Train historian dishes on dining car cooking

PORT JERVIS - Food was a key attraction on two-day train trips in the era of long-distance rail travel, says railroad historian Rudy Garbely of Dingmans Ferry, Pa., who is negotiating to create a railroad museum in Port Jervis.

“Railroads competed with each other with scenery, amenities and food, but the only one of those they could control was the food they served,” he said. “Riders were selecting an experience. With each cookbook, railroads tried to outdo previous ones and those of other railroads.”

Garbely has collected cookbooks from different railroads and time periods, some rare and frail, and republished them with spiral bindings, making them easier to follow in the kitchen, as he and his wife, Carolyn Hoffman, do. They also have dishware and menus from several rail lines, all of which they discussed and displayed recently.

“We’ve both worked on private rail cars, making food for people on trips,” Garbely said. “People wanted the appropriate meals.”

So, they read books and looked at photos to research the china, silverware, menus and related items, and they scoured Ebay, antique stores and collectors’ assemblages. For a curious visitor, they laid out a place setting and menu from an Erie Lackawanna dining car, as well as dishes, menus and cookbooks from railroads across the country, some a century old.

Garbely’s publishing company specializes in railroad history, and he republished three rare railroad cookbooks.

“We did the 1912 Southern Pacific Railroad recipe book. There were only 500 in 1912, and I have one among likely just a handful left,” he said.

As for what rail lines cooked, he said, “They’re like chain restaurants. The Pennsylvania Railroad cooks the same food from New York to Chicago.”

However, in the 1940s and ’50s and earlier, tastes differed from now.

“Pheasant, squab and duck were popular,” Hoffman said. “They were big on oysters. Lamb was more popular than steak.”

Before World War II, regional availability influenced what was served, but not after the war, Garbely said.

“Fried chicken, catfish and Creole seasoning were big on the Atlantic Coastline Railroad, from Virginia to Florida,” Hoffman said. “New Haven Railroad served clam chowder, trout, Vermont cheddar and maple syrup. But after World War II, Vermont cheddar went to Florida.”

In California in the early 1950s the Union Pacific Railroad often served lo mein and other Chinese food, while the Southern Pacific offered Mexican food with lots of peppers. Those foods were unlikely to appear on the Northern Pacific that ran from Seattle to Chicago, where steak cooked inside a potato was served, Hoffman said.

“They cooked giant three- or four-pound potatoes enough so they could scoop out some room to put in the steak,” she said. “And they had many apple dishes - pies, cakes, tarts and salads.”

Garbely republished a 1937 book of apple recipes that was a handout to advertise Northern Pacific apple shipping. The couple displayed it on a living room table along with an 1885 coffee urn from the Northern Pacific and china, silver and glassware from East Coast lines.

However, no matter what was served, train chefs had certain limitations, particularly the number of ingredients available and the amount of space.

“They chose to serve items together that worked together in the space,” Garbely said. “They’d serve broiled steak and boiled potato because they’re cooked in different places. They used vegetables easily packed in cans, like beans, peas and asparagus tips. Sauces and desserts were prepared in advance at commissary hubs. An oven could fit 12 chickens while a pot of sauce cooked on the stove. Meals were a balancing act with the stove, oven and sink.”