Here Comes Railroad Week

June 30, 1936 Oshkosh Northwestern

 

July 1, 1936 Oshkosh Northwestern

July 13, 1936 Oshkosh Northwestern

 

Beginning in the early 1930s, the railroads began to reinvent themselves with a program of modernizing passenger trains using railroad cars of lighter materials like aluminum or stainless steel.  The streamlined train came to represent the newest and finest in rail travel as the railroads sought to reinvent themselves as they competed with the public's newfound fascination with automobiles.  In time, when the 1950s rolled around, the influx of faster and safer airline service and the introduction of the interstate highway system proved to be even more worthy adversaries to the nation's railroads as a dependable means of transportation.