George Henry Daniels

Daniels was born on December 1, 1842.[1] He was born in Hampshire, Illinois, and went to a public school there. While growing up he spent most of his time on a local farm. He got his first job in 1857 when he was 15 years old as an assistant rodman in the engineer corps on the construction of the Northern Missouri Railroad.[2] He was promoted to various duties of higher responsibility in practical railroad work through the years.[1][3]

NYC Local time tables

Daniels at the age of thirty in 1872 was laid off from the Northern Missouri Railroad due to bad economic times when the railroad fell into financial difficulty. He got a job then at the Chicago & Pacific Railroad as a freight and passenger manager working out of Chicago.[2] Daniels meanwhile had contributed news of local interest to a newspaper publisher in Chicago between 1857 and 1872. He was writing while employed with the Chicago & Pacific railroad and promoted the company. He wrote up in 1873 a factual archival record of the railroad company activity and worked eight years at the railroad before returning to the Northern Missouri Railroad, which had been taken over by the Wabash, St. Louis and Pacific railroad.[4] He became a general ticket agent for the Wabash system from 1880 to 1882.[1]

Daniels later then for the first ten months of 1882 held a position as the commissioner of the Iowa Trunk-Line Association.[1] In November 1882 he was elected commissioner of the Colorado Traffic Association.[3] He was also manager of the Utah Traffic League when Utah was still a territory. By 1886 he had become the official director of the Central Passenger Board. Later it was named the Central Traffic Association and he was elected vice-chairman of the organization.[1] In time he was promoted to the main director of the Chicago East-bound Passenger Board and that group was of interest to the New York Central railroad lines. The railroad observed Daniels' work and offered him an assignment as manager of the General Passenger Agency headquartered at Grand Central Station in New York City and he accepted the position.[3] He was general passenger agent from 1889 to 1907.[5]

Daniels commanded both the railroads of the New York Central lines and the broadcasting of railroad news stories being put in charge of their advertising bureau.[1] He was not only the New York Central general passenger agent but also its advocate by promoting it through advertising.[6] He delivered prunes and apples transporting them by shipment to the east coast of the United States by the Southern Pacific railroad. He had them provided in all railroad dining cars and promoted their excellence in the newspapers.[4] He published articles in newspapers about the role of the railroads in distributing mail from Australia; the mail traveled by steamship from Australia to the United States and was then carried by railroads to the eastern United States and from there sent by boat to its end destination in London, taking only 32 days. With his publicity, his goal was to show the world the technology of steam trains in the United States and the products of American resourcefulness and inventiveness".[4]

Four-Track News

Daniels made railroad timetables that were published for the New York Central and his name was usually on them. He published a travel magazine from Grand Central Station that was called the Four-Track News.[7] The magazine had articles on travel, biography, and literature. New York Central's label given to it in the early 1900s was the "Four Track System". Daniels coined this term highlighting the company's history as being the world's first railroad to have four parallel tracks.[1][8] The magazine was published in the Transit Building at 7 East 42nd Street after 1903.[9] The yearly subscription in 1905 was one dollar (equivalent to $30 in 2021).[10] The magazine continued to be published in various forms until 2003, under the titles Travel and Travel Holiday.[4][8]

Daniels in 1890 contrived the title "Empire State Express", which was New York Central's newest train at the time, and ultimately became the fastest regularly scheduled passenger train in America.[8] He was assigned to promote the train, which made a journey from New York City to the town of Buffalo in under six hours. Daniels suggested the idea of making an exceptionally fast locomotive to pull the five car train, which was done under the direction of locomotive designer William Buchanan.[11] That train engine had the number 999 and ran a speed test of 112.5 miles per hour (181.1 km/h).[12][11] The speed event was specifically designed to get people's attention on the railroad's capability to get them to The 1893 Chicago World's Fair, where the locomotive was exhibited to the public. Daniels even influenced the United States Postmaster General to put out a commemorative stamp featuring locomotive 999 and the Empire State Express.[5][8]

20th Century Limited, Daniels's concept of a luxury train photographed by A.P. Yates

Red cap service started 1896

A noteworthy achievement credited to Daniels was his conception in 1902 of a luxury train traveling in record time between New York and Chicago.[13] He christened it the 20th Century Limited and fought for launching the development of the state-of-the-art New York Central train.[14][5] The Limited was inaugurated between New York and Chicago on June 15 in 1902 as "the train ahead of its time by a hundred years".[5] The 20th Century Limited concept of a faster-than-normal train that was also a luxury train was an offshoot of the Empire State Express train that Daniels played a role in developing.[15]

