Remembering the Golden Age that Preceded Amtrak

[Bob Dylan]

Interesting the similarities between the EMD E and F units to the Siemens units today. EMD or GM understood aerodynamics, The E unts could debut today and still look the part in the 21st century.

By far the Best of the Diesels!!!

 

[MARC Rider]

That brings back memories of the Penn Central era, when I worked for Continental Trailways...
We had a pretty good business of taking HS kids on charters from various places to Chicago, where they then boarded the CB&Q for a trip to Colorado.
This was all arranged by the Burlington's group sales department. The reason was twofold...they didn't care much for the erratic service rendered by the PC, and the 'Q' still had close working relation's with Continental Trailways, since they had owned a very large portion of its predecessor lines until 1946.

At the other end of the 'Q', they also turned over large numbers of Scouts at Denver to us for transport to the Philmont, NM Scout Ranch each summer.
The Santa Fe did too, although only for the short hop from Raton...

Yep, I took one of those trips in 1968 as a Scout going to Philmont. Trailways charter bus from Philly to Chicago, Denver Zephyr to Denver, and another Trailways bus over the Raton Pass into Philmont.

 

[Palmland]

For me, the golden age of passenger trains began post war with the introduction of the many war delayed streamliners such as the '48 Century and Broadway Ltd. It ended with the advent of the B707 that began regular service in 1958 - about the same time construction really ramped up on the Interstates.

I was fortunate to be a young boy during the later half of that period and got to experience rides on many trains in the east. Many great memories from those trips: Boarding the Naitonal Ltd in Wilmington, DE right after final exams (which may be the reason I never did very well on them) for our annual trip to Tennessee. It was highlighted by backing into Washington and soon after the rear door on our sleeper was opened to a somewhat exotic bright red shiny Frisco sleeper, a MP sleeper bound for the mysterious southwest. Then opening the door to the hushed and refined atmosphere in the classic observation car on the rear (ex NYC) that required a full sprint to grab the seat facing the rear window. The awe inspiring Cincinnati Union Terminal followed the nest morning was follwed by a leisurely all day ride on the Pan American with the world's best turkey sandwiches (turkey cooked on board of course) as the train accelerated from Louisville to attack the grade on Muldraugh's Hill.

Other notable trips then included a spring vacation trip to Florida and a very long East Coast Champion with a glimpse in the morning of Jacksonville Terminal's 0-8-0 switcher. On a another trip I had a ride in the parlor car on the pocket streamliner Nancy Hanks II (spent most of the time at the rear window as we passed sleepy southern towns) followed by a bedroom on the Southerner back home. A couple years later I took my first solo trip from Paoli, PA on PRR's Cincinnati Ltd and feeling so grown up (although the Pullman porter had strict instruction to take care of me - he did) and worrying about the tip in the dining car by a slightly bemused waiter.

During college years in the 60's I had many rail adventures, mostly in the west where i was in grad school. My favorite eastern trip was a two night trek on Seaboard's Palmland and vividly recall hanging out the dutch door as a we sped (had to be in excess of 79) across the many trestles of Seaboard 'smore easterly route between Savannah and Jacksonville. In the west I took a daytime ride on the SF Chief and my first experience with the high level cars; a King's dinneer on the Panama Ltd; an overnight ride on a nameless CB&Q train to Amarillo that still carried an original Zephyr observation serving breakfast; a packed observation on the DZ during spring break as it stormed across eastern Colorado; and ending my many joy rides was a trip on the all Pullman Super Chief enroute to my wedding in Arizona with cocktails in the 'Pleasure Dome' lounge car. And then I had to get a job. Bummer!

 

[jpakala]

My first trip was in June 1944 at 3 months of age but told later all about it. We went from Pittsburgh to eastern SD, with a PRR day train to Chicago and then onto the C&NW. Mom had first-class but it was in a club car and her seat was not large, with back to the wall. After she had changed my diaper a man rose from a card game, offering to exchange her seat for his in the parlor car. She agreed and found herself in a large rotating chair with plenty of floor space for the baby basket. Later in Chicago my brother, sister, and someone from SD who'd come to help when Mom was many days (back then) in the hospital arrived and were covered with coal dust. On their train my brother held a paper cup out the window and collected cinders. On the C&NW we all had open section berths, but I guess not AC because my sister remembers seeing the roof vents from her upper berth and may have adjusted or closed one.

