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Let me begin that I'm writing an article for my publication about trains. I would like to write an article about a train that is well liked and maybe unknown. So what are your favorite trains that are Pre Amtrak, and Amtrak. A reason would also be awesome thank you so much.
Posts: 465 | From: elgin (s-line) | Registered: Dec 2008
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The original Southern Pacific Sunset Limited, and Amtrak's version of it in the late 90s. Back when the Southern Pacific was passionate for passengers, the Sunset was THE way to go, linking all the major destinations along the route on a convenient and fast schedule. It also boasted the lowest crossing of the continental divide. Amtrak's version in the late 90s made it the only transcontinental train in the United States, linking Miami to LA on one route, which has now sense disappeared unless you desire many connections and an added day or two.
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Super and The Century; rode 'em both "bumper to bumper"; nothing like it in the world. Sorry you weren't around for them, Mr Amtrak92 - as well as 75% of the membership around here for that matter.
Posts: 9975 | From: Clarendon Hills, IL USA (BNSF Chicago Sub MP 18.71) | Registered: Apr 2002
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Thank you guys. I like the Sunset. It sounds like a good one to write about. Mr. Norman what made the Super and the Century so great may I ask.
Posts: 465 | From: elgin (s-line) | Registered: Dec 2008
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Super: those spotlessly clean cars boarding at LAUPT, the Pullman Conductor addressing you by name, Pleasure Dome attendant coming to you for your drink order rather than the Amtrak stand up "drill'.....just a class act you won't find anywhere in commercial transportation today.
Century: more of same (never rode it in its all-Pullman days). The name's enough!!
Honorable mention: Broadway; even if all-Pullman 'to the end'; just did not have quite the same "elan" as the Gray Lady to the North. Also, X-ing a mountain range is not quite the same for sleep inducemnt as is the Water Level Route.
Posts: 9975 | From: Clarendon Hills, IL USA (BNSF Chicago Sub MP 18.71) | Registered: Apr 2002
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The Capital Limited and the CZ for the same reasons,each time we had a great crew and terrific scenery. In "olden days" I loved the chief. I was a child riding alone from coast to coast and they took such loving care of me.
Posts: 1577 | From: virginia | Registered: Jun 2005
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Two I'd vote for: 1. Cardinal, usually the poor man's version of Amtrak, yet travels through some great eastern scenery. 2. City of New Orleans: again, not the most obvious of trains, yet only one of four north<->south trains, and a key one at that. Frequently on time. Not the most stunning of scenery but does have its highlights like the longest continuous curve in [insert region here], reptiles on the track, blues on the train (of the musical variety).
Regarding pre-Amtrak, I don't think you're making a fair comparison. Asking people's perceptions of trains 35+ years ago is bound to result in rose tinted glasses, not really comparible to today's trains. Compare costs of traveling first class back then compared to now, how does it compare to the cost of living in both of those eras?
-------------------- Geoff M. Posts: 2426 | From: Apple Valley, CA | Registered: Sep 2000
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Trains 19 and 20, the Chief, in their 1972 90 day revival.
Pre-Amtrak:
Union Pacific Trains 9 and 10, the City of Saint Louis.
-------------------- The City of Saint Louis (UP, 1967) is still my standard for passenger operations Posts: 1404 | Registered: Oct 2001
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I have a Pullman blanket on my bed now. It has to be 40 years old. It's a damn sight warmer than any of the hydrocarbon pieces of garbage Amtrak pretends to call blankets.
I've slept in Pullman era berths, into the late 70s. They are damn sight better bed than the think matts Amtrak pretends to call berths.
-------------------- The City of Saint Louis (UP, 1967) is still my standard for passenger operations Posts: 1404 | Registered: Oct 2001
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Of course The Twentieth Limited and SuperChief aremyfavorites. The Broadway, Commodore Vanderbilt and Empire State Express are next in line. By the way GBN when I rode the Canadian the room attendant took my drink order at the celebrated time just before dinner and delivered it. By the way that train is the closest existing one which resembles the former great ones of the fallen flags.
