First Train Ride

[acelafan]

Mine first real one was in the summer of 1986 (not including a few short tourist trains as a kid). My mother took my sister and me to visit my grandparents in Alabama - we traveled the old NEC "Inland Route" and connected to the Crescent. In fact, I wrote a report for my 5th or 6th grade class and ever since then I have been addicted to riding trains!

August 4, 1986

This is about my train trip from Worcester, MA to Birmingham, Alabama on Amtrak. Mom, Anne, and me left for the train station on July 11, and would return on July 18. Mary drove us to the Worcester station stop for Amtrak. The train arrived at 8:11 AM EDT. We had a lot of luggage. After we got on, the conductor came around to punch our tickets. Then we went to the snack car. We all had breakfast. When we came back, Mom asked how fast we were going. The conductor said we were going 70 MPH but can do 127 MPH.

…

Talk about memories...I still remember the old coaches where you flushed the toilet and saw the blurry, moving ground below!

 

[DCAKen]

My first trip was on the Empire Builder when my family (with six kids and one cat) moved from Whitefish MT to northern Illinois in early 1971. I was only six at the time, so I have few memories of the trip. I remember sitting in the dome car at night, watching the lights of the towns pass by. Since my father was a bigwig at his company, they were able to have the EB make a stop in Rochelle IL to let us off.

 

[Philly Amtrak Fan]

I'm not 100% sure but I would say most likely it was either the Illini or CONO between Chicago and Champaign IL as a student at the University of Illinois (and I'm not sure if my first trip was north or south).

My first overnight was definitely the Broadway Limited before they canceled it.

 

[gwschenk]

In 1982 it became obvious, at the last minute, that my FIAT (Fix It Again, Tony!) was not up for the trip from Huntington Beach, Calif. to Evansville, Ind. So I called 1800-USA-RAIL and asked for "the next train out of town." I thought that was quite clever!

The next train out of town was the Southwest Limited. I took the San Diegan to LAX and the boarded the Limited. It was coach and not crowded as nowadays. There were no smart phones, DVD players, etc. so people actually talked. It was interesting. I was in my 20s then, so coach was not bad.

Got off the train at Kansas City Union Station, pre-renovation. It was kind of an old wreck. Maybe a dozen of us got off and into a station designed to handle tens of thousands of passengers. It was eerie. I made a phone call from a bank of phones that must have been installed in the '30s. Then took, I think, The Anne Rutledge to St. Louis.

Had a great time, and have taken trains whenever possible since.

 

[SP&S]

1957, PDX to Gooding Idaho on the Domeliner City of Portland and back on the Portland Rose.

I remember dinner in the dome diner going thru the Columbia Gorge, how I thought the blue lights at night were strange, and how deferential all the Black employees were to a seven year old boy (who didn't really understand racism back then).

 

[librarian]

It was 1965. 6th graders from Washington County, Ohio (Marietta) and Wood County, WV (Parkersburg) boarded a 20 car B & O train at the Parkersburg Station Friday evening for a trip to Washington, D.C., arriving about 5:00 am. Spent the whole day in D.C. and re-boarded at 6:00 pm for the return trip. Each class brought picnic baskets. In D.C. a fleet of Tour Buses took us around all day, and we ate at a cafeteria on Pennsylvania Ave. for all meals. The trip had been done for years, but only lasted a couple more years after 1965.