Phoebe Snow was a fictional character created by Earnest Elmo Calkins to promote the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad. The advertising campaign was one of the first to present a fictional character based on a live model.[ citation needed ]
Phoebe Snow was a fictional character created by Earnest Elmo Calkins to promote the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad. The advertising campaign was one of the first to present a fictional character based on a live model.[ citation needed ]
Rail travel around 1900 was tough on the clothing of passengers. After a long trip on a train hauled by a bituminous coal-fired steam locomotive, travelers would frequently disembark covered with black soot. This usually wasn’t the case when the locomotive burned anthracite, a cleaner-burning type of coal. The Lackawanna owned vast anthracite mines in Pennsylvania, and up until World War I, burned anthracite in their passenger locomotives. Hence the road could legitimately claim that their passengers’ clothing would remain clean after a long trip.
To promote this, the Calkins advertising department created, "Phoebe Snow", described as "a young New York socialite, and a frequent passenger of the Lackawanna." [1] [2] The advertising campaign presented Miss Snow as often traveling to Buffalo, New York, and always wearing a white dress. [3] : 9 Calkins said he based the campaign on an earlier series of Lackawanna car cards (advertisements displayed inside coaches) - All in Lawn - created by DL&W advertising manager, Wendell P. Colton. They had been built on a rather limiting nursery rhyme, The House That Jack Built , and featured a nameless heroine dressed in white. For his new campaign, Calkins adopted a form of verse inspired by an onomatopoetic rhyme, Riding on the Rail, that he felt offered endless possibilities.
The first advertisement featured the image of Phoebe Snow and a short poem:[ citation needed ]
Phoebe soon became one of the most recognized advertising mascots in the United States, and in further campaigns she began to enjoy all the benefits offered by DL&W: gourmet food, courteous attendants, an observation deck, even onboard electric lights:[ citation needed ]
In 1903, filmmaker Edwin Porter parodied the advertising campaign with his short film A Romance of the Rails.[ citation needed ]
"Phoebe Snow" was the only name Calkins ever used in the advertisements, and he laughed at later claims by Lackawanna officials that the name was selected only after lengthy scientific experimentation. The original artwork was painted by Henry Stacy Benton, who worked from a series of images of a model, Marion Murray Gorsch. [4] Later, she was photographed in a variety of railroad activities while dressed in a white gown. Standing in for the cool, violet-corsaged Phoebe character of the paintings, Gorsch was one of the first models to be used in advertising. [3] : 9
During World War I, anthracite was needed for the war effort and its use as a fuel by railroads was prohibited, thus ending the career of Phoebe Snow.[ citation needed ] As she passed into legend, the Calkins heroine said farewell with the following jingle: [5]
On November 15, 1949, the Lackawanna Railroad inaugurated a new streamlined passenger train named after its long-dormant promotional symbol. The new Phoebe Snow represented the modernization of the Lackawanna passenger train fleet, and its image. The new train became Train No. 3 (westbound) and No. 6 (eastbound), which previously had been assigned to the railroad's formerly premier train, the Lackawanna Limited. The Phoebe Snow ran on a daylight schedule between Hoboken, N.J., and Buffalo, N.Y., a trip of 396 miles (639 km), in about eight hours. [6] The train was discontinued in 1966.[ citation needed ]
The singer Phoebe Snow took her stage name from the character. [7]
The 2014 oratorio Anthracite Fields commemorates the history of anthracite mining and, in its final movement, makes reference to the Phoebe Snow campaigns using original quotes.[ citation needed ]
The Brandy Alexander, a cocktail containing cognac, crème de cacao and cream, was said to have been created for a dinner celebrating Phoebe Snow. The bartender at Rector's, Troy Alexander, was looking to create a white drink to mimic Phoebe's white attire. [8]
The other two are tavern-lounge cars built in 1949 for the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad's premiere train, the Phoebe Snow, which ran from Hoboken, N.J., to Buffalo. The name came from a character—dressed all in white—in an advertising campaign dating to the early 1900s, touting a train that ran on clean-burning anthracite coal. The singer Phoebe Snow, born Phoebe Laub, took her stage name from the train.
The Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad, also known as the DL&W or Lackawanna Railroad, was a U.S. Class 1 railroad that connected Buffalo, New York, and Hoboken, New Jersey, and by ferry with New York City, a distance of 395 miles (636 km). Incorporated in Pennsylvania in 1853 primarily for the purpose of providing a connection between the anthracite coal fields of Pennsylvania's Coal Region and the large markets for coal in New York City. The railroad gradually expanded both East and West, eventually linking Buffalo with New York City.
The Erie Lackawanna Railway, known as the Erie Lackawanna Railroad until 1968, was formed from the 1960 merger of the Erie Railroad and the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad. The official motto of the line was "The Friendly Service Route".
The Delaware and Hudson Railway (D&H) is a railroad that operates in the Northeastern United States. In 1991, after more than 150 years as an independent railroad, the D&H was purchased by the Canadian Pacific Railway (CP). CP operated D&H under its subsidiary Soo Line Corporation which also operates Soo Line Railroad.
Phoebe Snow was an American roots music singer-songwriter and guitarist, known for her hit 1974 and 1975 songs "San Francisco Bay Blues", "Poetry Man", "Harpo's Blues", and her credited guest vocals backing Paul Simon on "Gone at Last". She was described by The New York Times as a "contralto grounded in a bluesy growl and capable of sweeping over four octaves." Snow also sang numerous commercial jingles for many U.S. products during the 1980s and 1990s, including General Foods International Coffees, Salon Selectives, and Stouffer's. Snow experienced success in Australia in the late 1970s and early 1980s with five top 100 albums in that territory. In 1995 she recorded a gospel album with Sisters of Glory.
