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Bananas

Tom Madden
 

Mike wrote:

> , if we allowed hundreds of messages about bananas

> on the STMFC, surely we could allow at least some

> discussion  regarding the locomotives that pull the

> cars containing said bananas...


The adventure continues. Posted this morning on Trainorders.com by Eugene Crowner:

"Back in the 1950s on the U.P. there was a banana messenger out of Los Angeles that rode in the caboose with the crew. Presumably he accompanied the bananas at least as far as Salt Lake City. The bananas were destined for Utah and Idaho."


I was aware of attendants riding poultry cars, but banana attendants? On the UP??


Just more Armour Yellow, I suppose.


Tom Madden
Charlie Duckworth
 

I have some old unused Missouri Pacific 'Banana Messenger' cards that describe the name of the messenger, hair and eye color and height so the Mop had them too.

Charlie Duckworth
Tony Thompson
 

Tom Madden wrote:

The adventure continues. Posted this morning on Trainorders.com by Eugene Crowner:

"Back in the 1950s on the U.P. there was a banana messenger out of Los Angeles that rode in the caboose with the crew. Presumably he accompanied the bananas at least as far as Salt Lake City. The bananas were destined for Utah and Idaho."

I was aware of attendants riding poultry cars, but banana attendants? On the UP??


    Banana messengers were common. Ripening of the banana is quite sensitive to temperature, and the purpose of the messengers was to respond if outside temperature changed more than expected. At stopping points, they could go inside the cars to check inside temperature and authorize whatever measures were needed (open or close vents, add or remove heaters, etc.) There are records of banana messengers leaving banana ports all over the U.S. with cuts of banana reefers.

Tony Thompson             Editor, Signature Press, Berkeley, CA
2906 Forest Ave., Berkeley, CA 94705         www.signaturepress.com
(510) 540-6538; fax, (510) 540-1937; e-mail, tony@...
Publishers of books on railroad history
Spen Kellogg <spninetynine@...>
 

On 1/20/2015 12:12 PM, pullmanboss@... [STMFC] wrote:
 

Mike wrote:

> , if we allowed hundreds of messages about bananas

> on the STMFC, surely we could allow at least some

> discussion  regarding the locomotives that pull the

> cars containing said bananas...


The adventure continues. Posted this morning on Trainorders.com by Eugene Crowner:

"Back in the 1950s on the U.P. there was a banana messenger out of Los Angeles that rode in the caboose with the crew. Presumably he accompanied the bananas at least as far as Salt Lake City. The bananas were destined for Utah and Idaho."


I was aware of attendants riding poultry cars, but banana attendants? On the UP??


Just more Armour Yellow, I suppose.


Maybe they have to be watered every 24 hours.

Spen Kellogg
mopacfirst
 

I'm sure if you post this on PCL you'll get lots of messages, but I recall from old timetables about how some categories of reduced fare couldn't ride the extra fare or reserved seat trains.  Clergy, for one, but I believe banana messenger was among them.

 

Ron Merrick
Tim O'Connor
 


And when there were too many bananas for one train, there would be another
section of the train with another banana attendent. This is the origin of the
term "second banana".

Tim O'Connor


Tom Madden wrote:

The adventure continues. Posted this morning on Trainorders.com by Eugene Crowner:

"Back in the 1950s on the U.P. there was a banana messenger out of Los Angeles that rode in the caboose with the crew. Presumably he accompanied the bananas at least as far as Salt Lake City. The bananas were destined for Utah and Idaho."

I was aware of attendants riding poultry cars, but banana attendants? On the UP??

    Banana messengers were common. Ripening of the banana is quite sensitive to temperature, and the purpose of the messengers was to respond if outside temperature changed more than expected. At stopping points, they could go inside the cars to check inside temperature and authorize whatever measures were needed (open or close vents, add or remove heaters, etc.) There are records of banana messengers leaving banana ports all over the U.S. with cuts of banana reefers.

Tony Thompson

Jeffrey White
 

I don't know anything about the UP operations but the IC rostered a Banana Messenger caboose as late as 1960.  It's my understanding that produce buyers rode the trains. 

The IC also ran strawberry trains known as the Crimson Flyer and they often used an old coach instead of a caboose to carry the produce buyers.   Apparently all of the crop wouldn't be sold when it left Louisiana and the buyers would take orders by telegraph and cars dropped off at interchange points.  According to an article in the Green Diamond (IC Historical Society Magazine) they used REA Express reefers on the Crimson Flyer runs.

