Siesta pillow
The Siesta pillow or Siesta travel pillow was an element of the railway - travel culture between the two World Wars. To improve travel comfort, rail travelers on Deutsche Reichsbahn trains could rent a pillow wrapped in paper for one Reichsmark at the departure station, which they then returned to the destination station. This offer, which was introduced by Siesta GmbH, was primarily aimed at travelers who found wooden seats in third class .
Germany
Small trolleys with the SIESTA logo (similar to the baggage trolleys) were pushed over the platforms for the distribution and collection of the siesta pillows . You can occasionally find these cars on historical recordings with platform scenes from the 1920s and 1930s.
In the illustrated book Eisenbahn-Brennpunkt Berlin a picture from the 1930s is reproduced in which such a cushion car can be seen in front of a 3rd class express train car. The picture (90) on page 56 is described as follows: "Tourist traffic in summer - trains to the south departed from Anhalter Bahnhof; on the right the famous siesta cushions ". The pillow trolley in the picture already carries the Mitropa travel pillow sign .
According to the Berlin address book entry in 1924, the company initially operated under the name SIESTA Erholungsstätten Gesellschaft mbH in Berlin NW 52, Spenerstraße 8. In the address book in 1926, the company was entered as SIESTA Gesellschaft für Reiseerleichterungen mbH in Berlin Charlottenburg, Rognitzstraße 8. The company was last recorded in the address book in 1929.
The distribution of the travel pillows was taken over in 1928 by Mitropa , which also managed the dining and sleeping cars. After the takeover, Mitropa replaced the original name Siesta Pillow with its own name Mitropa Travel Pillow. A Mitropa compartment slip from 1929, which advertised the dining car range, also indicated that Mitropa travel pillows were issued by the dining car staff.
In later sources from the 1930s, only the term Mitropa travel pillow appears, as does an overview of the history of Mitropa. However, the name Siesta pillow was able to hold its own for a long time in parlance among rail travelers of the pre-war period.
From 1929 to 1935, the manufacturer of accessories for model railways Kibri had tin cars with small fabric cushions and the Siesta lettering in their delivery program.
After the Second World War , with the abolition of wooden seats as part of the reorganization of the car classes, there was no longer any need to rent travel cushions. The rental service has not resumed.
foreign countries
From the above-mentioned company Kibri there was also a siesta pillow cart for the French market with the label OREILLERS (in German: pillow ). So there must have been a similar service in France.
In other countries, the rental of shrink-wrapped cushions for passengers, especially in night traffic, is still common practice with some railway companies, including Amtrak .
literature
- Alfred B. Gottwaldt : Railway focal point Berlin - The Deutsche Reichsbahn 1920–1939. 1976, ISBN 3-440-04303-7 , p. 56.
Individual evidence
- ↑ SIESTA recreation centers mbH, Berlin NW 52, Spenerstraße 8 . In: Berliner Adreßbuch , 1924, p. 2905.
- ↑ SIESTA society to facilitate travel mbH, Charlottenburg, Rognitzstraße 8 . In: Berliner Adreßbuch , 1926, p. 3175.
- ^ Found business letter from the company dated February 1926. The company was registered under number 36 497 at the Berlin-Mitte district court.
- ↑ www.answers.com/topic/mitropa-ag
- ↑ www.drehscheibe-foren.de Contribution to the offer in the Mitropa dining car
- ^ Special trains to the Oberammergau Passion Play in 1934
- ↑ The history of Mitropa from 1916 - 1945
- ↑ Kibri's Siesta pillow wagon
- ↑ Kibri's siesta pillow wagon in the French version