Phoebe Snow... Lady in White.

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caravanman

caravanman

Engineer
Joined
Mar 22, 2004
Messages
4,814
Location
Nottingham, England.
I was interested to see in a recent edition of the BBC Portillo programme, an item about "Phoebe Snow", a fictional advertising character from the 1900's.

Rail travel around 1900 was tough on the clothing of passengers. After a long trip on a coal-powered train, travellers frequently would disembark covered with black soot, unless the locomotives were powered by anthracite, a clean-burning form of coal. The Lackawanna owned vast anthracite mines in Pennsylvania, and could legitimately claim that the clothes of their passengers would remain clean after a long trip.

Possibly well known stateside, I had never heard the name before.

Ed. :cool:

Says Phoebe Snow about to go upon a trip to Buffalo "My gown stays white from morn till night, Upon the Road of Anthracite"
 
I have been watching Michael Portillo's excellent "Great American Railway" journeys on U Tube the morning after the original broadcast on BBC2 in the UK.

(For North Americans, Portillo is a retired English politician turned broadcaster. His treatment of American history and culture is designed for a British audience, but is very balanced and sympathetic. This is not always the case in Britain, when stories about the apparent eccentricities of America is standard fare in the popular press.)

I just finished watching the latest episode, where Phoebe, dressed in a white period costume, chats with Michael at the Delaware and Western tourist railroad.

Ed, FYI the charater Phoebe Snow was the creation of the Lakawana RR, one of the original antricite roads. Phoebe was brought out of retirment after World War II as the name of Lackawanna's premier New York (actually New Jersey) to Buffalo train, complete with through sleeping cars to Chicago, and with a pair of famous tavern observation cars bringing up the markers. The latter were labelled for Phoebe Snow and they came out of retirement briefly in the 1960s on the merged Erie-Lackawanna RR>
 
Interesting that the programmes are available on u tube, that might be of interest to other A.U. members stateside...

I think I might include Atlantic City on my next trip, after seeing Mr Portillo visit there by rail on a recent programme.

These half hour shows go out at peak viewing, 6.30pm, so for a general viewing audience, the mix of train rides to history seems pretty well balanced.

Cheers,

Ed. :cool:
 
You might want to rethink going to Atlantic City Eddie and spend your time in Philadelphia or New York!

Unfortunately AC is basically a row of Glitery Casinos ( most of which are failing) aling a not vert pretty ocean front surrounded by slums and a swamp. Very depressing place! Vegas it ain't!

If you want to see a couple of the Busiest and Biggest Gambling Meccas in the World ( more Revenue than Vegas!) ride the train up to Connecticut ( free Shuttle from the New London Amtrak Station and also for Mohegan Sun Metro/North from New Haven)) and visit Foxwoods ( aka Fixwoods!) or Mohegan Sun.

Help pay the Native Americans back for the Land we stole from them!
 
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At least the area between the Atlantic City train station and the boardwalk is now a vast factory outlet mall with many pretty good eateries. Once you get away from that area and away from the boardwalk it is pretty depressing, but I cannot imagine why an outsider would do that, just like an outsider would normally to go to Bed- Stuy to experience New York!
 
I agree jis, but Eddie likes to get off the beaten path and see the real places and people, not the glittery tourist Taj Mahals!

I'd compare it to Vegas where, if you want to see the real Vegas, get away from the Strip and the Neon and visit in the hoods and suburbs!

There's a lot of better places to spend time in Jersey, the Garden State, than AC as you know!
 
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I do like to get off the beaten path, and that was what appealed about Atlantic City. I don't gamble, but find the casino's often offer very cheap hotel deals. :)

I wouldn't go there expecting much other than a run down seaside place, well past it's sellby date!

Ed :cool:
 
The Delaware, Lackawanna, & Western Railroad Company's Hoboken, NJ, to Buffalo, NY, mainline ran through my hometown of Dansville, NY. As a child, I could walk the ROW over Dansville hill. There are some interesting stations and viaducts along this route. If you really want to get a feel for what a trip on the Phoebe Snow was like and stay off the beaten path, rent a car near Hoboken and follow the Road of Anthracite. Cheers.
 
Bob Dylan said:
I agree jis, but Eddie likes to get off the beaten path and see the real places and people, not the glittery tourist Taj Mahals!

I'd compare it to Vegas where, if you want to see the real Vegas, get away from the Strip and the Neon and visit in the hoods and suburbs!

There's a lot of better places to spend time in Jersey, the Garden State, than AC as you know!
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What I like to visit most in NJ are the national and state parks, most of which are hard to get to on public transport.
 
caravanman said:
I do like to get off the beaten path, and that was what appealed about Atlantic City. I don't gamble, but find the casino's often offer very cheap hotel deals. :)

I wouldn't go there expecting much other than a run down seaside place, well past it's sellby date!

Ed :cool:
Click to expand...
Should have seen it back in 76 when I spent 6 or 8 weeks there, including a hurricane, befor Gambling gave a lift and what ever to the lost city playground. I was at the convention center rehearsing the 76 Ice Capades tour.

Aloha
 
The Phoebe Snow ads are considered to be among the first advertising "jingles," a couple of decades before radio broadcasting led to slogans being set to music, giving the term "jingle" its current connotation.
 
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Here's a few more I dug out of my copy of "A Treasury of Railroad Folklore" by BA Botkin and Alvin F Harlow, Bonanza Books edition....

The man in blue now helps her through

And tells her when her train is due.

"He's so polite. They do things right

Upon the Road of Anthracite."

Now Phoebe Snow direct can go

From Thirty-third to Buffalo.

From Broadway bright the "Tubes" run right

Into the Road of Anthracite.

Now Phoebe may by night or day

Enjoy her book upon the way--

Electric light dispels the night

Upon the Road of Anthracite.

The evening flies till Phoebe's eyes

Grow sleepy under mountain skies.

Sweet dreams all night are hers till light

Dawns on the Road of Anthracite.

No trip is far where comforts are.

An observation Lounging Car

Adds new delight to Phoebe's flight

Along the Road of Anthracite.

This scene reveals a chef on wheels

With care preparing Phoebe's meals.

He, too, wears white from morn till night

Upon the Road of Anthracite.

On railroad trips no other lips

Have touched the cup that Phoebe sips.

Each cup of white makes drinking quite

A treat on Road of Anthracite.

Miss Snow draws near the cab to cheer

The level-headed engineer,

Whose watchful sight makes safe her flight

Upon the Road of Anthracite.

Miss Snow, you see, was sure to be

The object of much curiosity,

For day or night they're all polite

Upon the Road of Anthracite.

The stars now peep at her asleep,

While trackmen keen their night watch keep,

For Phoebe's flight must be all right

Upon the Road of Anthracite.

###
 

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