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Reply to "Trains, Trolleys, and Diners: The real story"

Ace, you have a great sense of history and railroading (real and model), and great pictures to back it up.  I loved seeing the track plan. Thanks!

Here are photos of the Sterling Streamliner diners that I have visited.  Sterling was the manufacturer and Streamliner the model name.  A clear RR knockoff. The handful of surviving Streamliners apparently have fallen on hard times, including one of these. The side view should be very familiar to RR enthusiasts!  Of course the food fare between the country's most "moderne" trains and community diners couldn't have been more different, but there's no hiding the fact that the architecture in this case was directly copying the famous engines.

Another possible source for the tight coupling/conflation of diner architecture with dining cars and trolleys in the popular mind may be a direct result of how diner owners named their restaurants.  In the Sterling Streamliner link below, you'll see how frequently "Flyer" appears in the title, such as "Yankee Flyer" and "Penn State Flyer"; and then there was the one named "Dining Car".  Very suggestive of popular regional trains.  Perhaps the 'Dining Car' owner was trying to present an image of the RR dining car, which provided the finest fresh food to set each road apart from the competition. In the illustrations in this link, notice also the use of portholes on the center doors.  You'll also see some diner buildings with dual slanted ends -- they look a bit like an MU, don't they? :-)  Other diners, including at least one Streamliner knock-off, can be found with "trolley" in their names, too.

    https://dinerhunter.com/2012/0...erling-streamliners/

Lastly, I'm including two railroad-themed diner photos that aren't Streamliners, along with an especially photogenic "semi-streamliner".  I'm not aware of any 'semi-streamliner' design equivalent in the train world but they remind me a bit of Pullman or heavy passenger cars.  For the restaurants, the stainless steel was sometimes an add-on over the original enamel siding.

Enjoy!

Tomlinson Run Railroad

P.S. -- Like RR stock and trolleys, most diners had builder's plates with a serial number.

Examples of Streamliners

1940 Sterling Streamliner #406, formerly in Salem, NH. Now apparently sitting in a field in CT since 2005.  The slanted side's windows are covered in this picture but the web contains others were they are visible -- along with a classic chevron stripe across the front. 8/27/1994.

1940_SterlingStreamliner_SalemNH-SideView

1941 Sterling Streamliner #4110, Pawtucket, RI. Checkout the slanted end, the windows, and that great paint. This one still has its chevron. Summer 2000.

1941_SterlingStreamliner_PawtucketRI-3-4View1941_SterlingStreamliner_PawtucketRI-SideView

Examples of RR-influenced Names

The Pig 'n Whistle, 1952 Mountain View (mfr). Brighton, MA. It got its name from the stockyards and railroads that were once near by.  This one is now closed but still standing. 24 June 2000.

1952_Mtn_View_PignWhistle_BrightonMA

Henry's Diner, now The Breakfast Club. Worcester #841, Allston, MA. This one's a puzzle: from Google satellite there are no obvious former RR tracks nearby, and yet this diner sports a railroad crossing sign topped by a chef's hat!  Cute by unfathonable to me :-}.

1953_Henrys_Diner_WorcesterNo841_AllstonMA2

1953_Henrys_Diner_WorcesterNo841_AllstonMA

Photogenic Semi-streamliner

1941 The Rosebud Diner, Worcester #773, Davis Square, Somerville, MA (take the "T" to it!) 6/24/2000.

1941 Rosebud Diner Worcester SomervilleMA

Attachments

Images (7)
  • 1940_SterlingStreamliner_SalemNH-SideView: 1940 Sterling Streamliner Formerly in Salem, NH
  • 1941_SterlingStreamliner_PawtucketRI-3-4View: 1941 Sterling Streamliner Pawtucket, RI - front
  • 1941_SterlingStreamliner_PawtucketRI-SideView: 1941 Sterling Streamliner Pawtucket, RI - side
  • 1952_Mtn_View_PignWhistle_BrightonMA: 1952 Pig 'n Whistle once near stockyard and railroad.
  • 1953_Henrys_Diner_WorcesterNo841_AllstonMA: 1953 Stainless steel work
  • 1953_Henrys_Diner_WorcesterNo841_AllstonMA2: 1953 What's with that crazy sign?
  • 1941 Rosebud Diner Worcester SomervilleMA: 1941 "Semi-streamliner"

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