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5
wise would have been very difficult to take. As it was, hardened travelers always referred to this train indulgently as "The Puddlejumper" or the "Little Broadway" and would reminisce over it with particular emphasis on the diner. This was usually referred to as "Eddie's Diner" for Eddie Walker, the steward. Eddie was middle-aged, slightly built, and mud-puddle-brown with prominent teeth and slightly bulging eyes. He was an impresario who made his six-table diner one of the better features of the Pennsylvania Railroad. He had a chef but otherwise Eddie did all the rest personally. And if you were a regular customer, you could make arrangements ahead of time with Eddie to have just about anything you wanted to eat and you knew it would be ultra-superba. Although Eddie normally served drinks, there were Pennsylvania blue laws which made this illegal on Sunday. For customers whom he knew extremely well, on such occasions Eddie would resort to certain subterfuges to supply them. One of the best was to bring them a highball in a teapot along with cup and saucer; the ice was in the teapot, the color was beyond reproach, and the customer was happy. When you'd board the train, it was customary to make a bee-line for Eddie's diner, get a window seat, and then relax, feast your eyes on the lovely countryside as we meandered through, and enjoy thoroughly Eddie's food and drink for an hour or so. The Washington sleeper was in charge of another character. He was a tall, coal-black veteran of Pullman service named Elliott and he could be counted on to do right by  you in all departments--making up your berth promptly (unless there were complications beyond his control), shining your shoes, calling you in the morning. There was seldom much need for the last, however, because The Puddlejumper was usually late into Washington. Among the notables I've ridden with on this delightful train are Paul V. McNutt, Supreme Court Justice Jackson and Artur Rubinstein. And while you could finally get awfully sick of Washington, you never tired of those first two hours or so out of Erie on the Little Broadway [[left facing red pencil bracket]].[[/left facing red pencil bracket]]
Before proceeding with this account, which will be not only the story of our search for sponsors, but even more importantly a lead-in to my record of experiences in WPB during the last half of the year which is covered in detail by a diary, I think it will help to sketch in the broad outline of the Washington setup as it applies to what we were trying to accomplish. On the General Electric side of the picture, we had two groups. The principal one we dealt with was the Washington sales office of the Apparatus Sales Division. This group had responsibility for all apparatus sales in Washington and immediate vicinity and obviously the almost endless agencies of the federal government constituted the major customer block. In addition to this sales function, this same office had been given the job of virtually all government contacts outside the sales area, that is, the dealings with most of the federal regulatory agencies like WPB most of which had sprouted because of the war.