Thursday, May 3, 2012

cars in the luggage


This recent special issue of Eisenbahn Journal looks at the transport of passengers' cars on long distance trains in West Germany, Austria and Switzerland in the past and what is done today - known as Autoreisezüge.  It seems a sensible way of reducing cars on the highways, although how popular the practice is isn't clear.

As usual with Eisenbahn Journal, it is a high quality production with a glued spine instead of 2 staples, and a laminated cover - it could qualify as a book.  The photos and period adverts, nearly all in colour, are quite nostalgic both from a railway and a car enthusuast's viewpoint as there are lots taken in the 1950s and 1960s.  The phenomenon was largely the preserve of the upper middle class; even in Germany the Mercedes and the Oldsmobile in the cover scene were probably beyond the reach of the average worker, although smaller cars are also shown.  100 pages in A4 format, including cover, of which about 6 are adverts for other publications.

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