Tuesday, April 28, 2020

Speaking of IT Streamliners

Bill Stewart sends us something else on the IT streamliners...


. . . here is a rare (and almost certainly one of a kind) photograph showing, in the center of the image, a woman using her cell phone to ask the Decatur station agent
1) just how soon all this foolishness will be over, and
2) when she can expect the arrival of the next Danville Local!





The real occasion, of course, is the public exhibition of one of the new trains at Decatur in 1948.
Bill Stewart

Source:  Decatur Herald-Review archives

3 comments:

  1. I'm stuck at home with time on my hands, so was struck with the details of this picture. Since cellphones weren't invented until 1973, what could this woman be doing? The dress of the people around her is consistent with the late '40s, but I am puzzled, since it sure looks like she's on the phone.

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  2. I would bet 60% that she is crying. She is the only woman in the photo, so I wonder if there is a hidden story here? It is certainly an odd photo.
    O. Anderson

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  3. I would imagine she's just scratching her ear or something, while waiting for somebody else to finish looking at the new train. I remember seeing another picture of a new steam locomotive on display, and in front of it is a woman who also looks like she's on a cell phone.

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