ONCE UPON THE WABASH RAILROAD

[Music] once upon a time there was a young couple named malloy now mike malloy was very proud of his bride and molly malloy was very proud of mike although she still wasn't used to being called mrs malloy as you can plainly see neither mike nor molly nor chauncy their car had a care in the world [Music] finally now [Music] oh mike it's a beautiful train gee i wish we were on it now if you heard a pretty girl make a wish wouldn't you do something about it hey [Music] boy what a way to travel it's a gorgeous train i wish we could see the rest of it that's easy we're all proud of the bluebird i'll show it to you [Music] say this is real luxury isn't it hey comfortable looking seats sleepy hollow seats we call them use them throughout the train let's go into the drawing room which is available if you want privacy you can even have mules served here that's wonderful [Music] my this is interesting there are several throughout the train this is another parlor car you'll notice it has a dome too this blue bird room is for lounging for private parties or for business conferences say that's important to executives nobody loses time and for those who wish a cocktail lounge and the dining car automatic doors andy huh this is one of our dome coaches here we have a coffee shop [Music] and for coach passengers a club car my it's a beautiful train who thought of all this many artists and designers and at least 70 other kinds of specialists many of course from the wabash's own mechanical and passenger departments it's a big job to design a modern streamliner [Music] a modern train like the bluebird must cost a fortune well the bluebird cost nearly two million dollars and that's only a drop in the bucket compared to the total we're spending on new equipment of course the bluebird has a lot of under the hood features you can't see for example sound proofing to ensure a more quiet ride the springing system of the roller bearing wheels we're riding on and the special couplers between the cars and an individual air conditioning unit for each car say what about the bluebirds engine how fast can it go it could go 120 miles an hour but it doesn't instead the thousands of horsepower controlled by this little lever in the engineer's hand are used to get the train up to normal running speed as soon as possible and keep it there for steady on time running we call these locomotives diesels but they're actually driven by electric motors with power generated by diesel engines you see a diesel's at least twice as efficient as the old iron horse so now we use diesels for practically all of our trains let's hear the other one jack [Music] two horns what for one for the country the other for town the wabash tries to be a good neighbor you know [Music] so speaking of the iron horse it seems to me that the real old engines were more well more romantic somehow i wish i could have been there oh welcome to the rogers about to begin the first railroad trip ever made in the mississippi valley step aboard folks step aboard and help us make this day november the 8th 1838 a bright spot in history welcome to the rogers well welcome to the rogers this isn't going to be a long ride folks but it's bringing railroading to the mississippi valley and believe me things are going to move mighty fast after that you can bank on the wabash the friendly friendly road you can bank on the wabash to bear your hairy load for its branches like fingers stretch over fertile land the heart of our country lies in its friendly hand as the trains go they say hello to people far and near and the bluebird is the new word and travel conquer cheer to saint louis chicago wherever you're aboard you can bank on the wabash the friendly why i got me a hunch that one of these days this little eight mile section of high iron we're riding on will be a railroad system of 2400 miles stretching all the way from buffalo to kansas city and omar from st louis to chicago and detroit right through the heart of america a bridge line joining the railroads of the nation north and south east and west i can see it clear it's not going to matter to those fellows what the contour of the land is they'll use bridges or viaducts or tunnels whatever it takes to keep the trains of the wabash running fast and smooth even something as big as lake michigan won't stop them why they'll just put the whole train on a boat and cross to the other side summer or winter and rivers shocks why they'll ferry trains across the detroit river to canada and send them on to buffalo in the east because speed will be mighty important to shippers and that's what they'll get i reckon shippers will learn they can bank onto wabash why one of these days i bet you they'll have passenger trains that'll go swoosh it along faster than a mile a minute or more there'll be trains with names of their own trains that'll be regular hotels on wheels trains you can actually sleep in individual rooms that a flick of the finger will turn into comfortable private bedrooms all sizes too for one person or two or a whole family and along with all the trains there will be what they'll call stations in kansas city in suburban st louis and downtown saint louis in toledo and detroit [Music] in chicago and in omaha and in a lot of other cities big and little of course i won't ever see them but they'll have them and the freight trains they're going to have fast and run on tight schedules like passenger trains can't hardly believe my own predictions but i figure the railroads are going to haul practically everything used in the whole united states heavy stuff light stuff great big pieces of equipment this country will always depend on its railroads in war and peace bad times and good why sure as i'm standing here they'll find ways of keeping fruits and vegetables precious daisies so they can be hauled clean across the country from california new mexico texas the northwest just about from anywhere and they'll have places bigger than houses the railroad will own them itself where farmers