 

[Bob Dylan]

For me, the golden age of passenger trains began post war with the introduction of the many war delayed streamliners such as the '48 Century and Broadway Ltd. It ended with the advent of the B707 that began regular service in 1958 - about the same time construction really ramped up on the Interstates.

I was fortunate to be a young boy during the later half of that period and got to experience rides on many trains in the east. Many great memories from those trips: Boarding the Naitonal Ltd in Wilmington, DE right after final exams (which may be the reason I never did very well on them) for our annual trip to Tennessee. It was highlighted by backing into Washington and soon after the rear door on our sleeper was opened to a somewhat exotic bright red shiny Frisco sleeper, a MP sleeper bound for the mysterious southwest. Then opening the door to the hushed and refined atmosphere in the classic observation car on the rear (ex NYC) that required a full sprint to grab the seat facing the rear window. The awe inspiring Cincinnati Union Terminal followed the nest morning was follwed by a leisurely all day ride on the Pan American with the world's best turkey sandwiches (turkey cooked on board of course) as the train accelerated from Louisville to attack the grade on Muldraugh's Hill.

Other notable trips then included a spring vacation trip to Florida and a very long East Coast Champion with a glimpse in the morning of Jacksonville Terminal's 0-8-0 switcher. On a another trip I had a ride in the parlor car on the pocket streamliner Nancy Hanks II (spent most of the time at the rear window as we passed sleepy southern towns) followed by a bedroom on the Southerner back home. A couple years later I took my first solo trip from Paoli, PA on PRR's Cincinnati Ltd and feeling so grown up (although the Pullman porter had strict instruction to take care of me - he did) and worrying about the tip in the dining car by a slightly bemused waiter.

During college years in the 60's I had many rail adventures, mostly in the west where i was in grad school. My favorite eastern trip was a two night trek on Seaboard's Palmland and vividly recall hanging out the dutch door as a we sped (had to be in excess of 79) across the many trestles of Seaboard 'smore easterly route between Savannah and Jacksonville. In the west I took a daytime ride on the SF Chief and my first experience with the high level cars; a King's dinneer on the Panama Ltd; an overnight ride on a nameless CB&Q train to Amarillo that still carried an original Zephyr observation serving breakfast; a packed observation on the DZ during spring break as it stormed across eastern Colorado; and ending my many joy rides was a trip on the all Pullman Super Chief enroute to my wedding in Arizona with cocktails in the 'Pleasure Dome' lounge car. And then I had to get a job. Bummer!

Fantastic journeys!
Great Memories! I've always been sorry I missed the Kings Dinner on the Panama Ltd. and the " Real"Broadway Ltd., but was lucky enough to ride on the Super Chief when it was still All Pullman and eat in the Diner!!

 

[jiml]

I've really enjoyed reading these stories. Unfortunately, although I'm a contemporary of many who've posted, my childhood experiences are limited to numerous trips on Budd RDC's through towns and villages which now comprise Toronto's western suburbs. Nothing exciting, although I was able to watch trains at the end of my street, which dead-ended at the CN mainline in what is now Mississauga, ON. First "real" train trips started in the 70's.

 

[dlagrua]

I was too young and my parents never vacationed so I never saw what things were like in the Golden Age of Passenger rail. As a young boy I only recall one train trip from NYC/GCT to Hartford CT on the New Haven and we never left the coach seats during the 3 hour trip.
My experience with passenger rail began only 20 years ago with our first bedoom trip on the Autotrain to Sanford. I guess that you could call that the Golden Age for my wife and myself. We were greeted onboard with wine, cheese and snacks. The food in the diner was of very good quality and even included ice cream for desert. There were flowers on the dinner table, china plates/silverware, a white tablecloth, ice in the sleepers, and did I forget the chocolates? The next morning there was a newspaper left outside our bedroom door. Sadly prices have sharply risen and most of the amenities have gone away.

