Vintage photos show how glamorous train travel used to be
July 31, 20240
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 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 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 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.
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.
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.
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.
