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All Aboard With E.M. Frimbo: World's Greatest Railroad Buff
For more than five decades, the spirit of E. M. Frimbo chugged through the pages of The New Yorker, chronicling adventures on rails broad and narrow around the world. This greatly expanded edition of All Aboard with E. M. Frimbo combines all thirty-three of the Frimbo pieces published to great acclaim in 1974 with twenty-one previously uncollected articles, chosen by the intrepid traveler's friend and amanuensis, Tony Hiss. Here, for the first time in book form, are The Old Curmudgeon's search for lost Louis Sullivan masterpieces in Manhattan, and a journey through Wales to the ninteenth-century village immortalized in the futuristic television series The Prisoner. Other articles record Frimbo's special honors, such as the christening of a restored vintage coach in his name, and a final tribute to him, appropriately mounted at Cumbres Pass, the highest elevation reached by passenger trains in the United States.
388 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1974
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
March 18, 2020
Rogers E.M. Whitaker was a most memorable character who spent most of his adult life writing for the New Yorker, offering Talk of the Town columns for the magazine, reporting on Ivy League football on autumn weekends and always seemingly in sight of a train, hence his title, "The World's Greatest Railroad Buff", totaling in his lifetime more than 2,400,00 miles of rail travel in the U.S. & across the globe. All Aboard With E.M. Frimbo is a nostalgic & rather whimsical account of some of the fabled & a few of the considerably less-heralded trains he took during his 80+ years, beginning with the prologue: When I came of age, I set myself a goal, like all young men. My ambition has been to ride every single foot of passenger trackage in the United States.
The connection between Rogers E.M. Whitaker & Mr. E.M. Frimbo doesn't take much detective work & it quickly becomes apparent that they are one & the same, with Whitaker having been branded as "Frimbo" by a colleague at the magazine because a character in a WPA play with that name, a bloodthirsty witch doctor, somehow reminded the playgoer of our genteel rail fan, a Princeton grad at that. The name stuck & Whitaker even seemed to revel in it, hence the title of this little book.
There is no real linkage between this book & Paul Theroux's rail-oriented books, except that All Aboard With E.M. Frimbo appeared in 1974 & Theroux's first book with a train theme, The Great Railway Bazaar was published in 1975. Curiously, both authors delight in simply being en route via train and neither attaches much value to scenery, fellow passengers or even the destination, it being sufficient just to have come on board, to take dinner in a dining car & afterwards to curl up in a sleeping car berth.
Unlike Theroux, "Frimbo" does have deep attachments to wealthy friends who invite him on board their "private varnish", history-laden railcars that are privately owned & often staffed with a retinue that includes a chef, car attendant & waiter who are always attentive to guests invited on board by accommodating owners. Whitaker's reputation precedes him of course & he is rather like a good luck charm for fellow rail enthusiasts. Riding in style in an elegantly refurbished railcar is naturally every rail fan's dream & if it is bound for New Orleans during Mardi Gras, all the better!
And so, we are entrained with "Frimbo" on classic journeys that include the Trans-Siberian Express across Russia, the Royal Scotsman, a narrow gauge, short line train up in the Welsh Highlands from Ffestiniog to Porthmadog and taken on board the Benguela Railroad between Luanda & Lobito in what was then still Portuguese Angola. In pre-chunnel days, "Frimbo" takes the Night Ferry from London to Paris, with the Wagon-Lits sleeping car being conveyed on board a ferry & then reattached to a French train after crossing the English Chanel. Quite sadly for rail fans, his readers come along for the final run between New York's Grand Central Station and Chicago's LaSalle St. Station on what had been the New York Central's legendary, ultra-deluxe 20th Century Limited.
Mr. Whitaker was born in 1900 & comments that he was born in the wrong century for those who love his preferred mode of train travel, for steam trains were already on the fast track to oblivion as he came to maturity. Meanwhile, he is only marginally tolerant of electrified rail travel, absolutely despises diesel power and is also quick to explain that phrases like "milk train" & "whistle stop" (actually a "flag-stop") are very often misapplied. "Frimbo" would rather travel on a freight train with a paper sack lunch containing a peanut butter & jelly sandwich than travel by air or on a bus. Sitting in a dining car with proper linens, nice china, flowers in a vase & attentive service is "Frimbo's" ideal and topping it off with a Brandy Alexander, his vision of heavenly transport.
All Aboard With E.M. Frimbo would really only be of interest to a zealous rail fan but in the early 1970s, Mr. Whitaker was a regular at Chicago's 20th Century Railroad Club celebration each spring and I was able to chat with him there on several occasions. In May of 1979, "Frimbo" was given the "Award of the Century" by the club & he offered evocative commentary on his lifelong love of trains.
Tucked within my autographed copy of the book is the program & menu from that day, along with an "Eye on Books" recommendation of it by David McCullough in the Book-of-the-Month Club newsletter + a charming, extensive August 1983 New Yorker tribute to Rogers Ernest Malcolm Whitaker who had died in May 1981, with comments by his brother Francis Whitaker, someone who made a living out west in quite a different manner, as a very artistic blacksmith. "Frimbo" was a good & gentle man as well as "the World's Greatest Railroad Buff" and in the midst of a worldwide pandemic, it is pleasant to recall his memory and a much simpler age.