I am assuming the "banana messengers" performed the same function with all car loads not being sold when the trains left New Orleans and cars that were sold enroute set out at East/West interchanges.
On 1/20/2015 6:47 PM, ron.merrick@... [STMFC] wrote:

 

I'm sure if you post this on PCL you'll get lots of messages, but I recall from old timetables about how some categories of reduced fare couldn't ride the extra fare or reserved seat trains.  Clergy, for one, but I believe banana messenger was among them.

 

Ron Merrick
Andy Sperandeo
 

"This is the origin of the term 'second banana.'"

Sounds more like some original baloney to me. "Top banana," etc., are show-biz terms dating to the old vaudeville days.

Andy
arved_grass
 

After spending significantly more time researching this than I did computing the average weight of lead lost on California's roads, I concur. I couldn't find a single reference to anything other than "subservient role" such as the straight man in a comedy routine.

Failing a reputable citation, my conclusion: Tim's pulling out leg.

Arved Grass
Arved_Grass@... or Arved@...
Fleming Island, Florida

--------------------------------------------

On Wed, 1/21/15, Andy Sperandeo asperandeo@... [STMFC] <STMFC@...> wrote:

Subject: Re: [STMFC] Bananas
To: "STMFC@..." <STMFC@...>
Date: Wednesday, January 21, 2015, 12:06 PM


 









"This
is the origin of the term 'second
banana.'"
Sounds more like some original
baloney to me. "Top banana," etc., are show-biz
terms dating to the old vaudeville days.
Andy










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Tony Thompson
 

Jeffrey White wrote:

I don't know anything about the UP operations but the IC rostered a Banana Messenger caboose as late as 1960.  It's my understanding that produce buyers rode the trains. 


     Whether this was true on the IC or not, I don't know, but PFE documents clearly identify the banana messengers as responsible for the welfare of the cargo (in that way, much like poultry car messengers). I have never seen any hint that they were brokers.

Tony Thompson             Editor, Signature Press, Berkeley, CA
2906 Forest Ave., Berkeley, CA 94705         www.signaturepress.com
(510) 540-6538; fax, (510) 540-1937; e-mail, tony@...
Publishers of books on railroad history
Steve Haas
 

<<Failing a reputable citation, my conclusion: Tim's pulling out leg.>>

Yes,

But whose leg is he pulling out, and why????? . . . . ;-{)


Steve Haas
Snoqualmie, WA
Tim O'Connor
 

Friends

I'm sorry, I just lost it when I found out about banana drovers! Care and
feeding of the banana herd is a serious business, and we mustn't have any
fun at the expense of our noble fruit... My sincere apologies.

Next week, I will investigate the origin of the term "baloney" and its
relationship to freight cars.

After spending significantly more time researching this than I did computing the average weight of lead lost on California's roads, I concur. I couldn't find a single reference to anything other than "subservient role" such as the straight man in a comedy routine.

Failing a reputable citation, my conclusion: Tim's pulling out leg.

Arved Grass
Arved_Grass@... or Arved@...
Fleming Island, Florida

--------------------------------------------
On Wed, 1/21/15, Andy Sperandeo asperandeo@... [STMFC] <STMFC@...> wrote:


"This
is the origin of the� term 'second
banana.'"
Sounds more like some original
baloney to me. "Top banana," etc., are show-biz
terms dating to the old vaudeville days.
Andy
Craig Zeni
 

On Jan 20, 2015, at 2:47 PM, STMFC@... wrote:

4a. Re: Bananas
Posted by: pullmanboss@... pullmanboss
Date: Tue Jan 20, 2015 11:12 am ((PST))

Mike wrote:
, if we allowed hundreds of messages about bananas
on the STMFC, surely we could allow at least some
discussion regarding the locomotives that pull the
cars containing said bananas...

The adventure continues. Posted this morning on Trainorders.com by Eugene Crowner:
"Back in the 1950s on the U.P. there was a banana messenger out of Los Angeles that rode in the caboose with the crew. Presumably he accompanied the bananas at least as far as Salt Lake City. The bananas were destined for Utah and Idaho."


I was aware of attendants riding poultry cars, but banana attendants? On the UP??
Mere attendants? I'd hoped they'd have bananamanagers....

/gets coat and hat

Craig Zeni
Cary NC

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