Blog Dog Dan: DEAR TABBY

DEAR TABBY: I hope you didn't get "railroaded" into working on Labor Day to get your post ready for today! I have ridden the Amtrak Texas Eagle train that takes you from Chicago to San Antonio, where we visited the Alamo and Riverwalk! It was fabulous, but I thought you might want to blow off some steam and tell us about any adventures you have had ridin' the rails! TOOTY, WHISTLER, ALABAMA.

DEAR TOOTY: I am well "trained" to work hard any day of the week! I have not had any adventures aboard a train in my lifetime, but have always wanted to ride Amtrak, which is a blending of the words America and track. I do know of two cats that served as mascots aboard two railway lines - Chessie and Tama. Chessie was the symbol for the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway. Her image first appeared in an advertisement in the September 1933 issue of Fortune magazine with the slogan "Sleep Like a Kitten and Wake Up Fresh as a Daisy in Air-Conditioned Comfort."

The ad was so popular that the image grew to include calendars, clothing, and even two children's books about the character. Chessie acquired two kittens named "Nip" and "Tuck" in 1935, as well as a mate named "Peake" in 1937. During World War II, the Chessie character was used to promote War Bonds and support for the war effort, depicted as working on the home front to support Peake, who was off to war. The Chessie image continued to appear in advertising until 1971 when passenger train travel was consolidated under Amtrak.

The Chesapeake and Ohio Railway merged with the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad and Western Maryland Railway. The company was named the Chessie System and adopted the "Ches-C" logo, which incorporated the silhouette of the kitten into the "C" of the railroad's name! The Chessie System later merged with other railroads to become the CSX Corporation. The Chessie logo is no longer found in advertising and was phased out of usage on trains, but Chessie is still the mascot of the CSX Corporation, and there are still trains that still feature the kitten logo, having yet to be repainted.

I hate to toot my own horn, but if that wasn't enough, I have a story about Tama! She is a calico cat, born April 29, 1999, who is the station master and operating officer at Kishi Station in Kinokawa, Wakayama, Japan.

In April 2006, the Wakayama Electric Railway converted all stations on the Kishigawa Line from manned to unmanned in an effort to cut costs. Station masters were selected from employees of local businesses near each station. For Kishi station, Toshiko Koyama, the neighborhood grocer, was selected as station master. Koyama had adopted Tama and other stray cats, and she fed them at the station. In January 2007, railway officials decided to officially name Tama the station master, whose primary duty is to greet passengers. As you can see, the position comes with a stationmaster's hat, and instead of a salary, the railway provides Tama with free cat food! Now, that's the cat's meow!!

A study has estimated that the publicity surrounding Tama has contributed 1.1 billion Yen (about 13 million dollars) to the local economy. In January 2008, Tama was promoted to "super station master" in a ceremony attended by the president of the company and the mayor. As such, she is the only female in a managerial position in the company. Her new position also has an office - a converted ticket booth containing a litter box!

In January 2010, railway officials promoted Tama to the post of "operating officer" in recognition of her contribution to attracting new customers. Tama will maintain the stationmaster's job while taking over the new job, and is the first cat to become an executive of a railroad corporation! Her staff consisted of two feline assistant stationmasters, Chibi (born May 12, 2000), and an orange tabby named Miiko (born October 3, 1998), who passed away on July 20, 2009.

Kishigawa Line announced that it was releasing a new "Tama Densha" (Tama railcar/train) train that was customized with cartoon depictions of Tama. It began running in spring 2009.