Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, April 16, 1993 TAG: 9304160178
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: KELLY P. KISSEL ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: ABOARD THE BROADWAY LIMITED LENGTH: Medium
CELEBRATING `FAST FOOD' OF RESTAURANTS ON RAILS B6 B4 FOOD FOOD
In their heyday, railroads offered more than the sights of Chicago, Chattanooga and Omaha - they offered the tastes of barbecued lamb shanks, apricot pie and hot chile Roquefort canapes.The Great Northern baked huge Rome beauty apples on its treks. The Northern Pacific touted 2-pound baked potatoes purchased from farmers in the valleys the train traversed. On the overnight route from Chicago to Minneapolis, you could get the special sleep-inducing onion soup only on the Milwaukee Road, but for a special salad dressing, you had to take the Burlington Route.
"These were the best restaurants in America in their time," said James D. Porterfield, a marketing instructor at Penn State University.
Porterfield has taken a sentimental journey back to the golden age of railroading, and has come back with "Dining By Rail: The History and the Recipes of America's Golden Age of Railroad Cuisine." The book, published by St. Martin's Press, features 325 recipes from 46 national and regional railroad lines.
"On land, you kill time to eat, but on a train you eat to kill time," said Ike Greenberg, steward on the Illinois Central's Panama Limited.
In the early days, "They didn't even think about feeding the passengers," Porterfield said. Scheduled runs were short, though often prolonged by derailments, cattle on the track or delayed connections. After one accident, passengers delayed eight hours attempted to cook an ox struck by the train.
Young boys hawked food on trains in the 1840s, and in the 1850s eating houses sprouted along the tracks.
"They would stop the trains and let people off to get lunch. As competition for speed grew, stopping for an hour didn't make sense," Porterfield said.
Wounded soldiers were fed on "hospital trains" during the Civil War; and in 1862, the first meal for regular customers was served on the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad.
George Pullman introduced the "hotel car," with its on-board kitchen, in 1867 - two years after introducing the sleeper car. The best service came on "limited" trains like the Broadway, which catered to long-distance travelers.
"Businessmen were accustomed to fine service hotels in the cities they were staying in," Porterfield said, and railroads followed suit.
The different lines competed with their menus.
The lamb shanks, apricot pie and canapes were specialties of the Union Pacific, which opened up the West from Omaha. The Atcheson, Topeka and Santa Fe won acclaim for its French toast. The Seaboard Railway, now part of CSX, specialized in cream-of-peanut soup. Steak and apple pie were big sellers on any train.
Train service also marked the birth of fast food - both at 120 mph and with reliable, delectable and uniform portions.
"A passenger who liked the roast beef au jus and tossed salad he had on No. 5 out of Jersey City wants to have the same quality and taste the next time he travels, though next time may find him going from Chicago to Jamestown," wrote J.M. Collins, dining car superintendent of the Erie Railroad.
Service hit its height in the 1920s and 1930s - before airplanes bit into business. In 1930, there were 1,742 dining cars riding the rails.
Most private railroads ended their dining operations on May 1, 1971, when Amtrak began. By 1992, there were just 67 dining cars in service.
Through the years, Amtrak has won few raves for its cuisine, and short runs still feature hot dogs and hamburgers, fresh from the microwave. But Porterfield finds the national carrier making culinary strides.
"They've got a growing number of young and aggressive chefs," he said. "They also serve 22 million passengers a year. With that as an overview, I think they do an excellent job."
"We have a new thing now, a return to elegance," said Gerald Nocentino, 24, a cook aboard the Crescent that runs from New York City to New Orleans.
There is china and pedestal wine glasses, "a far cry from the plastic flowers and the metal vases and the diner look," Nocentino said.
The railroad now sends its chefs to the Culinary Institute of America. Last year, Nocentino, 24, won the railroad's Food Specialist of the Year Award after preparing a butterflied pork chop stuffed with a spicy rice dressing and accompanied with basil-buttered vegetables.
"What we're trying to do is get people back on board," said Nocentino, the son of an Amtrak conductor who talks as though it's natural to work at haute cuisine at high speeds. "It's just like any other restaurant, just that it moves."