Posts: 498 | From: New Hope, PA, USA | Registered: Jan 2003
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I guess my favorite would have to be L&N's Pan American. It was certainly a second (or maybe 3rd) cousin to the sleek streamliners of the NYC or ATSF, but it had a lot going for it.
The L&N crews were always friendly (letting a young boy stand in the rear vestibule backing into Louisville), the dining car was superb - nothing better than a freshly sliced turkey sandwich racing by south Louisville shops and, as DPM said, making a run for Muldragh's hill. The cars were old but well maintained and the AC in the New York sleeper was always icy on a roasting day. Of course there was the anticipation of another visit to grandmother's too. So I guess a good train then or now, is one we have fond memories of - rose tinted glasses and all.
And second place goes to B&O's National Limited for many of the same reasons.
Certainly a memorable train is harder to do now then pre-Amtrak, but every so often the stars are aligned and Amtrak comes through with a great trip. Probably the Empire Builder gets my vote in that category but I have yet to ride the Superliner version of Auto Train.
Posts: 2397 | From: Camden, SC | Registered: Mar 2006
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Best current train in North America is VIA's Canadian with the Empire Builder and Coast Starlight a couple of notches behind that. It all depends because, as Palmland says, you never know when the stars will align..... One of the best Amtrak trips I ever had was on a superliner equipped Cardinal through West Virginia the day after Thanksgiving one time.
The Talgos in the Pacific Northwest and North Carolina's #73,74,75, & 76 deserve high honorable mention because they are clean, efficient, and offer very BIG windows.
For a sentimental journey I experienced Southern's 'Crescent', the 'Piedmont' on it's Washington-Charlotte via SR through Virginia, and the remnants of the 'Asheville Special' all before riding my first Amtrak train, the Silver Star from Hamlet to DeLand in November 1976.
Being a child of the 1970's was both a blessing and a curse.....
While my relative youth did cost me the opportunity to experience some of the great pre-Amtrak trains on other roads (I did witness the Pan American calling on Louisville Union Station when a favorite aunt took her 6-year old nephew there to 'see trains' in 1968), Graham Claytor's holding out at Southern meant that I did have the opportunity to ride pre-Amtrak passenger trains for nearly a decade after they had vanished in most other places!
-------------------- David Pressley
Advocating for passenger trains since 1973!
Climbing toward 5,000 posts like the Southwest Chief ascending Raton Pass. Cautiously, not nearly as fast as in the old days, and hoping to avoid premature reroutes. Posts: 4203 | From: Western North Carolina | Registered: Feb 2004
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My sentimental vote goes to the Dixie Flagler and the Georgian.
My first trip was on the Dixie Flagler round trip from Chattanooga to Daytona Beach. I was just three so I barely remember it. But of course I took other trips.In December 1954 they re equipped it and renamed it the Dixieland and it was discontined in November 1957.
The Georgian stayed around unil a remnent of it ran up to Amtrak day.
I took many trips on it but the most special were those when mother and I would ride it to Atlanta fom Chattanooga and back to spend the day. All told I spent the day in ATL on the Georgan about 22 times,travling with various people through the years and sometimes alone.
-------------------- bill haithcoat Posts: 45 | From: atlanta, ga | Registered: Jan 2008
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Sentimental favorite of all time - The State of Maine Express, circa 1948.
NY(GCT) to Portland, ME without changing trains. Left at 9:00 pm, and arrived around 7:00 am. We always rode coach, and being a youngster, I didn't get much sleep. The trip meant I would be seeing lots and lots of relatives on my mother's side in Lewiston, ME (changed at Portland for a Maine Central local).
Posts: 1530 | From: Ocala, FL | Registered: Dec 2006
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You guys are going to make it very hard for me. With so many trains I hadn't thought of. I love all of these trains. I also love all of your stories that you have of the trains. We will see what will happen. As I love all of these stories. Thank you guys so much. Keep posting too. I love reading these.