 

[20th Century Rider]

My first trip on a passenger train was probably around 1972 or 1973, right at the end of the Golden Age of Railroads in America. It was technically an Amtrak train but it still felt like a Great Northern train. My Dad and I were taking a trip from our home in Glasgow Montana to Seattle to see my Uncle Bobby. I remember the awe I felt seeing the smartly uniformed conductor welcoming us aboard like he knew my Dad or something. Looking back, my Dad was involved with UTU activity for Great Northern (he was a GN freight brakeman at the time) so even if they didn't know each other they probably recognized each other. I am not sure if it was this trip or something I had seen earlier, but I remember an engineer climbing up 6 or 7 ladder rungs to get into the locomotive, it was like a harbor pilot climbing up the side of a sailing ship. Then the conductor called "All Aboard!", picked up the step and stepped aboard the train and we gently set out through my home town.
We went to our bedroom and it was like a palatial suite to me, albeit in miniature. The porter came by and introduced himself and it was a jolt to see a black person since we only had one black family in my home town. After he left my Dad said I was to call him Mister "Smith" (I have forgotten his name over the years) and NOT to call him boy. He was pretty adamant about it which kind of confused me but in retrospect I think black porters were new to the UTU at that time and some of the membership was not too happy about it. I don't think my Dad was a shop steward yet but he was probably getting grief from some of his friends about it. But Mr. Smith stopped by a little later with coffee for my Dad and a soda for me which was the height of luxury for a 10 year old kid. That porter was outstanding, every time I got a bit bored, he would pop by with a treat, or a heads up regarding a particularly scenic spot coming up or an invitation to see some part of the train I hadn't spotted yet.
So my Dad and I settled in to the room and we named every spot going by that we knew from driving or hunting as we passed by Hinsdale, Saco, Malta, Chinook and Havre. He pointed out where Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid blew up a railcar back in 1899 trying to get into the mail car safe.
We got to the Browning bridge before sunset and we saw a bit of Glacier Park but I don't remember more than a few minutes of sunlight before the park disappeared in the darkness as the sun set. I do remember sitting in the front of the dome car and watching the trees roll by and spotting one slightly startled moose look up at the locomotive and slowly trot off into the woods. The snow sheds seemed pretty cool too.
We went to have dinner in the dining car and my Dad had the steak and I had fish, probably halibut or flounder, and it was OUTSTANDING! When we got back to the sleeping car the beds were turned down and that service seemed pretty cool. I think my Dad left his good boots outside the door and they were freshly polished when we woke up. I was not entirely happy about that because that was one of my chores at home, I got 25 cents every time I polished those boots and a quarter went a lot further back then! I remember falling asleep listening to clicketyclack of the rails and hearing the whistle sounding way off at the front of the train.
I woke up at Spokane but fell asleep again pretty quickly and when I woke I was dumbstruck by the verdant greenery of Washington state. Northern Montana is semi-arid so Washington looked like a rain forest to me.
When the train pulled into Seattle, it was like a scene from a movie for me, with the porter wishing us a good day, my Dad shaking his hand and giving him a tip, (how and how much a gentleman tips was one of the subjects he taught us boys) the crowds of people stepping down to the platform, the huge train depot with the brick tower and the conductor calling out to my Dad by name and my Dad calling out his farewell. Seeing my Aunt, Uncle and cousins again was kind of anticlimactic after all that. LOL!
The only thing that sticks in my mind after that is the smell of the sea as we pulled up to a fishing boat on Puget Sound the next day. That smell has stuck with me all my life. Not even the fishing trip made as much of an impression on me as the smell itself.
A year or two later my father was injured pretty badly and spent nearly a year working as a passenger train conductor on the Empire Builder until he could go back to his work as a freight train brakeman and later as a freight conductor for GN. We were all pretty impressed the first couple times he wore the uniform. I am not sure if a switch like that would be allowed today.
Great memories!
On edit: The locomotive I remember may have been an EMD F7 and the photos I am finding now make that climb up a little less amazing than I remember, but still pretty impressive.

