The Years Without a Santa: Pennsylvania Railroad (1943)

Before the war the rich could board a Constellation or Clipper for exotic locals but for the average Joe and Jane it was trains and automobiles and the occasional ocean liner. War changed all that. The skies (and seas for that fact) weren't friendly and even if they were wartime rationing would have curtailed non-military travel.

Still, a the December 1943 issue of Life Magazine Pennsylvania Railroad ran this ad touting its war-effort tonnage. I've started calling this sort of ad "patriotism banking", the hope that touting a company's patriotism would equal dollars in the post-war economy.

So this Christmas, while Aunt Martha is alone on the coast instead of safe in the bosom of her family, just think of all those tanks that made the trip she couldn't.

Pennsylvania Railroad - Rain, Snow, and Dark of Night...

The Pennsylvania Railroad apparently took a queue from the US Postal Service, promising to get you there no matter what the weather. I guess that's a lot better than stopping the train somewhere in the middle of Ohio and making an announcement that the trips been cancelled due to mist.

For Americans, this was the tail end of the golden age of travel, World War II wouldn't start for almost six months (this ad comes from the June 30, 1941 issue of Life Magazine) and the US could still pretend Europe's problems were strictly an European affair. There's a lot of talk of thrift owing to the lingering effects of the Great Depression, but you also see mention of luxury accommodations and business too.

The whole thing puts me in a nostalgic mood, thinking back to a time when the experience of travelling was part of the vacation. You didn't dread the airport, nobody charged you extra to have a bag, the airlines hadn't signed a blood-oath to fix prices and prevent customer service, and you could sit back and enjoy the ride. Something's been lost and the geniuses running American and United aren't interested in rediscovering it any time soon.