Posts: 465 | From: elgin (s-line) | Registered: Dec 2008
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The pre-Amtrak Silver Star was my favorite train even though it was the Seaboard's No.2 streamliner between New York and Miami. The Silver Meteor had the Sun Lounge car and kept its round-end observation car its entire non-Amtrak life while the Star's observation car ran near the front of the train after it was equipped with a diaphragm that destroyed its elegant look.
But the reason the Star was my favorite was because it was the train that the Hamlet (N.C.) High School glee club took to Miami for our three-day Nassau cruise my senior year in 1969. Because Hamlet was basically a Seaboard company town, the railroad provided us a private coach for our overnight trip. When the southbound train arrived in Hamlet about 9:30 p.m., the downtown switcher job cut our car into the consist and away we went.
The highlight of the trip was breakfast in the coach diner the next morning -- heavy silverware, sweating pitchers of cold orange juice, white tablecloths. Almost as good, however, was waiting in the vestibule for a table to open up, enjoying the breeze through the open top of the Dutch door while train flew fast and straight through central Florida farmland.
All I remember from the northbound trip a few days later was suffering from sunburn.
Posts: 48 | From: San Jose, Calif. | Registered: Sep 2006
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Is anyone who rode a representative sample of both railroad and Amtrak operated trains about to say their vote goes to an Amtrak varietal?
About the only general exception I can think of would be someone whose budgets allowed only Coach during railroad days but who can now handle Sleeper.
Posts: 9975 | From: Clarendon Hills, IL USA (BNSF Chicago Sub MP 18.71) | Registered: Apr 2002
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Our Mr. Norman, as usual, is both articulate and eloquent when motivated. Certainly this thread is one that finds him motivated as it does me although my linguistic skills pale in comparison.
I will select the Super Chief and shall, in lieu of my words, use the words of deceased President and later Chairman and CEO of Santa Fe, Mr, John S. Reed, in decribing the Super Chief.
" When the Super Chief was established in 1936 the Santa Fe tradition of service and gastronomic excellence was carried a step further. Its dining car offered menu selections available elsewhere only in the most expensive restaurants. The meals were prepared by chefs trained in European cuisine under the supervision of stewards trained in the best traditions of Continental maitres d'hotel".
"While such delicacies as blue points, lobster, cavier and cherries jubilee were routine, it was the little things that bmade the difference,such as warm water in the finger bowls; the morning wake up calls with coffee and orange juice served in the passengers bedroom or the steward whispering in the diners ear that he had received on board at La Junta or Raton a few freshly caught mountain trout that would be cooked to his order. And then there was the artistic chef who delighted in learning the names of children in his car, following which he would prepare a french-fried potato fashioned into one continuous script of the child's name".
Mr. Norman, as did I, witnessed and participated in this unique service to passengers. I fully endorse both Mr. Reed's and Mr. Norman's recognition of the Super Chief as 'the best'.
.
Posts: 467 | From: Prescott, AZ USA | Registered: Mar 2002
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I am the kind of rail traveler Mr. Norman describes. My rail travels growing up were in coaches. My only glimpse of the luxuries that provide nostalgia for rail travelers today were on those rare occasions that I had the money to visit the dining car. The idea that I or my friends would spend double the $17.85 round-trip Silver Comet coach fare from Hamlet to Atlanta for just one way in a berth was preposterous.
As an adult with a middle-class job, I can afford an Amtrak sleeper for special trips even though I know neither the accommodations nor the cuisine match what the Seaboard offered 40 years ago.
But there’s something that gets lost in the comparisons between the Super Chief and the Southwest Chief, or the Silver Star of my memories and the Silver Star on which I traveled with my wife and son a few years ago to Disney World. The American style of travel – regardless of transportation mode – has changed dramatically over the last half century.
Amtrak – the switch from private to government-subsidized passenger railroading – isn’t the cause of this change but merely a product and reflection of it.
In the 1970s and ’80s, when I was still a North Carolinian and made an annual ski trip to Colorado each January, I flew coach on flights where we expected and received a far higher level of service than today: eggs Benedict with a mimosa on the westbound breakfast flight to Denver, a steak on the evening trip home. When I fly coach today from San Jose to the East Coast, I’m wedged into a smaller seat and lucky if I’m allowed to purchase a cold sandwich.
Adjusted for inflation, most fares are much lower today. In college, my student discount fare – one-third off – round-trip Delta Air Lines trip to California was $176. I flew home to North Carolina last fall to visit relatives for $300. Three hundred is the cheaper fare. When I lived in Hamlet, only a couple of families in town ever bought an airline ticket. While air travel vacations aren’t routine in my extended family today, every grandparent, parent, son, daughter, nephew and niece I know has been somewhere by air.
Many, many, many more people travel today to farther and more exotic places than when I was young. There was a price for spreading the benefits of travel to so many. It was giving up the heavy silver and crystal for stainless flatware and stuff that seems like plastic, thinner mattress pads in sleeping cars, more processed menu items rather than food prepared from scratch in the diner, and consequently requiring fewer people to provide the service.
I treasure the memory of my free upgrade to a sleeper seat on a flight to Europe, but I also feel a bit snobbish if I complain too much about coach. People like me who never thought they’d see the Golden Gate Bridge or the Matterhorn are returning to see them with their kids.
Posts: 48 | From: San Jose, Calif. | Registered: Sep 2006
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Very well said Doodlebug! As much as I praise my favorite trains of yesteryear I had mostly traveled coach except when I was 4 or 5 years old when Mom, sis,and I went by pullman from Grand Central Station in N.Y.C. to Los Angeles Union Passenger Terminal and return to New York via New York Central and the Santa Fe courtesy of the Los Angeles relatives. Dad flew out later and returned with us by train. That's when my love affair with trains began,but I nevertraveled by sleeper again until it was of my own doing. By then it was the "70's" Amtrak.
Posts: 498 | From: New Hope, PA, USA | Registered: Jan 2003
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Interesting story, Doodlebug (would your screen name be a reference to the Boll Weevil doodlebug that ran between Hamlet and Savannah on SAL's freight line via Charleston?)
Travel is definitely a commodity and we look now for simple pleasures that were taken for granted in years past (will the flight attendant run out of the packaged sandwich for sale before she gets to my seat?)
Even a simple coach trip in the past could be a memorable trip. A relatively short jaunt from Camden to Hamlet on Seaboard's Palmland heavyweight grill diner offering very cold beer stands out. While a rare solo trip on Amtrak's Meteor in coach Florence to Washington a couple years ago earned the coveted 'never again' award.
Posts: 2397 | From: Camden, SC | Registered: Mar 2006
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My favourite train remains The Canadian when it was operated by the Canadian Pacific Railway. Today's Via version is still the best train in North America, but since this thread is really about U.S. trains pre-Amtrak, I would have to vote for UPs City of Los Angeles with its dome dining cars, and SP's Lark with its overnight Pullman service between Los Angeles and San Francisco. In the 1960's when I rode both trains in Pullman service, the UP 's meals were wonderful both upstairs in the dome, and downstairs in the main dining area.
By the mid 60's SP's Lark was downgraded from the glory days of movie stars riding its Pullman drawing rooms, however, Southern Pacific still did a credible job (although much crticized by some) in running a train they clearly wanted to discontinue. The Pullman cars and Pullman service was still first-rate, and the dining facilites were only satisfactory, nowhere near the service found as late as the 1950's. But still a train worth riding.
Posts: 524 | From: Toronto Ont. Canada | Registered: Mar 2001
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Doodlebug, I am curious whether the Glee Club was already aboard when your coach was added to the Silver Star. THAT would be an experience much like one I had aboard the Southern Crescent in about 1976 or 77. We operated in two sections from Washington, DC as far as Greensboro, NC where five sleepers were set out. The remaining five sleepers were then added to our coach only first section to continue south as a single 14-car train.