Absolutely wonderfully detailed account of the newly Amtrak-ed Empire Builder... bringing back some personal memories of when I rode this beautiful train just before Amtrak take-over.

No... it will never be the same again...

 

[20th Century Rider]

For me, the golden age of passenger trains began post war with the introduction of the many war delayed streamliners such as the '48 Century and Broadway Ltd. It ended with the advent of the B707 that began regular service in 1958 - about the same time construction really ramped up on the Interstates.

I was fortunate to be a young boy during the later half of that period and got to experience rides on many trains in the east. Many great memories from those trips: Boarding the Naitonal Ltd in Wilmington, DE right after final exams (which may be the reason I never did very well on them) for our annual trip to Tennessee. It was highlighted by backing into Washington and soon after the rear door on our sleeper was opened to a somewhat exotic bright red shiny Frisco sleeper, a MP sleeper bound for the mysterious southwest. Then opening the door to the hushed and refined atmosphere in the classic observation car on the rear (ex NYC) that required a full sprint to grab the seat facing the rear window. The awe inspiring Cincinnati Union Terminal followed the nest morning was follwed by a leisurely all day ride on the Pan American with the world's best turkey sandwiches (turkey cooked on board of course) as the train accelerated from Louisville to attack the grade on Muldraugh's Hill.

Other notable trips then included a spring vacation trip to Florida and a very long East Coast Champion with a glimpse in the morning of Jacksonville Terminal's 0-8-0 switcher. On a another trip I had a ride in the parlor car on the pocket streamliner Nancy Hanks II (spent most of the time at the rear window as we passed sleepy southern towns) followed by a bedroom on the Southerner back home. A couple years later I took my first solo trip from Paoli, PA on PRR's Cincinnati Ltd and feeling so grown up (although the Pullman porter had strict instruction to take care of me - he did) and worrying about the tip in the dining car by a slightly bemused waiter.

During college years in the 60's I had many rail adventures, mostly in the west where i was in grad school. My favorite eastern trip was a two night trek on Seaboard's Palmland and vividly recall hanging out the dutch door as a we sped (had to be in excess of 79) across the many trestles of Seaboard 'smore easterly route between Savannah and Jacksonville. In the west I took a daytime ride on the SF Chief and my first experience with the high level cars; a King's dinneer on the Panama Ltd; an overnight ride on a nameless CB&Q train to Amarillo that still carried an original Zephyr observation serving breakfast; a packed observation on the DZ during spring break as it stormed across eastern Colorado; and ending my many joy rides was a trip on the all Pullman Super Chief enroute to my wedding in Arizona with cocktails in the 'Pleasure Dome' lounge car. And then I had to get a job. Bummer!

Yes yes yes... remembering those days from the 60's as I was about to graduate college and see the world. It didn't matter where the train was going... what mattered was that it was going... and that you were on it. Gazing out the window watching the world go by... what memories!!!

 

[Siegmund]

I am too young to have experienced anything before F40PHs ruled the passenger trains and SD40-2s the freight. I remember watching with envy and excitement when friends who rode the Rio Grande Zephyr showed us slides of their trip. But my dad kept me well supplied with trips to museums and heritage steam runs. I rode behind quite a lot of steam - the Royal Hudson and the Silverton among others - got a few steam cab rides, and chased the 844(4) across the desert a time or two. One of the few things that makes me feel like an old man is remembering seeing N&W 611 at the museum in Roanoke before the first restoration to service. I know I saw the occasional F-unit in a museum... but I have still never ridden behind one, or even seen one move. The big rush of F7-pulled tourist and dinner trains hadn't gotten going yet when I went away to college.

The way some of you regret not getting to ride the trains of the 60s before Amtrak day... I feel the same way about missing out on all the VIA routes that still ran to odd little places when I was a boy, and the Newfoundland Railway.

