Shady Rest Hotel Questions

[CosmicCharlie]

Here is one of the FEW pictures of it.

I have many questions.

How many Bedrooms are in the hotel ?

They say the Cannonball Train is the only access to the hotel but some episodes cars & trucks & motorcycles get there (?)

Just how far is the hotel to Sam Drucker's store ?

They have no telephone, where do they get their electric service ?

Does the Hotel have a well for water that uses electricity ?

Do the Bradley's Pay for Train Service to the hotel ? (lol with diner & pies ?)

Who actually Owns the Cannonball & the Tracks and Pays to keep it running ? The Train Fares can't possible pay the upkeep +- and salaries.

What are the other train stops on the Cannonball Route ? We NEVER see other passengers on the train.

To run a hotel you'd need a Truck Load of Food Supplies each week yet they just carry in a few shopping bags +-

Is Kate's husband buried near the hotel, and do we know anything about him ?

How did the Bradley's end up owning the Shady Rest ?

[CosmicCharlie]

wiki says:

Petticoat Junction is an American television sitcom that originally aired on CBS from September 1963 to April 1970. The series takes place at the Shady Rest Hotel, which is run by Kate Bradley (played by Bea Benaderet); her three daughters Billie Jo, Bobbie Jo, and Betty Jo; and her uncle Joe Carson. The series is one of three interrelated shows about rural characters produced by Paul Henning. Petticoat Junction was created upon the success of Henning's previous rural/urban-themed sitcom The Beverly Hillbillies (1962–1971). The success of Petticoat Junction led to a spin-off, Green Acres (1965–1971). Petticoat Junction was produced by Filmways, Inc. and CBS Productions.
Premise

The show centers on the goings-on at the rural Shady Rest Hotel. Widowed Kate Bradley (Bea Benaderet) is the proprietress. Her lazy but lovable Uncle Joe Carson (Edgar Buchanan) supposedly helps her in the day-to-day running of the hotel, while she serves as a mediator in the various minor crises that befall her three beautiful daughters: redhead Betty Jo (Linda Kaye Henning); brunette Bobbie Jo (first Pat Woodell, later Lori Saunders); and blonde Billie Jo (first Jeannine Riley, then Gunilla Hutton, and finally Meredith MacRae). Uncle Joe, when he is not idling in his favorite porch chair, frequently comes up with half-baked get-rich-quick schemes and ill-conceived hotel promotions which end up with him making a fool of himself.

Early on, much of the show also focuses on the Hooterville Cannonball, an 1890s vintage steam-driven train run more like a taxi service by railroad engineer Charley Pratt (Smiley Burnette) and Floyd Smoot (Rufe Davis) who is the fireman, conductor, baggageman, and some times engineer. It was not uncommon for the Cannonball to make an unscheduled stop for the crew to go fishing, or to pick fruit for Kate's apple butter and pies. The single-tracked Hooterville to Pixley branch line was cut off from the rest of the C. & F. W. Railroad 20 years before the start of the show by flood damage to a trestle. This branch line proceeds north to Pixley and was originally connected to the C. & F. W. Railroad main line that runs between Melton (to the west on the main line) and Skidmore (to the east on the main line). Delta is a town on the rail line and is located south of Melton. Charley and Floyd are alternately depicted as retired employees of the railroad receiving pensions and salaried railroad workers.

Many plots involve railroad executive Homer Bedloe's futile attempts to cease operation and scrap the Hooterville Cannonball. Occasionally, youngest daughter Betty Jo can be found with her hand on the Cannonball's throttle; running the train is one of her favorite pastimes, as she is something of a tomboy with an interest in mechanics.

Trips on the Cannonball usually include a stop in Hooterville ("Elev. 1427") at Drucker's Store, run by Sam Drucker (Frank Cady). Drucker's is the local hub, where menfolk come to play checkers and chat. Sam Drucker is the postmaster, editor of the newspaper, Justice of the Peace, county clerk, water commissioner, marshal, deputy sheriff and occasionally the mayor. His telephone is a lifeline for the Bradleys, Uncle Joe, and others. The fictional Hooterville became the main town for Green Acres in which Sam Drucker still ran Drucker's Store. Pixley was apparently the county seat although a nearby community was "Bugtussle," the original home of Jed Clampett and his family from The Beverly Hillbillies.
Setting

Regarding the show's title, Petticoat Junction, the hotel is located at a water stop, not a junction (where two or more railroad lines meet).[2] The train stop is nicknamed "petticoat junction" because the Bradley sisters often skinny dip in the railway's water tower and leave their petticoats draped over the side.[3] The opening titles of the series show their petticoats hanging on the tower[4] while they are swimming offscreen.[5][6]

The Shady Rest Hotel is located at a water stop along the isolated branch line of the C. & F.W. Railroad. Due to a trestle demolition many years ago, the line now is entirely unconnected to any other railroad; it runs between the rural farm community of Hooterville and the small town of Pixley. Each of these towns is about 25 miles (40 km) away from the hotel, which is located roughly at the midpoint of the line. Kate Bradley says that her stubborn grandfather built the hotel there because that was where the lumber fell off the train. The town of Pixley, at one end of the Cannonball's route, was named for Pixley, California.[citation needed] A number of location shots were filmed in the real Pixley.[citation needed] The exact location of Hooterville is never mentioned on Petticoat Junction or Green Acres. Clues given to the location of Hooterville often conflict with each other, but nearby mentions of towns and counties place it in Southwest Missouri.[7]

The Shady Rest is an old-fashioned, Victorian-style hotel, accessible primarily by train (and a poorly maintained fire road), where guests share bathing facilities and eat together with the family at a large dining-room table. Kate Bradley cooks sumptuous meals on a wood-burning stove, and her specialty is chicken 'n' dumplings. Meals were prepared for the show by property master Vince Vecchio. In a 1966 interview, Bea Benaderet said, "I suspect that Vince is better at cooking things like mother used to than anybody's mother ever was."[8]

[Bonniegirl]

I wonder how people made reservations to stay at the hotel if there was no telephone ?

[Willbo]

Did they have a telephone later in the series? I thought I remembered one. I guess they would have made reservations by mail or telegram if there was not a telephone.