Traveling by train was pretty swanky from the 1930s to the 1960s, and it hasn't gone out of style. First class cabins were furnished like living rooms and included radio gramophones. Passengers dined on fine china and played cards to pass the time.
Here's what train travel looked like in the good old days.
1. People used to dress up for train travel.
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| Passengers waiting with their luggage to board the first special passenger train to London. (Topical Press Agency/Getty Images) |
2. No sweats or hoodies here.
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| Employees of Messrs Carreras peer out of their railway carriage window prior to departure from Charing Cross Station, London, in 1934. (E. Dean/Topical Press Agency/Getty Images) |
3. Traveling was an event.
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| Employees of Messrs Carreras waving from the platform prior to departure from Charing Cross Station, London, in 1935. (E. Dean/Topical Press Agency/Getty Images) |
4. Railway carriages were spacious and well-lit.
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| The interior of a carriage circa 1934. (Photo by Fox Photos/Getty Images) |
5. First class cars in particular were tastefully decorated.
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| Cleaners at work in the luxurious coach 'Minerva' in 1938. (Fox Photos/Getty Images) |
6. Furnished like living rooms, they came complete with armchairs, drapes, and carpeting.
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| The luxurious first class lounge on board a London Midland and Scottish Royal Scot train. (Edward G Malindine/Getty Images) |
7. This first class car evokes the ancient Momoyama style of Japanese art.
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| A luxurious Japanese Railway Department observation car circa 1920. (Fox Photos/Getty Images) |
8. Celebrities enjoyed the comforts of first class. Some things never change.
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| Paul McCartney of the Beatles and Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones sit opposite each other on a train at Euston Station in 1967. (Victor Blackman/Express/Getty Images) |
9. Restaurant cars hosted guests with elegant table settings.
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| A new British Railways restaurant car at Waterloo Station in London in 1949. (Topical Press Agency/Hulton Archive/Getty Images) |
10. Passengers dined on fine china.
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| Passengers in a first class dining saloon in 1951. (Photo by Topical Press Agency/Getty Images) |
11. Some trains offered food buffet style.
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| A corridor buffet car built for the new electric main line from London to Bognor Regis, Chichester and Littlehampton districts on show at Waterloo station, London, in 1938. (J. A. Hampton/Topical Press Agency/Getty Images) |
12. Others employed dapper servers to pour drinks.
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| Diners in the restaurant car on a GWR (Great Western Railway) oil-fired locomotive, in 1946. (Harrison /Topical Press Agency/Getty Images) |
13. In cars equipped with radio gramophones, passengers could enjoy music and radio programs.
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| Passengers listen to a radio gramophone on a LNER train carriage in 1930. (Photo by Fox Photos/Getty Images) |
14. Playing cards was also a popular pastime.
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| Passengers in a BEA Vickers Viking while away the time with a game of cards in 1947. (Fox Photos/Getty Images) |
15. As was reading the newspaper.
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| September 1930: Passengers listen to the wireless on board a train on the Canadian Pacific Railway. (Fox Photos/Getty Images) |
16. Traveling back then still involved the same crowded rush as it does now.
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| Holidaymakers waiting for the Cornish Riviera express train at Paddington Station, London, in 1924. (E. Bacon/Topical Press Agency/Getty Images) |
17. But there was also a special kind of thrill to riding on the railroad that's hard to come by these days.
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| Milkmen from United Dairies on one of the LNER trains chartered at King's Cross Station, London, in 1932. (J. A. Hampton/Topical Press Agency/Getty Images) |
18. Back then, traveling was friendlier.
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| An transport official at Euston Station, London, gives directions to a little girl leaving on a hiking expedition. 7th April 1939. (Photo by William Vanderson/Fox Photos/Getty Images) |
19. And more romantic.
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| A kiss under the mistletoe in a first class railway carriage before leaving Paddington Station, London, in 1936. (David Savill/Topical Press Agency/Getty Images) |
(via Business Insider)