A Dining Car Story from the 1930s?
The mention of Porterfield's book reminded me of my recent Thanksgiving visit with my 95-year old (railfan) mother. She started telling a story I'd never heard before about wanting to be a "stewardess".
She really liked how the stewardesses dressed and how nice they looked. And she thought it would be fun to serve people and travel. She has some memory issues and she liked to fly, so it took me a while to figure out that she was speaking about working on a railroad dining car and not an airplane.
My mother was under the age to be allowed to travel on her own as a stewardess -- especially on any long distance trains that went west of Pittsburgh, and where she would have to stay over night. So she asked her father, who worked for the PRR, to contact someone important enough who could give her permission to travel. She was disappointed when he didn't jump right on it. Instead, my grandfather suggested that my mother learn more about the job first. (My grandfather was a very smart man 
.)
Well, when she found out that she would have to wash the dishes as well as serve, that shot down that dream in a hurry! :-). My mother found some way to save face when telling her father that she was no longer interested, without having to mention not wanting to wash dishes.
I've heard of stewards but not stewardesses on trains, so unless anyone can confirm its usage, I asume that she meant waitress.
Tomlinson Run Railroad
