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dltrains
Brakeman
Posts:49
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 | | 09/03/2008 6:55 PM |
| Doug,
Thank you for the info on Harriman. Lacking in knowledge in this area could you point me in the right direction for futher study? Seems I recall the B & O had Harrimans' in their consist at sometime but didn't know them to be a Harriman road. | | | |
| Dougald
Moderator
Foreman
Posts:427
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| | 09/04/2008 6:12 AM |
| I am far from an expert on the Harriman cars but I will give a synopsis of the history ... plus some references for study.
E H Harriman wasw a self made millionaire. He embodied all of the great things in the American entrepreneurial spirit of the late 19th century and also all of the bad of the capitalistic age of which he was a product. After ressurecting a bankrupt eastern shortline and making his first fortune on Wall Street, he became a director of the almost bankrupt UP. A few astute and ruthless moves later gained him control of the railroad in 1898 ... his base of power for the rest of his life. Later financial dealings gave him control of the SP, IC and C of G. A close friend and business associate of the Vanderbuilts left him with some influence in the east especially with the NYC and B&O.
He was, as was characteristic of the times, very autocratic - his word was law on his railroads. He "encouraged" his Chief Mechanical Officers to work together on standardized designs. The Harriman roads were second only to the PRR in introducing steel passenger cars. The SP led the way with a 1905 experimental car that was designed with an elliptiacl roofline. Although the car frame would prove to be too weak, the roof remained and became the signature of the steel cars in the Harriman empire. The SP showed the way and by 1920, about half of the SP passenger fleet was Pullman built steel cars with that distinctive roofline.
Here is a pic of a surviving example of a Harriman car
http://www.fedshra.org/knobpost.htm
For further study on the design elements of the Harriman railroads, I would recommend as a starting point the bible of all railroad passenger topics - the two volume work by John White Jr entitled The American Passenger Car. There are many many pictures available on the web (if you know what you are looking for). I would recommend for example the site http://www.trainweb.org/passengercars/ This is my first choice always when looking for photos of specific cars or examples of specific features in passenger cars.
Regards ... Doug | |
Doug Matheson
Manotick Ontario
SA #122 | |
| dltrains
Brakeman
Posts:49
Send Message
| | 09/04/2008 9:04 AM |
| Doug,
Thanks for the response. I knew Harriman and UP, but hadn't considered the Vanderbilt connection. Old money to old money.
Appreciate the link and have bookmarked for future use. Looking for pics of roof equipment for Arist's flute sided passengers also lower side door panels
Dave | | | |
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