Train Travel

Train travel in the US has an extremely rich history as it basically created this country! Tourist Trains Guidebook lists all the train museums in our great country and below, you will find a list of the Harvey Houses that contributed to the great railroad expansion!

So, what is a “Harvey House” and why is this list important?

Fred Harvey’s focus on providing quality meals and exceptional customer service at Harvey houses carried over to onboard services in both dining car service and sleeping car accommodations aboard Santa Fe’s passenger fleet!

Frederick Henry Harvey (June 27, 1835 – February 9, 1901) was an entrepreneur who developed the Harvey House lunch rooms, restaurants, souvenir shops, and hotels, which served rail passengers on the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway, the Gulf Colorado and Santa Fe Railway, the Kansas Pacific Railway, the St. Louis-San Francisco Railway, and the Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis.

As an innovative restaurateur and marketer, Fred Harvey is credited with creating the first restaurant chain in the United States. He was also a leader in promoting tourism in the American Southwest in the late 19th century. Fred Harvey and his employees successfully brought new higher standards of both civility and dining to a region widely regarded in the era as “the Wild West.” He created a legacy which was continued by his sons and remained in the family until the death of a grandson in 1965.[1]

Despite the decline of passenger train patronage in the United States in the 20th century with the advent of the automobile, portions of the Fred Harvey Company have continued to operate since 1968 as part of a larger hospitality industry conglomerate