The Railroad Commissary
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Pennsylvania RR / PRR supplementary information page. Please feel free to send questions or comments to: rrcomm@sonic.net Relevant information, and credits, will be posted.
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Broadway Pattern
The several variations in coloring found in PRR Broadway pattern china can either make collecting the pattern more interesting, or it it can drive one to distraction. While some suggest that these variations were accidental, this doesn't quite appear to be the case. While there was, no doubt, some variation due to different manufacturers renderings of the colors, there were also some changes too dramatic to be accidental. Indeed, there seems to have been at least one major redesign of the pattern, in late 1952 or very early 1953, at which time the color belts turned from a brown and pinkish to a rust brown and olive green. Some smaller pieces, mostly bowls, had only one criss-cross patterned belt – the one that was pinkish and later rust brown. At some point, at least some coffee cups got a more square profile, with nearly vertical sides.
Initially, Karasz Pattern pieces were used as the service pieces for Broadway pattern china on the Broadway Limited. Only two items were made in Karsasz (names after the designer of the Broadway Limited china), a service plate and a dual service coffee / tea set. Dates are far from certain, but use of the Karsasz service pieces seems to have been discontinued around 1940.