The bonus here was that the northbound Southern Crescent also passed through Greensboro while our two southbound #1's became one.
GBN - I am among those who were ourselves 'coach only' when experiencing pre and early Amtrak travel but who can now afford the sleepers. I found the Southern Crescent superior in every way to period overnight rides aboard both Amtrak's Floridian and Silver Star.
With one caveat - I really liked the Floridian's dome car.
Posts: 4203 | From: Western North Carolina | Registered: Feb 2004
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One thing I just remembered is that in the early days of Amtrak there were several times a small piano was placed in the lounge and one of the crew played while many of the pax sat around and sang. Also on the CARDINAL there was a separate lounge car for the sleeping car people with comfortable chairs and couches and snacks were served with the drinks. Another "perk" on the Cap was wine and some kind of canape was sered at the table while you waited for dinner. I better stop while I'm ahead!!
Posts: 1577 | From: virginia | Registered: Jun 2005
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Doodlebug does come from the train palmland mentions. The Seaboard utilized several of these diesel or gasoline-powered motorcars, which were capable of pulling a couple of passenger cars, for connecting passenger services, mostly on the gulf coast of Florida. The picture shows the Doodlebug in Hamlet. The station, visible above the train, is now on the opposite (right) side of these tracks, which run east-west. notelvis, our glee club was aboard the car in advance. The north-south mainline through the station used to be double-tracked with a couple of additional storage tracks opposite the station, not the single track that runs through there now. Our car had been spotted a day or so earlier so we could be loaded and ready when the Star pulled in.
Posts: 48 | From: San Jose, Calif. | Registered: Sep 2006
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My first Amtrak trip was an overnight ride from Hamlet to DeLand on the Silver Star circa 1975. (I already had trips on Southern's Asheville Special and Piedmont by this time).
I returned to Hamlet periodically to watch trains when I lived in Fayetteville, NC for several years in the 1990's. Amtrak was using a trailer at that point and it was uncertain whether the classic Hamlet station would be saved.
I remember the two tracks north-south at Hamlet. In fact, was there not a third track plus separate house track at the station itself? I seem to recall a by 1975 unused tunnel under the two main tracks to access a second platform......
For that matter, when I looked at your photo I immediately did the mental gyrations thinking 'that train is headed east based on where the station originally stood......'
-------------------- David Pressley
Advocating for passenger trains since 1973!
Climbing toward 5,000 posts like the Southwest Chief ascending Raton Pass. Cautiously, not nearly as fast as in the old days, and hoping to avoid premature reroutes. Posts: 4203 | From: Western North Carolina | Registered: Feb 2004
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I'm enjoyin' this thread! Yes Trainlady I remember the Amtrak Montrealer (as coach passenger)which had a Pub car with a piano. AlsoIdid ride the Broadway in March of 1975. Notsure about the date. But there was a sleeper lounge midtrain for sleper passengers. While still in Union Station the lounge attendant served drinks and canapes. It wasanicetrain but itwas so late for arrival that at Philadelphia all passengers were switched across platform to an all coach Amfleet train to finish the ride to NY Penn Station. That was my first time on Amfleet equipment.I did not like it.
Posts: 498 | From: New Hope, PA, USA | Registered: Jan 2003
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Hey amtrak92 -- are you familiar with the books "Some Classic Trains" and "More Classic Trains" by Arthur D. Dubin? Each book features many of the classic pre-AMTRAK trains. I would place a fair bet that most members of this forum have those 2 books!!
Posts: 2428 | From: Grayling, MI | Registered: Mar 2002
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Also the trains we rode is great. the only problem with it is that it is so big and heavy you have to have a table to open it on.
