The Road of Anthracite

I will admit it, I'm a train nut and anything to do with trains that ran in or out of Buffalo NY is part of my fetish. In 1882 the Lackawanna Railroad created the most scenic road between New York City and Buffalo, which was at the time the top city to head to from NYC to catch a train to Chicago. The Lackawanna Railroad burned anthracite coal in their locomotives which was a hot and clean burning coal and didn't fill the passengers clothing and hair with soot, which was an advertising boon to the Lackawanna Road.

The Wendle P. Coulton Advertising Agency invented Phoebe Snow, a fictional traveler on the Lackawanna Road, and the railroad even named a train after her! Being a single woman, she rode the trains alone, a terrifying prospect for women of Victorian America, and her exploits on the Road of Anthracite were invented to calm the fears of women of that era. There's no study data to show that her adventures actually calmed the fears of female riders in post-Civil War America, but her exploits were reported in poetic style and entertained riders of the day. They were placed in the advertisements of the time and were an entertainment gem on the level of the Burma Shave ads which made driving in rural USA an entertainment joy. I collected some of those little poems that entertained the travelers of 140 years ago here in the hopes that they would not be lost to the ravages of time.

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Phoebe is a hometown girl heading home to Buffalo for Christmas it's assumed...

It's long ago since Phoebe Snow
Made the trip to Buffalo
But still in white she takes delight
Touring the Road of Anthracite

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Says Phoebe Snow about to go
upon a trip to Buffalo
"My gown stays white from morn till night
Upon the Road of Anthracite"

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The new Lackawanna "Cutoff" brought Buffalo 11 miles closer to New York City

Each cut and fill 'cross dale and hill
Has made the shortest shorter still
I now delight, like arrow's flight
To speed o'er Road of Anthracite

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Here is one that advertises the miracle of the age: Electric Lights!

Now Phoebe may by night or day
enjoy her book upon the way
Electric light dispels the night
Upon the Road of Anthracite

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The thing about anthracite is that it is so clean burning, it throws off very few cinders compared to other grades of coal like bituminous and it wouldn't foul up their clothing

Phoebe says and Phoebe Knows
That smoke and cinders spoil good clothes
'tis thus a pleasure and delight
To take the Road of Anthracite

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It was an eight hour ride to her home in Buffalo and quite often Phoebe took the sleeper car. Women riding alone had to be assured that the men who work on the sleeper cars won't take advantage of them during the night...

Evening flies 'till Phoebe's eyes
Grow heavy under mountain skies
Sweet dreams all night are hers 'till light
Dawns on the Road of Anthracite

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Anthracite in incredibly hard, it gives coal the nickname "black diamonds" because a piece of anthracite glitters and shines. Phoebe gives a hard earned nod to the hard rock coal miners of Anthracite -

Says Phoebe Snow "The miners know
That to hard coal my fame I owe.
For my delight in wearing white
Is due alone to Anthracite.

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Phoebe also says thanks to the top gun of the era - the locomotive engineer. I'm not kidding when I say they were the top guns. Before the age of western dime store novels, popular fiction was filled with the exploits of hard bitten railroaders like Casey Jones, so the Road of Anthracite sought to assure everyone their engineers were not crazy speed demons:

Miss Snow draws near the cab to cheer
The level-headed engineer
Whose watchful site makes safe her flight
Upon the Road of Anthracite

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She also thanks the flagman, without whom another train might hit their if they stop

Among the crew, the flagman too
With Phoebe's trip had much to do.
His flag and light guide her right
Upon the Road of Anthracite

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She doesn't forget the tower-man who pulls the levers and routes the train onto the appropriate tracks, he's the guy who actually steers the train

Miss Snow may scan through journey's span
Each keen and faithful tower-man
Whose levers bright are swung aright
Upon the Road of Anthracite

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Miss Phoebe Snow has stopped to show
Her ticket at the gate you know
The guard polite declares it right
It's the Road of Anthracite

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Miss Phoebe's friends also love the Road of Anthracite as her pal tells her:

Yes, Phoebe, I can now see why
The praises of this road you cry,
My glove are white as when last night
We took the Road of Anthracite

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Phoebe also gives advice to mothers of small children, although unmarried and childless, she is a font of wisdom when it comes to railroading and children:

Says Phoebe Snow: "I see you know,
(As mothers should) the way to go
To keep the children clean and bright
Upon the Road of Anthracite."

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Phoebe really enjoys the setup of the dining car which was often on par with the fanciest restaurants in New York or Buffalo (When you have four or five different routes to the same destination and their time is the same, things like dining cars made the difference in your choice of railroad to take)

A cosey seat, a dainty treat
Make Phoebe's happiness complete
With linen white, and silver bright
Upon the Road of Anthracite

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A coach or sleigh was once the way
of reaching home on Christmas Day
Now Phoebe's right, you'll expedite
The trip by Road of Anthracite

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Phoebe finally reaches the end of her journey and she picks up her grip (carry-on luggage) to depart

In time the trip ends without slip
And Phoebe sadly takes her grip
Loth to alight, bows left and right
"Good bye dear Road of Anthracite!"

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Once the journey is done, it's not over. Phoebe needs to brag up her road of anthracite

Miss snow commends her road to friends
To one and all this message sends
No route brings quite as much delight
As clearly Road of Anthracite

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In 1950 the Lackawanna Road scrapped their steam locomotives and replaced them with boring, flat sounding diesel locomotives. Sadly Phoebe updated her tune too, however in her rush to advertise the onrushing soulless diesels she failed to maintain the proper meter.

Says the modern Phoebe Snow
In pretty frock with eyes aglow
As she departs for Buffalo
"No smoke or film my gown to stain
No jerks or jolts or nervous strain
A GM diesel pulls my train."

Yes, dear readers, once upon a time, diesel locomotives were considered "smokeless" because locomotives that expelled smoke were not allowed on the island of Manhattan. Look how far we came!