"Divided " Passenger Cars for Jim Crow States.

[mlehman]

Spikre,
The seats are noted as the "twin revolving type," so I'm guessing they could go either way. The drawing of the Pittsburg shows them all in one direction. Was the other drawing with them facing each other across the partition also from MM? Could it have been the same artist (Muff) or someone else??

I kinda doubt the sign on the partition said white on the other side. It looks like the metal was simply cut in the shape of the letter. People on the other side of the partition likely saw "Colored" backwards, at least from what I can see.

The settee and table at the partition is interesting. Given there's a low partition between it and the white seating area, if more African-American passengers load than in the designated section, the rest might be accommodated around the settee as a temporary extension of these resources while keeping the required separation in place.

So these cars are clearly noted as connected to Jim Crow by Dr. Muff. Maybe you've been a little harsh on Bob Hundman on this?

[Spikre]

??
Mike,
not sure yet if this has been to harsh with Bob Hundman ?
so far have 2 articles where there is no hint or mention
of Jim Crow, and 1 that does mention it.
so will look for the other C&O, Southern and N&W articles
when possible.
C&O was following Jim Crow, but was trying to be cagey about
it, still have more Mainline articles to go thru.
so wont make any new statements until more has been read.
Spikre

[mlehman]

Aug 4, 2015 11:18:55 GMT -8 Spikre said:

??
Mike,
not sure yet if this has been to harsh with Bob Hundman ?
so far have 2 articles where there is no hint or mention
of Jim Crow, and 1 that does mention it.
SNIP
Spikre

Dr. Muff obviously thought to include important info on Jim Crow in the one article. Not sure if he was an author on either of the other 2 articles, so will have to wait and see what you discover.

It would be a tough call for most editors in the model RR press to get a decent article on a class of passenger cars, know enough to see material on Jim Crow could appropriately be included, and then tell the author he needed to add that in before the article would be printed.

I suspect Dr. Muff, being an educated fellow who deals with the public, would feel more comfortable than many in finding the right words to discuss this topic. Other folks writing similar article might have a much narrower comfort zone and either didn't notice or feared saying the "wrong thing" about the issue. Does Hundman then reject the article? Even though I'm in the camp of, "Yes, this matters," I'm also a historian and can appreciate the way in which authors not well versed in discussing such subjects could be quite flummoxed at the idea they should come up with something intelligent to say about Jim Crow. It's something where I think Hundman could appreciate Dr. Muff's ability to engage on this difficult topic was uncommon, while not expecting that from most of even his otherwise rather skillful stable of authors.

[Spikre]

Mike,
what has been seen here is that ALL KCS articles in Mainline
have been authored by Dr Nick Muff.
but a friend did a Bridge article for Mainline that should have run
at least 8 pages, and had plenty of pics showing that sort of bridge
details. when the article ran it was barely 4 pages and had very few
of the supplied pictures. friend wasn't happy about that.also the
plans supplied weren't used,but drawings by Hundman were instead.
another thing was asking ELHS for more pictures,info and what-not
on Erie-EL.but the supplier wasn't happy of all the previous article
grade info already supplied,and it was decided not to supply anything
else until All previous items were run in Mainline.
earlier items were sat on.
most of that info eventually appeared in the ELHS Diamond,not Mainline.
so while not directly touching this threads items,it does show how
Mainline was run,and have a feeling that in the other KCS article that
Dr Muff supplied the Info,but it wasn't run for "Space" or other reasons.
Spikre

[mlehman]

Dr. Muff sounds like he had quite the franchise going there. Probably a good thing, as the KCS just doesn't get the love that many other roads its size and importance do.

All told, sound like Hundman was just being an editor. You ever hear a a little pub called "Model Railroader"? It gets worse when it comes to non-publication of articles in the can.

Having been a (non-rail) editor, a LOT of factors go into what ends up in an issue of just about anything. Nothing unusual or even out of line in any of that I can tell, although I;m sure it was accompanied by the usual wailing and gnashing of teeth. Goes with the territory. You don't want to be an editor unless you have thick skin.