Evening star., 1939-06-18
Train Travel
Brightenedb b,
Innovations
Real Comfort and
Service Provided
At Thrifty Rates
Special Dispatch to The Star,

OptclAl DISPATCH to The Star.
NEW YORK, June 1.-THE Train
OF Tomorrow is now reality, ant
the gay colors within and withou
have created a new travel vogu,
with a clientele which revels in tn,
modernity of the liners of the rail-
Less than decade ago, air-con.
ditioning in railway cars was un.
known, the streamlined train, un-
dreamed of cocktail lounges on rails
were thing of the problematica
future and high-speed trains were
available only on special trips fol
events Of a novel nature, such as
rushing the pictures of Lindbergh's s
arrival in Washington to New York
In three hours for showing the same
evening on Broadway.
Today scores of trains average a
mile-a- minute for all or portions OF
their runs. Brightly colored, grace
fully designed streamliners scurry
back and forth between distant
cities traversing in few hours what
formerly was regarded as a full day
or nights journey.
Individual rooms for every pas
senger on overnight trains are nc
longer the objective of commentators
with whom rail travel men disagree
but are featured on numerous trains
which no longer have open sections
In their sleeping cars.
priced dining-car meals, tour
list sleepers thalf rate) in the West
de luxe coaches, hostesses on trains
all-inclusive roundtrip rail and
Pullman rates occasioned by the two
Worlds Fairs and which permit one
to visit both at the $135 Pullman and
800 coach rates-these and innumer-
able other innovations suggest that
the rails have travelled far since the
early '30s, when a transcontinental
or shorter journey in summer was
made to the accompaniment of dust,
heat and smoke blowing through
even the screened Pullman windows,
and when visit to the fetid diner
was something to defer as long as
possible.
Latest in the novelties introduced
to re-create volume of railway
travel is the step recently taken by
Eastern railways to place their rates
on a scientific basis, with graduated
reductions in round-trip charges de-
pending upon the distance travelled
the greater the distance the larger
the percentage reduction.
While the application of these
rates may require the use of slide
rule and the instruction of the ticket
sellers in logarithms, it will not be
long before both public and agents
will grasp the fundamental theory
involved and the urge to travel may
be expected to enhance accordingly.
From the initiative thus taken by
the Eastern railways. it is evident
that these lines have finally con-
cluded that "5-and-10" volume of
business, at low charges. is more
profitable than higher tariff. The
granting of increased reductions in
proportion to the length of journey
is merely the application to railroad
selling of the sound merchandising
theory of offering wholesale rates to
the large purchaser, and injects an
element into railway travel which,
observers believe, will justify the
acumen of the rail managers who
devised this new sliding scale OF
charges.
A mass movement of travel is now
developing which will create an army
of "transcontinental commuters"
this summer. journeying Westward
to the Pacific Coast; pausing at vari-
GUS national parks enroute, extend
Ing their trips to include Massachu-