While we were in California, we took the Southern Pacific Coast Daylight train to San Francisco, and then the California Zephyr back east. There was a kind old gentleman in the Vista Dome observation car who taught older brother and me how to play pinochle. And the tunnels that you see at about 8:30 here were etched in sharp relief in my five year old memory.
That was a different world age. The fare for the trip cost $592.10 in 1964 dollars - about $4500 today. But the memories are priceless, from a world long gone. A world that had its own music, now long gone as well.
Of course, I wouldn't want to go back to that as my only transportation choice. Instead of two days from Chicago to San Francisco, I can now get a Jet to take me there in 4 hours. Instead of $4,800, I can go for around $400. But there's still something lost, something finer than the flying bus of today.
 |
| Image from the Northern Pacific Cookbook. |
Nothing could be finer. Cheaper, yes. But not finer.
8 comments:
Wow, that brought back a visual memory.
Two of my great aunts took me and my brother to Fort Worth Texas right around the same time to go to Six flags over Texas. I was five or so. Took a train from Houston. I don't really remember the amusement park, but boy to I remember that train.
My Grandfather was an engineer for UP for many years, and used to take my mother and her sisters on trips in the cab... Sadly, I've never ridden a train in the States...
kx59, I hear you. I don't remember much of that trip to Los Angeles, but I sure remember getting there and back.
@Borepatch: When I win the lottery, I'll let you ride with me on my private train car. Wouldn't that be a fine way to get to blogshoots?
Sean, I want to shoot out of the observation car. At elephants. ;-)
The East Coast Line from DC to Newark.
The Flying Scotsman from London to Edinburgh.
The Ghan from Alice Springs to Adelaide.
Trains are the only civilized way to travel on land.
Uncle Ed worked on the C&O.
@Borepatch: I am sure that you will be permitted to shoot any wild elephants you see. You can’t shoot anyone’s pet elephant.
I'm going to shoot at buffalo. Isn't that what you are supposed to shoot at from trains? I’ll buy an Quigley style rifle to make it look authentic.
As an aside, am I the only one who got taught that they used to skip the bullets off the ground with their buffalo guns in order to hit buffalo at longer ranges?
We all bought it as kids, but now it seems like so much horse manure. How could you skip a .45-90 bullet off the prairie? With the (by today’s standards) rainbow trajectory just make it augur into the ground? Were the old buffalo hunters just telling tall tales that fooled my teacher? Where did this story come from?
I ride the "Southwest Chief" as Amtrak calls it once or twice a year.
Still a good ride, although it's not all private rooms nowadays.
Took the Zephyr back from San Francisco to Denver last November, which runs through some otherwise roadless canyons in the Rockies.
Post a Comment