*Included within the book are numerous line drawings by Mark Livingston. **It isn't clear what part Anthony Hiss played in this book but he also worked at the New Yorker, had befriended Mr. Whitaker & oddly enough, his father, Alger Hiss had been accused of being a Communist agent while with the State Department by a "different Whitaker", Whittaker Chambers, with their contradictory testimony a memorable part of what later became known as the "McCarthy era".
The connection between Rogers E.M. Whitaker & Mr. E.M. Frimbo doesn't take much detective work & it quickly becomes apparent that they are one & the same, with Whitaker having been branded as "Frimbo" by a colleague at the magazine because a character in a WPA play with that name, a bloodthirsty witch doctor, somehow reminded the playgoer of our genteel rail fan, a Princeton grad at that. The name stuck & Whitaker even seemed to revel in it, hence the title of this little book.
There is no real linkage between this book & Paul Theroux's rail-oriented books, except that All Aboard With E.M. Frimbo appeared in 1974 & Theroux's first book with a train theme, The Great Railway Bazaar was published in 1975. Curiously, both authors delight in simply being en route via train and neither attaches much value to scenery, fellow passengers or even the destination, it being sufficient just to have come on board, to take dinner in a dining car & afterwards to curl up in a sleeping car berth.
Unlike Theroux, "Frimbo" does have deep attachments to wealthy friends who invite him on board their "private varnish", history-laden railcars that are privately owned & often staffed with a retinue that includes a chef, car attendant & waiter who are always attentive to guests invited on board by accommodating owners. Whitaker's reputation precedes him of course & he is rather like a good luck charm for fellow rail enthusiasts. Riding in style in an elegantly refurbished railcar is naturally every rail fan's dream & if it is bound for New Orleans during Mardi Gras, all the better!
And so, we are entrained with "Frimbo" on classic journeys that include the Trans-Siberian Express across Russia, the Royal Scotsman, a narrow gauge, short line train up in the Welsh Highlands from Ffestiniog to Porthmadog and taken on board the Benguela Railroad between Luanda & Lobito in what was then still Portuguese Angola. In pre-chunnel days, "Frimbo" takes the Night Ferry from London to Paris, with the Wagon-Lits sleeping car being conveyed on board a ferry & then reattached to a French train after crossing the English Chanel. Quite sadly for rail fans, his readers come along for the final run between New York's Grand Central Station and Chicago's LaSalle St. Station on what had been the New York Central's legendary, ultra-deluxe 20th Century Limited.
Mr. Whitaker was born in 1900 & comments that he was born in the wrong century for those who love his preferred mode of train travel, for steam trains were already on the fast track to oblivion as he came to maturity. Meanwhile, he is only marginally tolerant of electrified rail travel, absolutely despises diesel power and is also quick to explain that phrases like "milk train" & "whistle stop" (actually a "flag-stop") are very often misapplied. "Frimbo" would rather travel on a freight train with a paper sack lunch containing a peanut butter & jelly sandwich than travel by air or on a bus. Sitting in a dining car with proper linens, nice china, flowers in a vase & attentive service is "Frimbo's" ideal and topping it off with a Brandy Alexander, his vision of heavenly transport.
All Aboard With E.M. Frimbo would really only be of interest to a zealous rail fan but in the early 1970s, Mr. Whitaker was a regular at Chicago's 20th Century Railroad Club celebration each spring and I was able to chat with him there on several occasions. In May of 1979, "Frimbo" was given the "Award of the Century" by the club & he offered evocative commentary on his lifelong love of trains.
Tucked within my autographed copy of the book is the program & menu from that day, along with an "Eye on Books" recommendation of it by David McCullough in the Book-of-the-Month Club newsletter + a charming, extensive August 1983 New Yorker tribute to Rogers Ernest Malcolm Whitaker who had died in May 1981, with comments by his brother Francis Whitaker, someone who made a living out west in quite a different manner, as a very artistic blacksmith. "Frimbo" was a good & gentle man as well as "the World's Greatest Railroad Buff" and in the midst of a worldwide pandemic, it is pleasant to recall his memory and a much simpler age.
*Included within the book are numerous line drawings by Mark Livingston. **It isn't clear what part Anthony Hiss played in this book but he also worked at the New Yorker, had befriended Mr. Whitaker & oddly enough, his father, Alger Hiss had been accused of being a Communist agent while with the State Department by a "different Whitaker", Whittaker Chambers, with their contradictory testimony a memorable part of what later became known as the "McCarthy era".
January 9, 2009
E. M. Frimbo is the pseudonym of Rogers E.M.. Whitaker, perhaps the most avid passenger railroad train fan ever (well, maybe, if you exclude myself.) His interest originated in childhood. His father traveled for business often and the young Whitaker would plot out the best route for his parent, soon accumulating stacks and piles of schedules. Before long, riding the rails had become an obsession and he set a goal of riding every passenger rail conveyance in the United States - he even included interurban rail lines, which at that time were virtually everywhere. He finally accomplished the feat in June of 1957. To fund these excursions, he wrote as a sports and travel writer for The New Yorker. This book is a collection of those pieces.
