New
Vintage Photos Show How Glamorous Train Travel Used To Be
Diners in the restaurant car on a GWR (Great Western Railway) oil-fired locomotive in 1946.
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- Vintage photos from decades ago show how traveling by train used to be a lot fancier.
- First-class cabins were furnished like living rooms and included radio gramophones.
- Passengers dined on fine china and played cards to pass the time.
Traveling by train was pretty swanky in the early to mid-1900s, and it hasn't gone out of style.
Today, Japan's bullet trains can make the trip from Tokyo to Osaka in just 2 1/2 hours, and in the US, Amtrak is working on high-speed trains of its own.
Still, the lavish furnishings and fine dining of the past hold a special place in the railroad's rich history. These vintage photos show how glamorous train travel used to be.
People used to dress up for train travel.Train passengers in London.
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Dressed-up passengers waited with their luggage to board the first special passenger train to London in 1909.
Passengers wore fascinators and white gloves — no sweats or hoodies here.A train car at Charing Cross Station in London.
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Messrs Carreras employees peered out of their railway carriage window before departing Charing Cross Station in London in 1934.
Traveling was an event.Charing Cross Station.
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A crowd of Messrs Carreras employees waved from the platform before departing Charing Cross Station in 1935.
Railway carriages were spacious and well-lit.The interior of a train carriage.
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A train carriage photographed in 1934 featured plush seats with tables.
First-class cars in particular were tastefully decorated.Cleaners at work in a luxury train car.
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Cleaners working in a Minerva train car in 1938 polished its tables and dusted its cushy armchairs.
Furnished like living rooms, they came complete with armchairs, drapes, and carpeting.A first-class train car lounge.
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In 1928, passengers enjoyed a luxurious first-class lounge onboard a London Midland and Scottish Royal Scot train.
A first-class Japanese Railway Department observation car in 1920 utilized elements of Japanese art.A Japanese Railway Department observation car.
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The car's decorative trim and light fixtures evoked the ancient Momoyama style of Japanese art.
Celebrities like Paul McCartney and Mick Jagger enjoyed the comforts of first-class cars.Paul McCartney and Mick Jagger in a first-class train car.
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McCartney and Jagger traveled together from London's Euston Station in 1967.
Second class wasn't quite as glamorous, but it still ensured a cushy ride.A Hikari Train in Japan.
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Passengers in the second-class coach of a Hikari Train in Japan in 1965 read newspapers and looked out of the windows.
Restaurant cars hosted guests with elegant table settings.A British Railways restaurant car.
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A British Railways restaurant car in 1949 featured tables set with artfully folded napkins.
Passengers dined on fine china.A first-class dining saloon.
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A first-class dining saloon in 1951 looked more like a restaurant than a train car.
Some trains offered food buffet-style.A buffet car.
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Passengers enjoyed refreshments in a buffet car at London's Waterloo station in 1938.
Others employed dapper servers to pour drinks.A Great Western Railway restaurant car.
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Waiters wore tuxedos in a restaurant car on a Great Western Railway oil-fired locomotive in 1946.
In cars equipped with radio gramophones, passengers could enjoy music and radio programs.A LNER train carriage.
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Passengers draped in fur listened to a radio gramophone on a LNER train carriage in 1930.
Playing cards was also a popular pastime.Train passengers played cards.
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Travelers in a BEA Vickers Viking train played a game of cards in 1947.
As was reading the newspaper.A Canadian Pacific Railway train.
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Passengers listened to the wireless radio while perusing the paper on board a Canadian Pacific Railway train in 1930.
Sleeper cars featured upholstered beds with plenty of room to spread out.A sleeper car.
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A woman was photographed reading in a sleeper car in 1905.
Sleeper-car attendants would bring passengers morning cups of tea on trays.An LMS sleeper car.
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An attendant wearing a suit and tie brought a passenger a cup of tea in an LMS sleeper car in 1945.
Back then, traveling still involved the same crowded rush as it does now.Paddington Station.
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Passengers waiting for the Cornish Riviera Express train crowded London's Paddington Station in 1924.
There was also a special thrill to riding the railroad that's hard to come by these days.An LNER train at King's Cross Station.
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Milkmen from United Dairies posed with an LNER train at King's Cross Station in 1932.
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