Just see Aaron Schlossberg Run!

Social Media has really turned up the heat on naming and shaming folks for their racist rants. Especially old white guys.

This week’s nut job is Manhattan attorney Aaron Schlossberg. The alt-right’s new Poster Boy.

Schlossberg was caught on video berating staff at  fast-casual eatery Fresh Kitchen. Because they were speaking spanish. He used not very nice words – and said he was reporting the employees to ICE immigration enforcement authorities. So they could be picked up for deportation. You know: illegal immigration storming Manhattan.

The New York Post joined the New York City chorus in proclaiming  Schlossberg Public Enemy No. 1. And the media stake-outs are intense. On Thursday morning the Big Apple’s reporters and photographers swarmed round Schlossberg as he tried to sneak out of his apartment building.

There was Schlossberg cringing underneath his rickety umbrella. And could be heard on his cell phone begging New York cops to come to his rescue.

Later in the morning the drama continued. NBC News reporters captured Schlossberg as he tried to give social media the slip. He’d changed from his morning get up – suit and tie – and into trendy red stripped T, beanie cap and shades.

Golly the guy is going on 42 years old. But the dude sure can hop and skip down a Manhattan alley when social media is chasing him down.

The Slow Death of the Overland Limited

The Southern Pacific was the last of the three “overland” railroads to actually use the name Overland Limited, as Union Pacific and Chicago & North Western began using the name no later than 1895 while SP did not until 1899. So it is somewhat ironic that SP was the last of the three railroads to promote the train and cling to the name.

The North Western stopped running the Overland Limited in 1955, leaving it an Omaha-San Francisco train. Union Pacific dropped the train in 1960, leaving it an Espee-only train until that railroad finally dropped it in 1962.

Even though the streamlined City of San Francisco was the route’s premiere train, that train did not run daily until late 1947. So the above 1946 ad for three daily heavyweight trains – the Golden State Limited, Overland Limited and Sunset Limited – made sense for SP. At the time the ad was run, SP had probably already ordered streamlined equipment for the other two trains, but the i would never be fully streamlined.

The above ad from the May, 1953 issue of National Geographic is a little more surprising as by this time the Overland was far from the first-class train it once was. The ad describes the train as the “fastest, non extra fare streamliner between Chicago and San Francisco,” meaning it was faster than the California Zephyr and didn’t charge the extra fare required to ride the City of San Francisco. However, it still wasn’t really a streamliner, as a typical consist in 1946 combined streamlined coaches and sleepers with heavyweight diners, lounges, and sleepers.

By 1955, the consist of at least some Overlands were fully streamlined, and sometimes even included one of Southern Pacific’s dome cars. But the above 1955 photo shows at least two heavyweight cars in the train; one appears to be a coach and the other a sleeping car or possibly a diner.

In 1960, when the above photo was taken, about half the train was baggage and express cars, meaning SP was mainly using it to move mail and other express freight. The rear cars are obscure, but they are likely streamlined coaches and possibly a streamlined sleeping car.