My life is to make everything around me beautiful.

Monday, June 17, 2013

Train Compartments

Just a reminder that I'm having a giveaway. Go to this post and see what I'm giving away and follow the instructions for being eligible to win. I'm doing the drawing this coming Tuesday night and will announce it in the post for Wednesday, June 19th and will announce it then.
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My hubby is a great train enthusiast. He's extremely knowledgeable about trains also as that's his hobby. He can talk for hours to friends about them and his train layout in the 3rd car garage. I usually have to rescue them after maybe 20 or 30 minutes.

The train dining car equaled some of the best restaurants back then. They served on white plates with the train logo, crisply ironed brilliant white tablecloths and napkins. The decor was lovely and you were expected to mind your manners perfectly. I actually loved eating on the train. Always had wonderful meals and rolls and all kind of drinks and the waiters were especially nice. They wore white gloves and had white towels over their arms. Very nice men.


I've never seen a compartment like this. Perhaps it's on a foreign train. It just doesn't look like any we traveled on.


This was an upscale room—2 beds with a dresser and a bath, tiny, tiny bathroom.


This could be a club car. I see more tables at the other end, but sometimes there would be a car where you could go to smoke and just have a drink and perhaps some snacks. Those were called club cars and men would have a card game going most times.


This looks different from any dining car I was in, especially with the men looking like they are foreign. It could be an Asian train of some kinds. Just the food and setting looks just a bit different. Oriental Express??? But it is gorgeous.


This was probably a lower priced suite. The seats folded down for a bed and the top compartment above the orange sofa folded down also. And you have a little dining table if you didn't want to leave your train car.


These look more European because they had private room for train riders, instead of one long car with a large group of people all sitting in one big car. I'd love this feature. These afforded you more privacy and less noise with little kids running up and down the aisles.


This might be a European train dining car. I don't think we were ever in one that was this luxurious with posts and such. But ours were very lovely.


Some of them would even have showers on them. Now, these showers were so tiny only one person could get in at a time and the water didn't flow heavily but if you felt dirty after traveling a few days on a train it sure was exciting to be able to refresh yourself with a shower! It looks like they slept up high on the bunks, but there were always ladders to help you up.


This would have been my favorite way to travel but we never had a compartment like that. Gorgeous.


This was how my grandmother and I traveled. I really believe I was her favorite grandchild. At least, she told me so, made me dresses, let me visit summers and let me travel with her. I couldn't find a good photo without the logo on it so I hope I can use this. But we'd get in the beds, one top, one bottom. I think I got the upper once but I can remember both of us sleeping in the down compartment sometimes. I was a princess being treating by a queen. She was so good to me. I know she loved me a lot and I can hardly wait to meet her in the next world. I really loved her and my grandpa. We'd put our purses and clothes in a little stretchy rope thing by the window. And we never got treated improperly by any one else in the other compartment beds. We sat in them during the day, then at night the porters would come around and fix them into the beds. I simply cannot tell you what grand times we had. My grandfather worked for the railroad so she got free or very cheap fair when we traveled. Like I've said before, my father was overseas a lot so my mother and my brother and sister and I went to live with them in West Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky when we were young until he got through with that tour of duty overseas. I had great fun and the happiest times with my grandmother that I'd ever had.


What a lovely bed with wonderful pillows, spreads and comforters.


I so adore this little cabinet. I had Love Bunny working on one for me for our bathroom. I nagged, tried to encourage him for 2 weeks to get busy on it. It's done now and I've told you the story. This one is definitely adorable though.


Though this photos isn't the best, the kitchen area is cute. I just love people who do pink and not worry about what others think. ;-)


There were some days I'd spend on the sofa when I was pregnant. I wish my home at that time would have been this inviting.  We lived in USMC quarters. However, as nice they were—and we considered ourselves very fortunate to have those quarters—they never had any style to them. However, I loved living in them because we were in close proximity to other women who shared the same lifestyle we did.
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Tidbit:
The heart of a blue whale only beats nine times a minute.
A blue whale's testicles are the size of a family car.
A Weddell seal can hold its breath for approximately eighty minutes.
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