Guess who's coming to dinner?

[Skyline]

"You get a real feeling of this country and the people in it when you're on a train." Harry S. Truman.

Somewhat off topic, but we should note, Harry S Truman was the last Former President we have had that did not "cash in", or least to any measurable step, after leaving office.
We also should note that he was the final Former President to leave Washington by rail (Jan 1953) after his successor (Ike) was sworn in.

The New York Times reported that he left on the B&O National Limited for St. Louis - and in line space at that!! They further reported that he got off to walk around at several service stops to mingle.

Continuing on to Independence, the MP made a Business Car (PV in currentspeak) available to his party.

Though he wasn't particularly good for Amtrak, Jimmy Carter's supporters rode a special charter from Plains GA to his inauguration in 1977.

https://history.amtrak.com/blogs/blog/the-peanut-special-heads-to-washington

 

[Bob Dylan]

And Barrack Obama and Amtrak Joe Biden rode a Presidential Special down the NEC to WAS for their Inaguration in 2009 in Honor of Abraham Lincoln's journey to his Inaguration in 1861.

 

[SP&S]

Most people have been interesting. The news anchor and his husband. The retired dance instructor. The foreign vacationers trying to figure out the US. The elderly jazz musician who remembered playing with Louis Jordan. And the occasional stick in the mud. One of the perks of train travel is meeting new people.

 

[Skyline]

Most people have been interesting. The news anchor and his husband. The retired dance instructor. The foreign vacationers trying to figure out the US. The elderly jazz musician who remembered playing with Louis Jordan. And the occasional stick in the mud. One of the perks of train travel is meeting new people.

So true. No one famous except Paul Reistrup in 1977, but plenty of fascinating convos. Have stayed in touch with a few people I met on trains over the years.

 

[pennyk]

On a recent trip on the southbound Silver Meteor, I was seated at lunch with a couple. After asking where we were going and where we lived, we determined that the couple and I lived a few blocks apart and that I pass their house virtually every day when I walk to the YMCA.

A few years ago, after the usual initial questions, I found out that my tablemate was a very good friend of one of my neighbors in my condo building.

Small world!

 

[DCAKen]

Many years ago, I took the Broadway Limited on my first trip back from college to my parents' new home (they moved from Illinois to Pennsylvania right after I started school). At breakfast, I was seated with a retired couple. He had long worked for the Pennsylvania Railroad in the suburbs of Philadelphia, so he had some fun stories to tell. As we talked, we discovered that they had actually met my parents recently through a community group welcoming new residents to the area.

 

[pennyk]

Although none of us had a meal with her, several of us saw former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright in the Club Acela in NYP this morning.

Two years ago, right before Halloween (on a Sunday), I saw Hoda Kotb and her mother in the Club Acela.

For me, Sunday is the day to see famous people in the lounge.