Daniels promoted the New York Central flagship train as the greatest train in the world. He publicized famous passengers that rode it on a regular basis including the Vanderbilts, Whitneys, and Mellons.[16] It became synonymous with lavish railway excursions.[17][18] Daniels coined the name 20th Century Limited and it symbolized speed and style.[14] Some took the 20th Century Limited from New York City to Albany back and forth routinely for a scenic excursion, forming a travel club and calling themselves Twentieth Century Limited Associates.[16]

Daniels initiated a 20-hour New York-Chicago schedule which often attracted more passengers than usual and required additional passenger cars to serve the additional riders.[19] He conceived the idea of publishing free travel brochures about where the New York Central lines went; one was titled Health and Pleasure on America's Greatest Railroad.[20] He introduced teams of red-cap railroad porter service assistants in 1896 that came from the New York Central lines.[18][20] Daniels also introduced a red carpet service that the 20th Century Limited railroad rolled out along the platform for the boarding passengers in New York City and Chicago.[19][21] This resulted in a new term for the American culture known as the "red carpet treatment".[16][22] He was called the "Father of the Century" for his work on publicizing the train.[5][23]

Daniels was a member of the Lotos Club; a member and once president of the Union Club of the City of New York composed of business and professional men; he aided in the organization of the American Public Transportation Association and was one of its directors; and he was prominent in The Advertising Club of New York.[8]

Daniels's grave at Bluff City Cemetery

Daniels in 1905 left his position as New York Central's General Passenger Agent.[24] He then took a position as director of their new advertising department.[24] He occupied that position until 1907 and then retired permanently.[24] He remained with the company in an advisory capacity.[24] Daniels lived his final year of life split between Lake Placid and Buffalo. He died in Lake Placid at the age of 66 on July 1, 1908.[3][4] He was buried at Bluff City Cemetery in Elgin, Illinois.

• Eisenstadt, Peter (2005). The Encyclopedia of New York State. Syracuse University Press. ISBN 9780815608080.
• Farrington, Selwyn Kip (1949). Railroads of Today. Coward-McCann. OCLC 314316581.
• Holbrook, Steward (2016). The Story of American Railroads. Dover Publications. ISBN 9780486799223.
• Moss, Laura-Eve (2005). The Encyclopedia of New York State. Syracuse University Press. ISBN 9780815608080.
• Quinzio, Jeri (2014). Food on the Rails. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. ISBN 9781442227330.
• Roberts, Sam (2013). Grand Central. Grand Central Publishing. ISBN 9781455525959.
• Smerk, George (2007). Encyclopedia of North American Railroads. Indiana University Press. ISBN 9780253027993.
• Young, Jan (2009). The Encyclopedia of New York State. McGraw-Hill. ISBN 9780557092918.
• Young, Jeremy (2017). The Age of Charisma. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9781107114623.
• Collins, Jas. H. (1902). "A Railroad and its Profit". Marketing/Communications. Decker Communications. 38: 3. OCLC 5874099.
• Daniels, George H. (1905). "The Four Track News, an illustrated magazine". Texas School Journal. Texas Educational Journal Publishing Company. 23: 3.
• Daniels, George H. (1903). "A Railroad and its Profit". Marketing/Communications. Decker Communications. 5 (4): 1.
• YMCA (1907). "George H. Daniels". Railroad Men. Railroad Branch of the Young Men's Christian Association of the City of New York. 21 (1): 478.
• Kalmbach (1961). "The 20th Century Limited". Trains. Kalmbach Publishing Company. 22: 3. OCLC 1642109.
• THG7_1 (July 1, 1908). "Famous Railroader dead". The Hutchinson Gazette. Hutchinson, Kansas. p. 1 – via Newspapers.com .
• TBE7_2 (July 2, 1908). "A Railroad nestor gone". The Buffalo Enquirer. Buffalo, New York. p. 2 – via Newspapers.com .
• TPS8_28 (August 28, 1902). "Four Track News". The Pittsfield Sun. Pittsfield, Massachusetts. p. 2 – via Newspapers.com .
• NYT7_2 (July 2, 1908). "George H. Daniels dead". New York Tribune. New York, New York. p. 7 – via Newspapers.com .
• PJ6_3 (June 3, 1990). "Judge remembers his days aboard a legendary train". Poughkeepsie Journal. Poughkeepsie, New York. p. 6B – via Newspapers.com .
• Moser, Emily (March 27, 2015). "George Henry Daniels". theharlemline. I Ride the Harlem Line. Retrieved May 22, 2022.
• Hough, Bill (September 1, 2016). "Video Review: 20th Century Limited". Trains. Kalmbach Media. Retrieved May 22, 2022.
• Henderson, Amy (October 25, 2013). "What is the Origin of Hollywood's Red Carpet?". Smithsonian magazine. Smithsonian. Retrieved May 22, 2022.