and Programme - 1986 World Cruise - Photo of Ruby Keller (Grace Collection)
The Queen during her farewell visit to the ship on 2 June 2008, to the Mayor of Southampton, who will accept it on behalf of the city. At the Reception he will meet long-serving staff, as well as the former Captains of HMS Ardent, Antelope and Coventry whose ships were lost in the Falklands Campaign and who returned to the UK on QE2. After lunch His Royal Highness will watch a flypast by a Harrier jet from the aft decks of QE2.
People from all over the country are expected to travel to Southampton to say goodbye to QE2.
A programme from the Final Voyage “The Last Great Cruise” of the RMS Queen Mary - enroute to Long Beach - in 1967 (Grace Collection).
She will arrive alongside her berth at the Queen Elizabeth II Terminal at just after 0630 hours where she will remain until her departure at 1915 hours.
At 1100 hours a million poppies will be dropped over the ship from a Tiger Moth to commemorate Remembrance Day, mark QE2’s role in the Falklands, and note the fact that her final departure is on 11 November.
This will be followed at 1340 hours by a flypast of a Harrier which will hover and bow to QE2 approximately 500-feet off her stern.
QE2 is planned to leave her berth at 1915 hours and proceed astern to be off Mayflower Park where she will remain for a period. A pre-recorded message from her Master, Captain Ian McNaught, will be broadcast on a specially-erected screen in the Park. Immediately after this there will be a brief, spectacular firework display. QE2 will then proceed downriver with her whistle blasting and she is expected to be accompanied by a large flotilla. She will pass the Queen Elizabeth II Terminal just before 2000 hours for the final time and then make her way down Southampton Water en route to Dubai.
“Crossing the Pond” - When getting there was half the fun!
As QE2 leaves the Cunard fleet, the company’s flagship Queen Mary 2 - the largest and grandest ocean liner in the world - spearheads the revival of the Golden Age of Ocean Travel by continuing to offer the regular transatlantic service that the company started in 1840. While Queen Victoria, which entered service in December 1997, is a vessel that has redefined ’style’ on the high seas, and offers Cunard’s historic European routes. In addition, along with Queen Mary 2, she continues the tradition of World Cruises started by Cunard in1922. And the company will not have to wait long for a new ‘Elizabeth’ for Queen Elizabeth will enter service in autumn 2010. Then Cunard will offer the youngest - and most famous - fleet afloat.
Topics: CUNARD LINE, WHITE STAR - CUNARD LINE | 1 Comment »
PULLMAN CAR HISTORY: DID PRESIDENT-ELECT BARACK OBAMA’S WHISTLE STOP TRIAN TOUR BY PRIVATE PULLMAN CAR “GEORGIA 300″ AND PRO-AMTRAK POSITION HELP HIM WIN THE PRESIDENCY?
By Michael L. Grace | November 5, 2008
President-elect Barack Obama aboard the chartered private Pullman GEORGIA 300 for his whistle-stop tour.
President-elect Barack Obama is a big supporter of Amtrak and conducted an old fashioned whistle stop tour during his campaign aboard the private car GEORGIA 300. John McCain, who has been adamantly opposed to Amtrak, didn’t carry on this traditional American political tradition. Did this policy jinx McCain with thousands of rail fans and contribute to his defeat?
The private car GEORGIA 300 carried Obama on his whistle-stop tour.
Georgia 300 - Built by Pullman Standard in 1930, as a 10-section lounge car for the Southern Railway and named General Polk. The car operated on the Crescent between New and New Orleans. Purchased by the Georgia Railroad in 1949, the car was rebuilt to the office car configuration it has today and given the number 300. The Georgia 300 made regular trips to the Masters golf tournament and, occasionally, the Kentucky Derby, hosting Georgia governors and other dignitaries. Declared surplus with the merger of the Georgia Railroad and the Family Lines, the car was acquired by the current owner in 1985. It has been rebuilt and has hosted Presidents Carter, George H.W. Bush, and Clinton. The car is based in Orange Park, Florida, and is owned by Jack Heard.
President Harry S. Truman on the observation platform - he’s holding a newspaper that said he had lost. They were wrong.
A whistle-stop tour is a style of political campaigning where the politician makes a series of brief appearances or speeches at a number of small towns over a short period of time.
Many presidential candidates have used private cars for their whistle-stop tours.
Whistle-stop tours are conducted from the open platform of a business car or a private railroad car.
A restored private railway car used in political whistle-stop campaigns.
A private railroad car, private railway coach, private car or private varnish is a railroad passenger car which was either originally built or later converted for non-revenue[citation needed] service as a business car for private individuals. A private car was added to the make-up of a train, providing splendid upholstered privacy for its passengers. They were used by railroad officials and dignitaries as business cars, and wealthy individuals for travel and entertainment, especially in the United States. They are used by politicians in “whistle stop campaigns.”
Dining Salon aboard the elegant private car Chapel Hill.
In the late 19th century Gilded Age, wealthy individuals had finely appointed private cars custom-built to their specifications. Also, many cars built by Pullman, Budd, and other companies were originally used in revenue service as passenger cars and later converted for use as business and private cars. There are various configurations, but the cars generally have an observation platform, a full kitchen, dining room, state rooms, secretary’s room, an observation room, and often servant’s quarters. The railroad barons like Leland Stanford had their private cars. Abraham Lincoln disliked the ornate railroad car supplied for his service as president: he rode in it only in his coffin.
A framed photograph of heiress Marjorie Merriweather Post as seen in the observation salon of private car Chapel Hill. DeWitt Chapple, Jr. restored the car in 1971. Chapple retained the car’s number, but added the name Chapel Hill after his alma mater, the University of North Carolina, in Chapel Hill. It has been chartered for whistle stop tours.
The Chapel Hill was originally built in 1922 for Post Cereals Heiress, Marjorie Merriweather Post, and stock broker and investment banker E.F. Hutton. Originally christened Hussar, the car was used for company business and personal travel between their principal residence in New York City; their Hispanic-Moresque winter estate, “Mar-a-lago”, in Palm Beach; and Camp Topridge, the couple’s summer retreat in the Adirondacks of upstate New York. It was also used extensively for entertainment, as Post was known as a lavish hostess.
One of many restored private cars seen at the private car convention in August - Los Angeles.
Private cars were in more common the the heyday of passenger rail service and during the pre-Amtrak era (before 1971). In modern times, some private cars have survived the decades and some are used for tour rides, leasing for private events, etc. Others are on static display. A small number of private cars (along with other types of passenger cars), have been upgraded to meet current Amtrak regulations, and may be chartered by their owners for private travel attached to Amtrak trains.
Lucius Beebe (seated) and his life partner Charles M. Clegg aboard their private car.
Lucius Beebe and his life partner Charles M. Clegg owned two of the last private railroad cars, the Gold Coast and the Virginia City. Beebe’s Mansions on Rails: The Folklore of the Private Railway Car (Berkeley, CA: Howell-North) 1959, presented the first history of the private railroad car in the U.S.
Dedicated railroad buffs rescued the last of the private varnish cars from scrapping; the chartering of these formerly-private cars has become a sideline in the upscale travel industry, with its own niche magazine Private Varnish. Amtrak regulations require head-end power and train control wiring, though some cars generate their own power and can run on freight lines as well. Most restored private cars have been rebuilt to modern specifications.
Topics: PULLMAN, STREAMLINERS, TRAINS, private railway cars | 3 Comments »
Cruise Line History: Last call for historic Delta Queen steamboat?
By Michael L. Grace | October 30, 2008
The 82-year-old Delta Queen, America’s best-known paddle-wheeler, will pull into Memphis, Tennessee, Thursday morning for what may be its final port call as a passenger vessel.
The historic riverboat, whose twin, the Delta King, is now a floating hotel and restaurant in Sacramento, has hit troubled waters. An exemption from safety laws that allows the Delta Queen to carry passengers on overnight trips will expire at midnight Friday, and the U.S. Congress has declined to extend it.
Even if Congress decides to act, “The vessel will not operate in 2009,” Joe Ueberroth, president and chief executive of its owner, Ambassadors International Inc. in Newport Beach, said today in a conference call with media and others. “It’s just too late to put her back in service.”
After calling on Memphis and unloading its final passengers, the Delta Queen will set sail the next day, in tandem with the American Queen, for its home port of New Orleans, with tributes scheduled at several ports along the way. From there, its future is anyone’s guess.
U.S. Sens. George Voinovich (R-Ohio) and Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) have introduced a bill, a companion to H.R. 3852 introduced in the House last year by U.S. Rep. Steve Chabot (R-Ohio), to extend the Delta Queen’s safety exemption. Ueberroth and other advocates say the boat, equipped with sprinklers and fire-detection devices, is safe. But the U.S. Coast Guard says its wooden superstructure is a fire hazard. If Congress returns to session after the November election as expected, it may revisit the issue.
In any event, it’s not clear who, if anyone, would run the Delta Queen, which has plied the Mississippi and other rivers for decades under a series of owners. Ambassadors International, eager to unload what Ueberroth today called “a very bad investment,” has tried for months without success to sell its Majestic America Line, which runs the Delta Queen and several other riverboats.
Meanwhile, an informal network of steamboat fans that calls itself the Save the Delta Queen Campaign is trying to save the boat. A fan website carries updates on the effort.
— Jane Engle, assistant Los Angeles Times Travel editor
[Photo: The Delta Queen moves up the Ohio River last week after making wh
Topics: STEAMSHIP LINES | 9 Comments »
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