grain can be stored until the market's ready for it and special machines for unloading a whole car full of grain without waste yes sir people will all eat better and live better because of railroading and you just mark my words this railroad right here this railroad of ours will be feeding whole cities like st louis and detroit why i can see it just as if i were there great produce terminals regular beehives kept filled with food all the time by our railroad of course it's going to take a powerful lot of rolling stock to run a really good railroad as i see it and they'll have to spend all sorts of money but the way i figure it this country's got to have the railroads if we're going to grow big and stay strong [Music] reckon is going to take people in just about every trading profession to keep things running smoothly and on schedule [Music] wouldn't surprise me none if they figured out ways of actually seeing trains and controlling them maybe hundreds of miles away that way two trains could use the same track even though they were heading towards each other because the dispatcher could signal one train to slow down and then set a switch to put it on a side track even though he was miles away and couldn't even see the two trains [Music] that way the other train can pass without a minute being wasted time's going to be mighty important to shippers and the wabash won't ever [Music] forget [Music] sure and the railroad yards and the stations will be so big that when a train's about due they'll use special long-distance riding systems to let all the railroad people know what train it is what time is coming in and on what track of course all the railroads will use each other's freight cars and they'll find ways of keeping track of every car right down to the fraction of a mile railroads will work together you mark my words [Music] well young lady how does it feel to make history i guess i'll take the blue bird la la la [Music] say i'm hungry luncheon is now being served in the dining car forward let's see [Music] hmm everything looks so good i can't decide the braised shoulder of lamb is very nice oh isn't this exciting well perhaps the fried main scallops say haven't i seen you someplace before you may have sir i've been with the wabash a long time most people stay with the wabash a long time or would you prefer chicken cookies salad bowl baked ham chicken sandwich roiled whitefish or perhaps a nice steak good night honey make up your mind before i starve will you i think i'll take the first one raised shoulder of lamb just like a woman listens to the whole list and takes the first one and what will you have dear lamb gosh molly just like a regular restaurant isn't it well nowadays a dining car is a restaurant there's no doubt with the food cooked in kitchens the size of a cupboard i'll bet most people think of a dining car kitchen as something like this [Music] actually however the modern streamliners kitchen is a miracle of stainless steel efficiency preparing two or three hundred meals at one meal time is routine for these boys everything just shines a good chef wouldn't have it any other way even if he didn't have to meet the health requirements of every state the train passes through our commissary department puts a lot of time and thought into making our meals as tasty as appetizing and as pleasing to look at as we know how the superintendent of dining cars plans them personally figuring that nothing is more important to pleasant travel than food that looks good and tastes good last year for example we bought 25 368 pounds of meat and 156 hundred pounds of potatoes among other things for the eight hundred and four thousand one hundred and twenty nine meals served in our dining carts i used to think of railroads as just hauling things from one place to another i didn't realize they bought news so much themselves the railroad's a big consumer all right that's one reason railroads are so important to the communities they serve the regular shopping list of our purchasing department runs into tens of thousands of items as a matter of fact our total bill amounts to millions of dollars every year dollars that go right back into the community served by the wabash of course we're never through buying because we're always figuring ways of improving things if we can reduce a grade along the line we can use longer trains and shorten schedules give better service to both passengers and shippers same thing goes for straightening curves [Music] in fact we spare no effort to keep the road bed in perfect condition and to keep things moving we've made our big yard and decatur one of the most modern anywhere electronic and other up-to-the-minute equipment makes it almost a push-button operation all designed to keep the wheels rolling on wabash tracks [Music] of course all this effort to make our road second to none and keep it that way helps the community too a railroad helps the community in lots of other ways as well for instance we figure it's good business to create new business in our community like this big automobile assembly plan by helping to bring it into our territory more than 3 000 new jobs were created the wabash hauls thousands of tons of material that goes into the cars and trucks that go to dealers and consumers that means a healthier railroad of course but it also means better business for everybody all along the line in fact the men in our industrial department all civil engineers spend all their time showing businessmen the advantages of locating their plants in the communities served by the wabash and a great many industries have found in their balance sheets proved that it pays to locate yes sir practically everything we need and use in our daily lives depends in one way or another on the railroad and if you really want to convince yourself just imagine just try to imagine what things would be like if the railroads suddenly stopped [Music] so thanks so much for a wonderful trip thank you glad you could be with us thanks bluebird for a wonderful wonderful ride foreign