Having completed his goal, he decided to ride all the passenger routes in the world! To provide some perspective on what that meant: during 1965 he covered 104,745 miles by train, 7,812 by air, and 3000 by ship - and I thought i enjoyed traveling. He would create fan groups whose members would alert each other to obscure or soon-to-be-extinct rail lines. A group trip might then be organized to ride that particular route. One such bizarre line he discovered in 1945. It was run by the Nevada Northern Railway and consisted of one engine and one car running weekly to haul mail and express from the mines to Ely, Nevada (a current stop on Amtrak's California Zephyr route, a train ride that everyone should experience - truly gorgeous scenery). This train had space for periodic revenue passengers and Frimbo learned he was the first such passenger in two months. The car they used was a little gem, having been converted from an old business or dining car (it was trimmed in inlaid mahogany) and the scenery, albeit desert, was starkly beautiful.
Admittedly, this book will probably appeal only to the railroad-challenged folks like myself. Tough! I liked it. Where else can you find such treasures as the rationale behind the names of Pullman cars? The name denoted the arrangement of the accommodations within. All Imperials (imperial Vale, Imperial Empire, etc.) had four compartments, four double bedrooms, and two drawing rooms. A name ending with Rapids indicated six double bedrooms and ten roomettes. Creeks had double rooms and Imperial Empire, etc.) had four compartments, four double bedrooms, and two drawing rooms. A name ending with Rapids indicated six double bedrooms and ten roomettes. Creeks had double rooms and single duplex rooms. When Pullman built a series of cars with only single bedrooms for businessmen they wanted to create a series name that contained the word "night.' "Nightingale" worked nicely but when they got to "nightshade" and someone looked it up in the dictionary the idea was scrubbed. The Pennsylvania Railroad ordered so many of the Imperial design that they began to run out of ideas.
Having completed his goal, he decided to ride all the passenger routes in the world! To provide some perspective on what that meant: during 1965 he covered 104,745 miles by train, 7,812 by air, and 3000 by ship - and I thought i enjoyed traveling. He would create fan groups whose members would alert each other to obscure or soon-to-be-extinct rail lines. A group trip might then be organized to ride that particular route. One such bizarre line he discovered in 1945. It was run by the Nevada Northern Railway and consisted of one engine and one car running weekly to haul mail and express from the mines to Ely, Nevada (a current stop on Amtrak's California Zephyr route, a train ride that everyone should experience - truly gorgeous scenery). This train had space for periodic revenue passengers and Frimbo learned he was the first such passenger in two months. The car they used was a little gem, having been converted from an old business or dining car (it was trimmed in inlaid mahogany) and the scenery, albeit desert, was starkly beautiful.
Admittedly, this book will probably appeal only to the railroad-challenged folks like myself. Tough! I liked it. Where else can you find such treasures as the rationale behind the names of Pullman cars? The name denoted the arrangement of the accommodations within. All Imperials (imperial Vale, Imperial Empire, etc.) had four compartments, four double bedrooms, and two drawing rooms. A name ending with Rapids indicated six double bedrooms and ten roomettes. Creeks had double rooms and Imperial Empire, etc.) had four compartments, four double bedrooms, and two drawing rooms. A name ending with Rapids indicated six double bedrooms and ten roomettes. Creeks had double rooms and single duplex rooms. When Pullman built a series of cars with only single bedrooms for businessmen they wanted to create a series name that contained the word "night.' "Nightingale" worked nicely but when they got to "nightshade" and someone looked it up in the dictionary the idea was scrubbed. The Pennsylvania Railroad ordered so many of the Imperial design that they began to run out of ideas.
April 25, 2015
Lots of fun. Maybe a few more timetables than I could follow (my eyes glazed over) but a lovely story threaded through the colorful reminiscences. Rogers and his brother Francis are remarkable, inspiring individuals. I enjoyed reading Frimbo's Peak, a New Yorker story about Francis, a world famous blacksmith artist, forging a memorial to his brother and installing it on the highest point of passenger railroad in the contiguous 48 states. It was Frimbo's last journey and a fitting one.
November 20, 2024
This is a delightful collection of articles written by and about Rogers Whitaker, who under the alias of E.M. Frimbo was the world's greatest RR buff. This is a later published edition that includes additional columns and tributes after Whitaker's death in 1981. A lot of the material is dated back to the golden age of train travel and Frimbo is quite the anachronism with his dress, appetite and demeanor but it is an enjoyable read nonetheless. Frimbo is the ubiquitous Auntie Mame of train travel.
July 3, 2026
Just delightful and makes you want to ride more trains and yearn for the classier days of train travel.
August 9, 2011
Life's the ultimate trip. And this compendium illustrates the delights of making the trip--much of it anyway--by rail.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews