Hey Pennsy fans. OK, I’m showing my age (48) but does anyone else remember this practice in the 1960’s.
During the westbound station stop at Harrisburg, Pa., the Pennsy had a uniformed attendant board the GENERAL to sell snacks?
He carried Hershey bars and other goodies car-to-car in a heavy duty stainless steel carryingcase. I remember seeing him one year walking back toward the darkened station just before the train resumed rolling west.
At Harrisburg he usually had enough time to make his rounds as the stopover lasted 30 minutes or so, giving time to switch out the GG-1 and move diesels to the headend.
I’d love to find a picture of the snack man. Any info out there?
I did not ride the westbound PRR but I remember the New England trains leaving New York had a snackman on them. I also remember those funny looking milk jugs which I never saw anyplace else except on the trains.
Most New Haven trains, including some with Pennsy equipment through from Washington, and a man pushing a cart down the aisles, coach to coach, selling soft drinks, snacks, and newspapers. We commonly cauled him the “News Butcher.” This was not just during the station stops, this was in some cases for the length of the run or in other cases, NY - Neew Haven or New Haven- Boston only, (By the way, power was changed on the Merchants and Yankee Clipper in six minutes! Took quite a few people to do it and only a running brake test was performed. The timetable gave five minutes.)
I remember the voice of one of the frequently encountered “New Butchers”:
The most famous of all news butchers was Thomas Edison who as a boy worked the Grand Trunk trains in Michigan. His hearing problems stemmed from an incident when a conductor got mad at him for delaying his train and boxed his ears,