Part VI: The Railroads
Without railroads, there would have been no road.
​
In the late 1800s and the early 1900s, the only form of transportation that was suitable for traveling shows was the railroad. Train travel was difficult and required much labor. And even in those days, labor costs were a factor in moving shows. Scenery weighed a lot and took up a lot of space. And actors had to be accommodated.
Trains were slow. The average speed of a passenger train might be just 25 miles an hour; freight trains were even slower. The actual speed of the train might be faster, but there were numerous stops for passengers, water and coal, which reduced their progress. On some special routes, such as New York to Chicago, the speed might get up to 45 miles per hour.
Shows were at the mercy of the published train schedule. Often, trains would set their schedules for the convenience of the biggest cities on the route. Unfortunately, for those shows playing in the one-night towns along that route, the result was that often a company would find itself getting off a train in the middle of the night, often at a barely heated station, with no hotel ready to receive them.
Even worse, the company might have to disembark from one train, only to have to wait in that station for their next train to come through, which, even if the schedule did not call for a long delay, the next train was just as often running late, thereby extending the long, cold wait.
Until dining cars appeared, meals could only be taken at twenty minute stops in stations with restaurants. That was never enough time, and produced a frantic scene as everyone tried to eat, or at least get something "to go." Cleanliness on the train was even worse than in a station restaurant, so eating on the train was fraught with peril. Of course, there was no way to refrigerate or store anything, so it all had to be eaten quickly.
During the summer there was no air conditioning on the trains, but to open the windows meant smoke and soot and ash was blowing through the car. In the winter a wood stove would struggle to heat a whole car, though eventually steam from the engine was piped through each passenger car.
​
There were Pullman sleeping cars for the company; they usually did not have to sit up all night in coach, though the time between stops had to be long enough for that to be worthwhile. There were a variety of sleeping accommodations from fancy staterooms for the stars down to the common double deck Pullman sleepers. There were separate bathrooms for men and women.
One of the big issues was that the scenery had to get from the train station or a siding to the theater; or from the theater to the train. That required hiring a transfer company which would supply wagons with crews. And that took a lot of time and money.
​
A production might require as many as twenty 20-foot truckloads. When 40-foot trucks were available, they could move a show much more economically. The transfer companies only handled scenery between the train and the sidewalk in front of the theatres; only stagehands could carry the materials into the theatre.
.jpg)
There were special baggage cars for the scenery. These looked like regular baggage cars but in addition to large doors on the sides, there was a large door on each end so that long pieces of scenery could be easily loaded and unloaded.
​
The painted backdrops of the day were tacked between continuous wooden battens that were 30' long for a full stage drop, and 24' tall flats were fairly common for opera scenery. Flat scenery was standardized in width as much as possible so that a standard flat was 5'-9" wide to fit in the cars. A tremendous amount of wardrobe and props were trouped in semi-standard sized, wheeled wooden road boxes. Everyone on the cast and crew traveled with a giant wardrobe trunk, with the maximum size specified in their contracts, as well as piles of hand luggage.
Credit: Hagley Museum & Library, Hagley ID #PRR 08367
Credit: Hagley Museum & Library, Hagley ID #PRR 08368