Lounge Car Radios...

Does anyone know what kind of radios that were installed in the Frisco (And other RR's) lounge cars? Brand, style, band spread AM-FM, etc? Also related, what kind of power supply did they run on, were they commercial models or just for the RR industry?

Thanks, Tom G.

 

They were just like any other radio, on engines and cabooses They were comercial Motorola's. Generally they had all the running Chanel's of the operating railroad listed in the timetable. Later in the 90's they started putting all 100 AAR Chanel's in selected radios. I had one with all 100 in it, their really good for hunting trip's.
That's about all I know, not much of a radio guy..

 

Sorry I didn't mean the VHF two-way communication radios that the railroad crews use, I was referring to the "easy listening" radios installed for lounge car passengers' enjoyment.

Tom G.

 

Ok, I don't know much about that. But don't know as I heard radio on passenger cars, anyone know?

 

The Randall book only indicates the radio was located above the sink in the coach-lounge-buffet cars. The speaker(s) were located in the bulkhead facing the lounge area. However, it is doubtful whether an FM band would have been used when these cars were built in 1946.

GS

 

An AM radio would be able to provide some long-distance reception, especially when tuned to a clear-channel station like KMOX, 1120 KHz. Summer Meteor parlor car passengers could at least keep up with the Cardinals.

FM would be a lost cause, though it might be possible to keep a station for more than an hour at a 60 mph track speed. Tune in the station 30 miles out and lose it 30 miles on the other side. Much the same thing happens with ("non-satellite) car radios on long trips now.

 

AM HD, HD TV, etc...All that technology is amazing. Too bad the programming (Except ball games) is so crappy! AM radio on the lounge cars was probably what kind of radios were used. The streamline observations, diner-observations, chair-buffet-lounge and business cars all had long antennas that ran along the full lengths of the car roofs.

Tom G.

 

Good thread, I didn't know they tuned in !!!!!!

 

Perfect for AM...

 

I will chime in here with my knowledge of this subject. I own several radios that were removed from various passenger cars from several different railroads. I am sure they were all the same or similar on the Frisco. The radios were short wave receivers with fixed multiple bands. The brand that is prevalent in the railroad industry is Zenith and I have a GE one that looks identical to the Zenith. I have several manuals for repair of these radios from dates ranging from 1938 up to 1961. The railroad versions are documented in these manuals along with blueprints for the antenna systems prevalent on top of the railroad passenger cars. I hope this answers the OP question.

 

"Short wave" radios would have been for "communications" between crews, yard engines, dispatchers, etc. I was originally referring to the lounge car radios designed for music and entertainment. I'm sure they would have been something like high end home console sets found in a nicely furnished living room. Zenith, RCA, Crosley, Philco, etc. probably manufactured such units. My whole idea would be it would be nice to find one of those for a (Railfan's) den or family room. Most any police scanner will receive the RR "company" channels.

Tom G.

 

Tom, these radios are receivers only and they were the "entertainment" of the passengers while on board the train. The multi band radios I have came out of Union Pacific diners and lounges and Missouri Pacific lounge cars from the Eagle cars. Remember, this was a different age of radio and the only radio in a car or pickup was an AM radio. FM was a future band to be commercialized. The Zenith radios I have switch different bands for frequencies from 2khz up to 22mhz. The personnel on board the trains had written on some of the dials and one was even modified and had a label WNBC and had a clip to hold the dial in place. I have one radio that had a dial that had indents and each was labeled. One is Omaha, two is Denver, three is Salt Lake City, etc,etc. I can operate them but there are no radio stations there anymore to receive from. This is just general information on the radios asked about and I would love to find one that was removed from a Frisco car but they are non existent as far as I know. I bought and removed a couple of these from the cars myself and got the cabling that I could so I would be able to install them later in a train room.

 

What brand were these radio sets?

 

Were these radio sets consoles like a piece of furniture? Or say a component like to be installed in a wall or cabinet with other components like a wire recorder or phonograph? There are still plenty of am stations if the set could be tuned away from the presets. I'd be interested in acquiring one of these. How would one go about searching for one say on ebay or a radio swap meet? Are there model names like Transoceanic or model numbers?

Thanks. Tom G.

 

Reason I ask, I used to live next door to a former Frisco radio technection that had a magnificent (I believe the make was a Harman-Karden AM-FM radio phonograph) console that he once had installed in a business car. He acquired his unit when the business car unit was upgraded.

Thanks Tom G.

 

Tom; I have a few Zenith radios that the Union Pacific used and a matching pair of GE radios the came from the Missouri Pacific. The ones I removed were on a shelf bolted to the bulkhead of the passenger car. They weigh 40 pounds and the bolts were substantial and the shelves were stainless. Another radio was under the bar in a Union Pacific car and it was also bolted. If you want to find one to purchase then good luck. Collecting these radios is a hobby within my hobby and they are scarce. I "fell into" mine as a lot of collectors do with this railroad equipment. Here is what is unique in collecting these, the ID plates on them have the railroad name on them with the serial number. These radios do share the same features as mainstream radios from the time period and the Transoceanic is one model that shares some guts with the railroad models. The UP ones that were in public view and the grill on the front was art deco and different from the plain jane model found under the counter. My suggestion to you would be look at interior pictures of Frisco passenger cars and see if you can spot what looks like a radio on a shelf or in an out of the way place that you can still get to the knobs.

 

Thanks for the tips.

Tom G.