Diners in the restaurant car on a GWR (Great Western Railway) oil-fired locomotive in 1946.
Harrison/Topical Press Agency/Getty Images
Vintage photos from decades ago show how traveling by train used to be a lot fancier.
First-class cabins were furnished like living rooms and included radio gramophones.
Passengers dined on fine china and played cards to pass the time.
Traveling by train was pretty swanky in the early to mid-1900s, and it hasn't gone out of style.
Today, Japan's bullet trains can make the trip from Tokyo to Osaka in just 2 1/2 hours, and in the US, Amtrak is working on high-speed trains of its own.
Still, the lavish furnishings and fine dining of the past hold a special place in the railroad's rich history. These vintage photos show how glamorous train travel used to be.
People used to dress up for train travel.
Train passengers in London.
Topical Press Agency/Getty Images
Dressed-up passengers waited with their luggage to board the first special passenger train to London in 1909.
Passengers wore fascinators and white gloves — no sweats or hoodies here.
A train car at Charing Cross Station in London.
E. Dean/Topical Press Agency/Getty Images
Messrs Carreras employees peered out of their railway carriage window before departing Charing Cross Station in London in 1934.
Traveling was an event.
Charing Cross Station.
E. Dean/Topical Press Agency/Getty Images
A crowd of Messrs Carreras employees waved from the platform before departing Charing Cross Station in 1935.
Railway carriages were spacious and well-lit.
The interior of a train carriage.
Photo by Fox Photos/Getty Images
A train carriage photographed in 1934 featured plush seats with tables.
First-class cars in particular were tastefully decorated.
Cleaners at work in a luxury train car.
Fox Photos/Getty Images
Cleaners working in a Minerva train car in 1938 polished its tables and dusted its cushy armchairs.
Furnished like living rooms, they came complete with armchairs, drapes, and carpeting.
A first-class train car lounge.
Edward G Malindine/Getty Images
In 1928, passengers enjoyed a luxurious first-class lounge onboard a London Midland and Scottish Royal Scot train.
A first-class Japanese Railway Department observation car in 1920 utilized elements of Japanese art.
A Japanese Railway Department observation car.
Fox Photos/Getty Images
The car's decorative trim and light fixtures evoked the ancient Momoyama style of Japanese art.
Celebrities like Paul McCartney and Mick Jagger enjoyed the comforts of first-class cars.
Paul McCartney and Mick Jagger in a first-class train car.
Victor Blackman/Express/Getty Images
McCartney and Jagger traveled together from London's Euston Station in 1967.
Second class wasn't quite as glamorous, but it still ensured a cushy ride.
A Hikari Train in Japan.
Three Lions/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
Passengers in the second-class coach of a Hikari Train in Japan in 1965 read newspapers and looked out of the windows.
Restaurant cars hosted guests with elegant table settings.
A British Railways restaurant car.
Topical Press Agency/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
A British Railways restaurant car in 1949 featured tables set with artfully folded napkins.
Passengers dined on fine china.
A first-class dining saloon.
Photo by Topical Press Agency/Getty Images
A first-class dining saloon in 1951 looked more like a restaurant than a train car.
Some trains offered food buffet-style.
A buffet car.
J. A. Hampton/Topical Press Agency/Getty Images
Passengers enjoyed refreshments in a buffet car at London's Waterloo station in 1938.
Others employed dapper servers to pour drinks.
A Great Western Railway restaurant car.
Harrison /Topical Press Agency/Getty Images
Waiters wore tuxedos in a restaurant car on a Great Western Railway oil-fired locomotive in 1946.
In cars equipped with radio gramophones, passengers could enjoy music and radio programs.
A LNER train carriage.
Photo by Fox Photos/Getty Images
Passengers draped in fur listened to a radio gramophone on a LNER train carriage in 1930.
Playing cards was also a popular pastime.
Train passengers played cards.
Fox Photos/Getty Images
Travelers in a BEA Vickers Viking train played a game of cards in 1947.
As was reading the newspaper.
A Canadian Pacific Railway train.
Fox Photos/Getty Images
Passengers listened to the wireless radio while perusing the paper on board a Canadian Pacific Railway train in 1930.
Sleeper cars featured upholstered beds with plenty of room to spread out.
A sleeper car.
Library of Congress/Corbis/VCG via Getty Images
A woman was photographed reading in a sleeper car in 1905.
Sleeper-car attendants would bring passengers morning cups of tea on trays.
An LMS sleeper car.
Fox Photos/Getty Images
An attendant wearing a suit and tie brought a passenger a cup of tea in an LMS sleeper car in 1945.
Back then, traveling still involved the same crowded rush as it does now.
Paddington Station.
E. Bacon/Topical Press Agency/Getty Images
Passengers waiting for the Cornish Riviera Express train crowded London's Paddington Station in 1924.
There was also a special thrill to riding the railroad that's hard to come by these days.
An LNER train at King's Cross Station.
J. A. Hampton/Topical Press Agency/Getty Images
Milkmen from United Dairies posed with an LNER train at King's Cross Station in 1932.
