Table Manners on the Rails

Good manners, evidently! — The finger bowl, according to Pollock, is only one of a number of table refinements popularised by the dining car. Steak knives and a large variety of cutlery and silverware are included in the list. 

Americans Excelled In 1920’s Table Manners

Evolution in the table manners of the nation is laid at the door of the railway dining car, by Allan Pollock, manager of dining car service for Southern Pacific Company. The finger bowl, according to Pollock, is only one of a number of table refinements popularised by the dining car. Steak knives and a large variety of cutlery and silverware are included in the list. 

Equipment of the new $60,000 dining cars, eleven of which have been ordered especially for the company’s new 63 hour trains to the East this Fall will include such novelties as individual silver butter dishes with tiny ice compartments beneath the butter. “Twenty years ago,” says Pollock, “finger bowls were practically unknown in the homes and restaurants of America. People first became accustomed to using them on dining cars. Now few homes are without them. 

“Ten years ago dining car stewards seldom came in from a trip without telling of some passenger who carefully squeezed the segment of lemon into his finger bowl and tossed off the contents, as a sort of after-dinner chaser. It doesn’t happen today. American people now exhibit the best table manners of any nation.”— Eagle Rock Sentinel, 1926

Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J Graber, is the Site Editor for the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia

Etiquette and Railroad Dining Cars

Before, and even after plane travel in the 1950s, traveling by train encouraged a new concept of being “on time,” and new rules and etiquette for one's behavior in shared public spaces. 

The Dining Car steward on the FSP (Friendly Southern Pacific!) told me last weekend that contrary to accepted etiquette, it’s not only proper but good sense to leave your spoon in the coffee cup—if you are on a moving train.

Pullman created the first dining cars on 1870's – “Numberless cultivated Americans traveling in Europe never by any chance speak English or carry English books on railroad trains, as a protection against the other type of American who allows no one to travel in the same compartment and escape conversation. The only way to avoid unwelcome importunities is literally to take refuge in assuming another nationality.” — Emily Post

Even aboard today's diessel-powered streamliners, coffee is apt to slosh a bit. He says it won't, however, if the spoon is left in the cup and it works better if the spoon is turned backwards. But look out for those quick gestures, low over the table. And while on the subject of the FSP, I had the nicest smoothest, on-time ride last Friday. D J Russell, president of the FSP was aboard. –The Desert Sun, 1957

🍽️Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J. Graber is the Site Editor for Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia