num_pages: 175
description: In roughly one hundred years  from the 1870s to the 1970s  dining on trains began soared to great heights and then fell to earth.The founders of the first railroad companies cared more about hauling freight than feeding passengers. The only food available on trains in the mid-nineteenth century was whatever passengers brought aboard in their lunch baskets or managed to pick up at a brief station stop. It was hardly fine dining.Seeing the business possibilities in offering long-distance passengers comforts such as beds toilets and meals George Pullman and other pioneering railroaders like Georges Nagelmackers of Orient Express fame transformed rail travel. Fine dining and wines became the norm for elite railroad travelers by the turn of the twentieth century. The foods served on railroads  from consomm to turbot to souffl always accompanied by champagne - equaled that of the finest restaurants hotels and steamships.After World War II as airline travel and automobiles became the preferred modes of travel elegance gave way to economy. Canned and frozen foods self-service and quick meals and snacks became the norm. By the 1970s the golden era of railroad dining had come grinding to a halt.Food on the Rails traces the rise and fall of food on the rails from its rocky start to its glory days to its sad demise. Looking at the foods the service the rail station restaurants the menus they dining accommodations and more Jeri Quinzio brings to life the history of cuisine and dining in railroad cars from the early days through today.
language: English
title: Food on the Rails: The Golden Era of Railroad Dining (Volume 1)
publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers