colorado hirailer posted:Picked up a book recently,related to this subject, (l hope), "Dining By Rail", James D. Porterfield. It explores providing food for rail travelers, it's origin and development. About a third of the book comprises dining car entree menus for over fifty different railroads (if you can cook far better than l) .It addresses the Harvey Girls, and the Big Shanty hotel meal stop that provided the opportunity for The Great Locomotive Chase.
"Dining by Rail" is an excellent source book! I was really impressed by Porterfield's research, story telling, and the various facts about things like how much milk, apples, meat the RR dining cars used in a year (see page 102). I'll definitely want to read and reread the entire history section.
I tried a couple of recipes from the cookbook half but don't remember much about them. The PRR celery with roquefort cheese is from a PRR cookbook available on the web. I've served it several times with success.
The stories about guys hawking food in baskets up and down the isles and of how rushed and crowded train stops at station restaraunts were in the early days are really interesting. Then came the hotel inspired dining cars and the Harvey Houses.
TRRR