The Delaware-Lackawanna Railroad is a shortline railroad operating in Northeastern Pennsylvania, especially the Scranton area.
The Lackawanna Cut-Off was a rail line built by the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad (DL&W). Constructed from 1908 to 1911, the line was part of a 396-mile (637 km) main line between Hoboken, New Jersey, and Buffalo, New York. It ran west for 28.45 miles (45.79 km) from Port Morris Junction in Port Morris, New Jersey, near the south end of Lake Hopatcong about 45 miles (72 km) west-northwest of New York City, to Slateford Junction in Slateford, Pennsylvania near the Delaware Water Gap.
The Metro Rail Maintenance Yard or "South Park Terminal" houses Buffalo Metro Rail's cars in a train shed at the former Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad terminal in the Cobblestone District of Buffalo, New York. The property is located at the southernmost fringe of the Central Business District. The station was built in 1917, and was designed to handle both steam trains and steamships. The storage and maintenance facility was converted to its present condition in 1982, following the demolition of the former main terminal concourse building "headhouse" of the DL&W Terminal in 1979.
Summit is a train station in Summit, New Jersey, served by New Jersey Transit's Morris & Essex Lines. The station sits between Union Place on the north and Broad Street on the south, with station access via either side, and between Summit Avenue on the east and Maple Avenue on the west. Constructed in 1904–1905 by the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad in a mile-long open cut, it is one of the few NJ Transit stations with platforms below street level.
The Radisson Lackawanna Station Hotel, which was built as the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad Station, is a French Renaissance-style building in Scranton, Pennsylvania.
William Haynes Truesdale (1851–1935) was an American railroad executive. He served as the president of the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad (DL&W) from 1899 to 1925.
Earnest Elmo Calkins was a deaf American advertising executive who pioneered the use of art in advertising, of fictional characters, the soft sell, and the idea of "consumer engineering". He co-founded the influential Calkins and Holden advertising agency. His work was recognized with many awards during his lifetime and was called the "Dean of Advertising Men" and "arguably the single most important figure in early twentieth century graphic design."
The Boonton Branch refers to the railroad line in New Jersey that was completed in 1870 and ran 34 miles (54.8 km) from Hoboken to East Dover Junction as part of the Morris & Essex Railroad (M&E). Although the branch hosted commuter trains, the line was primarily built as a freight bypass line. The term "branch", therefore, is somewhat of a misnomer since the Boonton Branch was built to higher mainline standards than the Morristown Line, the line that it bypassed. As a result, the Boonton Branch better meets the definition of a "cut-off" rather than a branch. Some of the towns that the Boonton Branch passed through included Lyndhurst, Passaic, Clifton, Paterson, Wayne, Lincoln Park, Mountain Lakes, and its namesake, Boonton.
The Rockport train wreck occurred in Rockport in Mansfield Township, New Jersey, United States, about three miles outside of Hackettstown, on June 16, 1925. A violent storm washed debris onto a grade crossing, derailing a Lackawanna Railroad (DL&W) train. The crash killed 42 passengers and five crewmen and injured twenty-three others.
Tobyhanna station is a proposed NJ Transit commuter rail station located in Coolbaugh Township, Monroe County, Pennsylvania. The station forms part of a site owned by a number of public and private entities including the Pennsylvania Northeast Regional Railroad Authority. The site is adjacent to the former Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad station; the building remains in place and is in use as the local historical society rail museum. In spring 2021, Amtrak announced plans for potential New York-Scranton route.
The Erie Lackawanna MU Cars were a fleet of electric multiple unit commuter railcars used by the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad (D&LW) and successor railroads in the state of New Jersey. The D&LW undertook electrification of its Morristown Line and related branches in 1929–1930, and purchased 141 motor cars from Pullman to operate it. These were supplemented by 141 unpowered trailers of various types which were converted from existing rolling stock. The multiple units were successful and remained in service until 1984.
Phoebe Snow was a named passenger train which was once operated by the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad (DL&W) and, after a brief hiatus, the Erie Lackawanna Railway (EL).
Warren was a former station for the Erie Railroad on its main line and on the Mahoning Division's first subdivision between Cleveland and Pymatuning station. Along the main line, the next station west towards Dearborn Station was Leavittsburg, while east towards Pavonia Terminal was Niles. The station was located 585.7 miles (942.6 km) from Pavonia Terminal and 412.8 miles (664.3 km) from Dearborn Station.
The Nicholson Cutoff is a railroad segment of the Sunbury Line rail line and formerly a railroad segment of the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad main line and the Delaware and Hudson Railway South Line. The Nicholson Cutoff and the rest of the Sunbury Line is owned by Norfolk Southern Railway.
The Interstate Express was a long-distance passenger train operating between Syracuse, New York, and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, jointly operated by the Reading Railroad, the Central Railroad of New Jersey and the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad. These lines offered a long distance overnight line in Train 1301 (north-bound)/ 1306 (south-bound). Connecting service by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad offered continuing service south from Philadelphia to Washington, D.C.
The Erie Limited was a streamlined passenger train operated by the Erie Railroad between Jersey City, New Jersey and Chicago, Illinois via the Southern Tier. It operated from 1929 to 1963. After the merger of the Erie and the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad (DL&W) in 1960 it was known as the Erie-Lackawanna Limited. Once the premier passenger train on the Erie, repeated service reductions in the 1950s and 1960s left it a shell of its former self. The Phoebe Snow replaced it in 1963.