Posts: 1577 | From: virginia | Registered: Jun 2005
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I’m going to try to tie the original topic of favorite trains – pre-Amtrak and Amtrak – back together with the evolving secondary, and less widely appreciated, topic about the passenger railroading changes in my hometown. I think the topics are related and Hamlet, in its small way, is illustrative of the evolution of train travel nationally.
Here’s an aerial photo of Hamlet as it looked in the 1950s when I was growing up. The white-roofed Seaboard depot is at the center. The top of the picture is generally east, and the station is set in the northwest quadrant of where the railroad’s north-south (left-right) and east-west (top-bottom) mainlines cross. This is why Hamlet was called the “Hub of the Seaboard.” Notice all the dark-colored (actually Pullman green) heavyweight passenger cars along both mainlines and on the curved tracks on the left. These old cars were the ones that came through town in daytime and were switched among the various connections or, if they were diners or grill cars, were dropped and picked up by trains that carried them just during meal times.
These cars were not used on the trains we’re remembering here with such affection, although earlier in their service lives they may have been luxurious. They were workaday cars for workaday local passenger trains that stopped in every town big enough to have its own post office. You could buy a cold ham-and-cheese sandwich wrapped in wax paper on these trains. They carried ordinary people who had to visit a big-city doctor in Raleigh, ordinary people who didn’t own cars or who had only one car and it was needed by someone else that day. Because this was the 1950s South, these trains carried lots of black passengers who brought their own fried chicken in a box from home because that was cheaper than the ham-and-cheese. These trains were called “Chicken Bone Specials” for that reason. They are the ancestors of the Palmland, on which palmland enjoyed his very cold beer, and today’s Palmetto.
The trains we’re remembering here were memorable because in every sense they were not the ordinary trains that filled most of a railroad’s passenger schedule. On the Seaboard they were stainless steel and carried names that began with “silver:” Silver Meteor, Silver Star and Silver Comet. They came through town in the middle of the night because they were taking people from really big cities like New York and Philadelphia to tropical vacations in Florida or, in the case of the Comet, to the South’s only real city at the time, Atlanta. They had lounge cars and formal dining cars and in the case of the Meteor and Star, they had separate lounges and diners for coach and sleeping car passengers.
These trains stopped in Hamlet because the diners needed more ice and the diesels needed more fuel; otherwise the Carolinas and Georgia were the pre-airline version of flyover country. As GBN has pointed out many times – correctly – when you’ve seen one pine tree, you’ve seen them all. Unlike the upper-crust trains out West, these Seaboard (and rival Atlantic Coast Line) trains weren’t about sightseeing. They were about taking the Northeast’s wealthy out of the sleet and snow, insulating them immediately from the outside world in a cocoon of service and slumber, and depositing them the next morning in paradise.
An irony here is that the Silver Meteor, the first and best of these trains, was created in 1939 as an all-coach streamliner, a fast, cheap way to Florida. The all-Pullman Orange Blossom Special, which always had a heavyweight consist, was the Seaboard’s original luxury train. But streamlining, a faster schedule, due in part to the Meteor’s use of diesels rather than steam power – just the concept of modernity – quickly made the Meteor the more popular train and sleepers were soon added. The Orange Blossom Special died, remembered only by Johnny Cash.
For notelvis, the small, white building with the slanted roof just beyond the left end of the depot is the entry staircase for the tunnel to the second platform.
You're correct that, in the first picture, the Doodlebug is sitting on the east-west mainline even though it arrived from Savannah to the south. The Seaboard had two mainlines between Hamlet and Savannah, the one used by most passenger trains through Columbia, S.C., and the mostly freight route on a flatter line through Charleston, S.C. The freight line, which the Doodlebug served, joined the east-west main (Wilmington, N.C.-Atlanta/Birmingham) at a point out of view to the top of the picture.
The cars on the curve on the left would be for trains to and from Atlanta. The Silver Comet stopped there rather than along one of the platforms to avoid a back-up move. The curve at the top allows trains from the east and from Charleston to head to the hump yard north of town.
This layout is very similar to the station in Selma, N.C., where the Amtrak Silver Star and Carolinian leave the CSX "A" line and turn west on the Norfolk Southern for Raleigh.
Posts: 48 | From: San Jose, Calif. | Registered: Sep 2006
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It is worth noting again that the NCDOT picked the classic Hamlet station up, moved it across the tracks, and rotated the building 90 degrees when it was finally renovated in the early 2000's. This was to accomodate CSX who did not want passengers having to cross an active track to reach the passenger station from all directions.
The move neccessitated rerouting Main Street (to the right of the station in the 1950's) to make way for the station in it's new location. I would presume (but am not certain) that the Terminal Hotel was long gone and out of the way before Main Street was relocated.
As for the route of the Doodlebug hauled train, I had opportunity to ride that line between Dillon, SC and Hamlet aboard a planned reroute (due to trackwork on the old ACL around Dunn, NC) Palmetto in 2003. I specifically made that trip in order to get some rare mileage and a daylight trip on the old SAL between Hamlet and Cary. Lots of pine trees...... kudzu too.
Posts: 4203 | From: Western North Carolina | Registered: Feb 2004
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Great photo. That was a busy station - while the Palmland did not have many coaches into Hamlet, at least several were always added there for all the those in the small towns in NC and VA riding the train to the big cities up north. If memory serves, one or two Pullmans were also added as the train provided a convenient overnight schedule to New York from the Pinehurst and Southern Pines golf resorts.
My 'cold beer' trip allowed several hours of train watching there in mid 60's before catching the Comet to Atlanta to see the new major league baseball team in that town.
Posts: 2397 | From: Camden, SC | Registered: Mar 2006
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Palmland, your train change in Hamlet coincided with my high school years, and my $17.85 roundtrips to Atlanta were also to see the Atlanta Braves play.
I and my high school friends took the Silver Comet on these trips, which were all in the dark westbound. The eastbound return after the game, however, left Atlanta in late afternoon. It was on one of these trips that my friends and I decided to splurge and have dinner in the diner where I encountered, for the first time in my life, the finger bowls RRCHINA mentioned above.
Fortunately, having watched my share of movies in which the stars dined in evening dresses and tuxedoes, I didn't mistake this service for a post-main course soup. Although I've had some expensive meals in some exotic places around the world, I have never run across another finger bowl except in a railroad dining car.
Posts: 48 | From: San Jose, Calif. | Registered: Sep 2006
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quote:Originally posted by Doodlebug: People like me who never thought they’d see the Golden Gate Bridge or the Matterhorn are returning to see them with their kids.
Yes, our family were denizens of the "coaches" as well; we were able to visit the "snowy Matterhorn," though it was the one in Anaheim, CA (built by Walt) rather than the Swiss one made of granite. My pre-eminent childhood coach memories were of the ATSF El Capitan which ran as #17 west and #18 east. Did the bumper posts Los Angeles/Chicago in 39 1/2 hours; a wee bit speedier than today's Amtrak. All great recollections from these recurring summer trips in the late 50s to mid 60's; one food item I duly remember is a vanilla ice cream from the diner that must have been about 90% butterfat; never had anything like it since! The porters were the first black gentlemen I'd ever interacted with; they humored me pretty gently and gave me some amazing conversations. I thought I'd like to do their job someday; so after graduating from my liberal arts college, as most here know I got on as a "CCP/TACO"* w/the 9 year old Amtrak.
*Chair Car Porter/Train Attendant Coach. I still have my old wooden nameblock that "moved up and down" the wooden Extra Board/Regular Assignment grid (that LA was still using in 1980.) The block was inscribed "CCP.6/20/39" on its edge and was originally used by one of these old porters from the first days of LA Union Station. I never knew what a sleeping car roomette or bedroom was until I went to the school to learn to work one; my family never had bought a ticket to ride in one. So.. my vote is definitely for the El Cap! And my favorite miles on the route were the Gallup Sub in New Mexico and across Illinois on its original route through GBA, CIA, Streator and Joliet--I liked the faster subdivisions; still do.