I've had no choice but to cultivate an interest in history and modeling. And in walking and driving lots of old railroad grades, many of which are now impassable or fenced off: I got to drive a car through Milwaukee's Pipestone Pass summit tunnel, and drive almost all of the Union Pacific branch from Ashton, ID, to West Yellowstone, MT (now beaten into oblivion by 4-wheelers and snowmobiles.)

Lacking any stories about the old days, the least I can do is share a pair of 8mm films I have run across on youtube, showing a GN RDC from Helena to Butte, the North Coast Limited from Butte to Billings, and a CB&Q train southward toward denver (plus the nose of the UP Butte Special sitting in Butte): Helena to Butte and eastward from Butte. It is still a rush to have been in almost every place shown in the video, and think about what the trip must have been like back then, even with the trains gone now.

 

[ehbowen]

I have only one personal memory of pre-Amtrak rail travel: It was August 1967, I was four years old, and my mother wanted to take me from our (then) new home of Houston back to visit friends and relatives in the St. Louis area. We traveled coach aboard the Texas Eagle. I remember an interminable delay, probably in Palestine where the Houston section waited to meet up with the San Antonio section (which carried the dining car). I mainly remember it because my mother wouldn't let me go to the restroom since the train was standing in the station (try explaining that to a four-year-old who desperately needs to go now!). After we resumed our trip she took me to dinner in the diner, and I had my first peek inside of a roomette and wondered why we couldn't have one of those nifty little rooms (try explaining First Class Fares to a four-year-old as well!)? After dinner in the diner I unsuccessfully tried to sleep in coach, finally curling up on the floor under my seat. In the morning my mother let me hang out the Dutch door as the Missouri countryside flew past. My next rail trip would not be until almost exactly 12 years later, aboard Amtrak's Lone Star from Houston to Chicago (and then on to East Lansing via the old turboliner Blue Water) and back in July/August 1979...right before the Carter cuts.

While the Boeing 707 was the death knell for passenger rail travel as a system, it was the 727 which really drove in the nails. I hate to admit that, since that was the plane I had my first airliner ride on and is still one of my favorite jetliners, but it's true. It combined all of the speed and comfort of the 707 with almost all of the flexibility of the DC-3, thanks to its innovative triple-slotted flaps and pioneering use of an Auxiliary Power Unit and built in airstair. As long as jet service was, say, Chicago to Los Angeles the railroads could hope to compete...but when Kansas City to Albuquerque or Shreveport to Memphis acquired the same caliber of service, there was no real way for a private entity to hold its own.

 

[PaTrainFan]

It doesn't matter what decade or train you are talking about, when you are a child riding any train is always a Golden Era.

 

[railiner]

My first trip on a passenger train was probably around 1972 or 1973, right at the end of the Golden Age of Railroads in America. It was technically an Amtrak train but it still felt like a Great Northern train. My Dad and I were taking a trip from our home in Glasgow Montana to Seattle to see my Uncle Bobby. I remember the awe I felt seeing the smartly uniformed conductor welcoming us aboard like he knew my Dad or something. Looking back, my Dad was involved with UTU activity for Great Northern (he was a GN freight brakeman at the time) so even if they didn't know each other they probably recognized each other. I am not sure if it was this trip or something I had seen earlier, but I remember an engineer climbing up 6 or 7 ladder rungs to get into the locomotive, it was like a harbor pilot climbing up the side of a sailing ship. Then the conductor called "All Aboard!", picked up the step and stepped aboard the train and we gently set out through my home town.
We went to our bedroom and it was like a palatial suite to me, albeit in miniature. The porter came by and introduced himself and it was a jolt to see a black person since we only had one black family in my home town. After he left my Dad said I was to call him Mister "Smith" (I have forgotten his name over the years) and NOT to call him boy. He was pretty adamant about it which kind of confused me but in retrospect I think black porters were new to the UTU at that time and some of the membership was not too happy about it. I don't think my Dad was a shop steward yet but he was probably getting grief from some of his friends about it. But Mr. Smith stopped by a little later with coffee for my Dad and a soda for me which was the height of luxury for a 10 year old kid. That porter was outstanding, every time I got a bit bored, he would pop by with a treat, or a heads up regarding a particularly scenic spot coming up or an invitation to see some part of the train I hadn't spotted yet.
So my Dad and I settled in to the room and we named every spot going by that we knew from driving or hunting as we passed by Hinsdale, Saco, Malta, Chinook and Havre. He pointed out where Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid blew up a railcar back in 1899 trying to get into the mail car safe.
We got to the Browning bridge before sunset and we saw a bit of Glacier Park but I don't remember more than a few minutes of sunlight before the park disappeared in the darkness as the sun set. I do remember sitting in the front of the dome car and watching the trees roll by and spotting one slightly startled moose look up at the locomotive and slowly trot off into the woods. The snow sheds seemed pretty cool too.
We went to have dinner in the dining car and my Dad had the steak and I had fish, probably halibut or flounder, and it was OUTSTANDING! When we got back to the sleeping car the beds were turned down and that service seemed pretty cool. I think my Dad left his good boots outside the door and they were freshly polished when we woke up. I was not entirely happy about that because that was one of my chores at home, I got 25 cents every time I polished those boots and a quarter went a lot further back then! I remember falling asleep listening to clicketyclack of the rails and hearing the whistle sounding way off at the front of the train.
I woke up at Spokane but fell asleep again pretty quickly and when I woke I was dumbstruck by the verdant greenery of Washington state. Northern Montana is semi-arid so Washington looked like a rain forest to me.
When the train pulled into Seattle, it was like a scene from a movie for me, with the porter wishing us a good day, my Dad shaking his hand and giving him a tip, (how and how much a gentleman tips was one of the subjects he taught us boys) the crowds of people stepping down to the platform, the huge train depot with the brick tower and the conductor calling out to my Dad by name and my Dad calling out his farewell. Seeing my Aunt, Uncle and cousins again was kind of anticlimactic after all that. LOL!
The only thing that sticks in my mind after that is the smell of the sea as we pulled up to a fishing boat on Puget Sound the next day. That smell has stuck with me all my life. Not even the fishing trip made as much of an impression on me as the smell itself.
A year or two later my father was injured pretty badly and spent nearly a year working as a passenger train conductor on the Empire Builder until he could go back to his work as a freight train brakeman and later as a freight conductor for GN. We were all pretty impressed the first couple times he wore the uniform. I am not sure if a switch like that would be allowed today.
Great memories!
On edit: The locomotive I remember may have been an EMD F7 and the photos I am finding now make that climb up a little less amazing than I remember, but still pretty impressive.

Great story, thanks for posting!
Getting to ride such trains in your youth is indeed fortunate, but having a parent working for the railroad is even better...

 

[railiner]

Interesting the similarities between the EMD E and F units to the Siemens units today. EMD or GM understood aerodynamics, The E unts could debut today and still look the part in the 21st century.

Agreed! Being a component company of General Motors at the time, EMD benefitted from all the synergy and resources that meant. GM's Art & Colour Section, later Design, headed by renowned automotive stylist, Harley Earl was tapped to help design the carbodies, and streamliner paint schemes for the RR clients.
My favorite 'E' was the E-5, custom built only for the CB&Q, featuring stainless steel sides, to match the Budd streamliner passenger cars. I also liked the later E-8's and '9's, with their side port holes, and stainless air intake grills.

 

[20th Century Rider]

It doesn't matter what decade or train you are talking about, when you are a child riding any train is always a Golden Era.

Gosh... there's a lot of wisdom in your remarks... well said!

 

[ehbowen]

It doesn't matter what decade or train you are talking about, when you are a child riding any train is always a Golden Era.

My nephews and nieces still talk about our Big Family Amtrak Trip to Disneyland and back fifteen years ago.

 

[WWW]

Agreed! Being a component company of General Motors at the time, EMD benefitted from all the synergy and resources that meant. GM's Art & Colour Section, later Design, headed by renowned automotive stylist, Harley Earl was tapped to help design the carbodies, and streamliner paint schemes for the RR clients.
My favorite 'E' was the E-5, custom built only for the CB&Q, featuring stainless steel sides, to match the Budd streamliner passenger cars. I also liked the later E-8's and '9's, with their side port holes, and stainless air intake grills.

How about this beauty - owned by the 261 folks:

Milw 32A – Friends of the 261

 

[jis]

The only pre-Amtrak American passenger trains that I have ridden were the Senator and the Congressional on a Boston South Station - New York Penn Station - Washington Union Station and back trip back in 1965. Those trains were not terribly impressive at that point of their existence.

There were a few rides on B&M RDCs around the Northern suburbs of Boston too. We lived in Cambridge for the 1965-66 academic year plus three additional months.

We tried very hard to travel to Niagara Falls and back from Boston, but that turned out to be prohibitively expensive, so we fell back on Greyhound, which was actually a better experience than the Coach on the Senator. Railroads of the Northeast were in pretty sorry shape, and AFAIR Penn Station was in the process of being torn down and rebuilt as the subterranean rabbit's warren.

The next time I rode an American passenger train was in 1977, and that was LIRR, which on the Electric lines was actually quite good. But the diesel line trains were on their last legs, and remained that way for another ten or fifteen years. I could not afford Amtrak tickets on my meager Research Assistantship income for several years.

 

[20th Century Rider]

How about this beauty - owned by the 261 folks:

Milw 32A – Friends of the 261

View attachment 20541

... And what are those beauties it's pulling along???

 

[20th Century Rider]

If anyone has a time machine that can transport one to the past... please send it my way!

 

[WWW]

... And what are those beauties it's pulling along???

On the front end is the 261 Milwaukee steam locomotive - - -
then the consist of mostly Milwaukee Road cars (note the prominent paint colors) - - -
nearing the end the Superdome and finally the Cedar Rapids - - -
Prior to having the M32A our trips were relegated to having a point to wye the train or at least the locomotive for the return trip.
On occasion we would contract with Twin City & Western people to tow the train back.
Now with M32A we have the flexibility to do round trips without the need of a wye or breaking the train apart.

Click on the LINK: Milw 32A – Friends of the 261
Check out the roster of engines and cars in the fleet - - -
Prior to the covid virus thing our cars were rented contracted all over the country for excursions and events - - -
The fun part of this was riding the cars down and back to Chicago (behind the Amtrak EB 7 & 8) to the drop off point for the client.

 

[20th Century Rider]

On the front end is the 261 Milwaukee steam locomotive - - -
then the consist of mostly Milwaukee Road cars (note the prominent paint colors) - - -
nearing the end the Superdome and finally the Cedar Rapids - - -
Prior to having the M32A our trips were relegated to having a point to wye the train or at least the locomotive for the return trip.
On occasion we would contract with Twin City & Western people to tow the train back.
Now with M32A we have the flexibility to do round trips without the need of a wye or breaking the train apart.

Click on the LINK: Milw 32A – Friends of the 261
Check out the roster of engines and cars in the fleet - - -
Prior to the covid virus thing our cars were rented contracted all over the country for excursions and events - - -
The fun part of this was riding the cars down and back to Chicago (behind the Amtrak EB 7 & 8) to the drop off point for the client.

Thank you for sharing your knowledge and expertise!

 

[railiner]

To me, some of the most interesting consists existed during the transition years between heavyweight and streamline when you would see a mix of both on a train, often second tier or lower service. Without doing any research, I wonder if any heavyweights (likely bags) survived into Amtrak?

I don't believe Amtrak took ownership of any heavyweight passenger cars, but believe they did use some in the early years, from their 'host' railroads. The ones that stick out in my mind were some GM&O heavyweights used on some St. Lous/Chicago trains...

 

[railiner]

For me, the golden age of passenger trains began post war with the introduction of the many war delayed streamliners such as the '48 Century and Broadway Ltd. It ended with the advent of the B707 that began regular service in 1958 - about the same time construction really ramped up on the Interstates.

