| Western Pacific 881 'Silver Crescent' on Train Number 18, the eastbound California Zephyr, at Aurora, Illinois on July 17, 1965, Kodachrome by Chuck Zeiler. There appears to be a C&O sleeper cut in ahead of the observation, and that would be standard practice. Any 'foreign' sleepers would be positioned at the far end of the train. The California Zephyr featured a Public Address system that provided live commentary by the Zephyrettes as well as recorded music played on a wire recorder located in the first dome coach (which was also a crew dormitory and children's car), and any interruption in the special wiring for the PA (jumper plugs located overhead in the vestibules between cars) would render the cars behind disconnected. I'd still ride in the Silver Crescent on this date without complaining about the lack of music and commentary. |