Posts: 588 | From: East San Diego County, CA | Registered: Oct 2004
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When I grew up, I remember only one cross country trip on a train, in 1964, when I was nine. I have no knowledge of the name of any of those trains, although one had to have been the California Zephyr, as we traveled from the East Bay in Calif. to Chicago. I remember enjoying everything about the trip, even though we were in coach, but especially the dome cars. Since that time, I never had occasion or means to ride a train again until 1983, when we took the CZ from Martinez to Denver, again in coach. Since then, I've taken the Coast Starlight once, from LA to Seattle, using roomettes; the Calif. Zephyr round trip to Denver in bedrooms; and the CZ from CHI to MArtinez in a roomette. I have taken the San Joaquins several times from Modesto to LA, and the Pacific Surfliners to San Diega a couple times. That's all I have to go on, but I have to list the Coast Starlight as my favorite, but as retirement maybe becomes an option in 5 -10 years, and I find a way to sample other Amtrak routes, and hopefully VIARail, I reserve my right to change my mind!
Posts: 406 | From: La Grange, CA | Registered: Sep 2007
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I always feel somewhat sad when I see photos like this, because I was born just at the time the UK was going through its massive programme closures of passenger lines and lived in an area that was particularly badly affected. By the time I became "aware" of train travel all we had locally was disused former trackbeds and derelict stations.
I only once remember going on a steam train and only went on a train 3 times between the ages of 5 and 17.
Do any of those lines/facilities in the photo still exist?
Posts: 395 | From: england | Registered: Sep 2002
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Yeah,I hear you Mr.Williams. When I was in the U.K. in 1971 I did ride a sleeper train from Inverness to London (Euston Station?). As for the U.S. I wish I had the opportunity to ride other trains besides those operated by the New York Central, and the Santa Fe. For example the Union Pacific, Pennsylvania, Illinois Central, and Southern Pacific railroads come to mind.
Posts: 498 | From: New Hope, PA, USA | Registered: Jan 2003
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Thanks for the input. I so want to hear more. Sorry it took so long to reply I was in Europe on many passenger trains. Thanks
Posts: 465 | From: elgin (s-line) | Registered: Dec 2008
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Well, as a child I was truly blessed. My mother would take me and my sisters to Florida every winter after Christmas, and we'd usually stay until Easter or thereabouts. My mother loved trains, and hated to fly. She also traveled ONLY Pullman, so I grew up riding mostly the Silver Meteor and Silver Star, but also (occasionally) the ACL Champion (my mother preferred the SAL) or, when it was revived in the early 1960s, the Florida Special.
So some of my earliest memories are of Pullman lounge cars and diners with silver and white linens on the tables.
I would rate the "Meteor" the best train I ever rode. Service was unparalleled, and it even had two diners, one for Pullman passengers and one for coach people (the coach people got paper place mats and a cheaper menu).
I was lucky enough to ride the REAL California Zephyr in 1968, so I'd put that high on the list too.
As for post-Amtrak trains, I recall the wonderful Bloody Mary the barkeep in the lounge made for me as we climbed through the Gilluly Loops out of Salt Lake City on the "Rio Grande Zephyr". I have no wonderful memories of ANY Amtrak train, except for my first ride on Superliners on the "Southwest Chief" in 1981. This was the year before Congress ordered Amtrak to cut its food service budget, and the chef's special that evening was roast leg of lamb with fresh mint sauce made on the train. That remains the only "world class" meal I've ever eaten on Amtrak.
Posts: 614 | From: Merchantville, NJ. USA | Registered: Aug 2000
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Nice, I like the idea of the Meteor, as I actually have a few schedules. Thanks so much for your vote
Posts: 465 | From: elgin (s-line) | Registered: Dec 2008
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