I was fortunate to be a young boy during the later half of that period and got to experience rides on many trains in the east. Many great memories from those trips: Boarding the Naitonal Ltd in Wilmington, DE right after final exams (which may be the reason I never did very well on them) for our annual trip to Tennessee. It was highlighted by backing into Washington and soon after the rear door on our sleeper was opened to a somewhat exotic bright red shiny Frisco sleeper, a MP sleeper bound for the mysterious southwest. Then opening the door to the hushed and refined atmosphere in the classic observation car on the rear (ex NYC) that required a full sprint to grab the seat facing the rear window. The awe inspiring Cincinnati Union Terminal followed the nest morning was follwed by a leisurely all day ride on the Pan American with the world's best turkey sandwiches (turkey cooked on board of course) as the train accelerated from Louisville to attack the grade on Muldraugh's Hill.

Other notable trips then included a spring vacation trip to Florida and a very long East Coast Champion with a glimpse in the morning of Jacksonville Terminal's 0-8-0 switcher. On a another trip I had a ride in the parlor car on the pocket streamliner Nancy Hanks II (spent most of the time at the rear window as we passed sleepy southern towns) followed by a bedroom on the Southerner back home. A couple years later I took my first solo trip from Paoli, PA on PRR's Cincinnati Ltd and feeling so grown up (although the Pullman porter had strict instruction to take care of me - he did) and worrying about the tip in the dining car by a slightly bemused waiter.

During college years in the 60's I had many rail adventures, mostly in the west where i was in grad school. My favorite eastern trip was a two night trek on Seaboard's Palmland and vividly recall hanging out the dutch door as a we sped (had to be in excess of 79) across the many trestles of Seaboard 'smore easterly route between Savannah and Jacksonville. In the west I took a daytime ride on the SF Chief and my first experience with the high level cars; a King's dinneer on the Panama Ltd; an overnight ride on a nameless CB&Q train to Amarillo that still carried an original Zephyr observation serving breakfast; a packed observation on the DZ during spring break as it stormed across eastern Colorado; and ending my many joy rides was a trip on the all Pullman Super Chief enroute to my wedding in Arizona with cocktails in the 'Pleasure Dome' lounge car. And then I had to get a job. Bummer!

Lots of great rides there, thanks for posting! Of the routes you mentioned, one that eluded me was the Texas Zephyr route...

 

[railiner]

The only pre-Amtrak American passenger trains that I have ridden were the Senator and the Congressional on a Boston South Station - New York Penn Station - Washington Union Station and back trip back in 1965. Those trains were not terribly impressive at that point of their existence.

There were a few rides on B&M RDCs around the Northern suburbs of Boston too. We lived in Cambridge for the 1965-66 academic year plus three additional months.

We tried very hard to travel to Niagara Falls and back from Boston, but that turned out to be prohibitively expensive, so we fell back on Greyhound, which was actually a better experience than the Coach on the Senator. Railroads of the Northeast were in pretty sorry shape, and AFAIR Penn Station was in the process of being torn down and rebuilt as the subterranean rabbit's warren.

The next time I rode an American passenger train was in 1977, and that was LIRR, which on the Electric lines was actually quite good. But the diesel line trains were on their last legs, and remained that way for another ten or fifteen years. I could not afford Amtrak tickets on my meager Research Assistantship income for several years.

The Senator and Congressional when they were newly re-equipped with streamlined cars in 1952, were in stark contrast to the typical PRR 'corridor' trains of the time, carrying mostly Tuscan red P-70 coaches. They really stood out with their matched stainless steel consists. Most of the coaches featured a 14 seat 'smoking lounge' at one end. The trains had blunt end parlor observation cars, full service diners, tavern lounge coffee shop, and even drawing room parlor cars. They also had a mobile phone service. The Afternoon Congressional was the fastest New York/Washington train (3:35), until the Metroliner's arrived.
The trains did degrade considerably, in the Penn Central era.
http://www.streamlinerschedules.com/concourse/track3/congressionals195212.html
http://www.streamlinerschedules.com/concourse/track3/senator195504.html