I thought I would ask folks to remember their travels during the holiday season on various trains. While in the Coast Guard I traveled on the Champion and the club car was always a hospitable place to be. Sometimes it was hard to buy a drink if you were in uniform.
My mom rode the Broadway out of Chicago on Christmas Day 1948, in order to set up for a trade show in NYC. She said the train wasn't that crowded and so the crew gave them great service throughout.
Remember being stuck in Boston on so called TDY that had been extended and extended for what seemed like forever. Being from the West Coast I could not wait to leave Beantown for warmer climes. Just four days before Xmas I finally got my orders to return to the west coast and by the time I picked up my orders and received my travel pay and my request for an extra 10 days leave was approved it was already well past noon.
I rushed to South Station with a two seabags and checked the NYC ticket counter and was lucky enough to get a roomette on the All Pullman Section of the new England States for Chicago. Travelling in the warm comfort of the train I knew I would not have time to go to the Northwest for Christmas so instead decided to visit a favorite aunt in St. Joe, Mo instead for the holiday. I departed that afternoon on the Kansas City Zephyr booking another roomette for the overnight run.
After Christmas with my aunt and uncle on the 28th I boarded an unnanmed CB&Q train for Kansas City in the afternoon and just after midnight found myself on the westbound Super Chief for the run to the west coast. Again I had a roomette and each mile that train traveled west made me all the happier. I arrived in Los Angeles just in time to board the San Diegan for for San Diego and my new home base at Coronado.
Like the earlier former Coast guardsmen mentioned I don't believe I paid for a single drink in any lounge car on any of the trains I travelled on. In order for servicemen to get RR discounts thay had to travel in uniform in those days. I rarely see a serviceperson travel in uniform today.
Al - in - Stockton
During the early 60's I had the chance to ride the Phoebe Snow from Dover, NJ to Owego, NY a few days after Chirstmas to return to Ithaca College a few days earlier than the rest of the students; I think I did it three times: '62. '63', and '64. But it was the day after Christmas 1969 that I remember most.
The calendar sequence was the same as this year with Christmas on a Thursday. Christmas night, my wife, 7 months pregnant at the time, our little daschund, and I were driving from my mother in law's in Syarcuse home to Apalachin, NY on I81 as heavy snow started falling. My radio was set to WNEW AM in New York City and Jim Lowe was warning of a bad storm coming up the coast expected to all but paralyze NYC the next day. My wife (out of the blue mind you) turns to me and says, "maybe we should take the train to see your family tomorrow." I narrowly missed the ditch and righted the car. What a great idea, I told her and asked if she really wanted to get up at 2AM so we could be at Binghamton station at 5AM for EL's Lake Cities to NJ. She said she thought it might be a better idea than driving. So, we did. Parked the '64 Falcon in the Lackawanna RR station parking lot in Binghamton; told the railroad police (friends of mine) that the car was going to be there at least until Sun. nite. The eastbound Lake Cities showed up about an hour late and we, along with our dog and Christmas presents boarded the first coach behind the locomotive where the train crew had the train radio. There was no question about a small, sleeping lap dog. An hour later we found Scranton was badly snowed under but we had not lost anymore time as we started up the west slope of the Poconos. Somewhere near Tobbyhanna I felt the train learch as it went through a snow drift, perhaps at a grade crossing. The engineer pulled the speed down at that point and radioed the train crew that he had to slow down because visiblity was getting bad and added that the boiler on one of the E8s was going so suggested the diner crew start passing out coffee to the passengers. The next transmission was a call to Stroudsburg Tower in hopes of finding a mechanic at leaset, a spare unit with boiler at most. The response was negative to the spare unit but I believe someone was there to look after the boiler. At any rate there didn't seem to be a loss of heat and we arrived in Dover about two hours behind schedule and with about 2 ft of snow on the ground. I surprised my folks in Denville by phoning them from the Dover station telling them we'd be on the next electric (local passenger) train and to meet us at the station.
The return trip was not as exciting per se. The whole east coast was under at least two feet of snow with no air service and no highway travel. Sunday night #5 was overcrowded of course, with many of us sitting on our luggage or standing at least until Scranton. We arrived in Binghamton jut about on the advertised to dig out the car and drive the 10 miles home. But it was one Christmas of train travel I will never forget!
RIDEWITHMEHENRY is the name for our almost monthly day of riding trains and transit in either the NYCity or Philadelphia areas including all commuter lines, Amtrak, subways, light rail and trolleys, bus and ferries when warranted. No fees, just let us know you want to join the ride and pay your fares. Ask to be on our email list or find us on FB as RIDEWITHMEHENRY (all caps) to get descriptions of each outing.
My most memorable holiday trip by rail was going from Atlanta to Jesup, Ga. and back on the Kansas City-Florida Special on New Year's 1961. Going down, we left Atlanta after midnight Saturday night, and I had two facing seats all to myself and I spent a comfortable night (I lay down across one seat and stretched my legs over to the other seat). Going back Sunday night, I sat in an unheated men's room because the train was filled with people who had been to football bowl games. If I had had the cash, I might have asked about an upper on the Brunswick-Atlanta sleeper, but that was a bit much for me back then.
Johnny
Another holiday-time trip that was different was when I went from Wesson, Miss., to visit my brother in Baton Rouge the day after Christmas, 1964. My plan was to take IC's Southern Express to New Orleans, and then the KCS up to Baton Rouge. This entailed leaving Wesson at 3:24 in the morning and changing in New Orleans. I had told my plan to the agent in Wesson, and he gave me a spare key to the station so I would not have to wait outside in the cold. I thought that the train would not be much, if any, late since most of the Christmas mail should have already been taken care of. Some time after the train was due, I used the message line to call the swingman, whom I knew, at the next station (a three-trick station) to ask what he had on #25. He had no information, but said he would call the dispatcher. I immediately switched to the dispatcher's line, and learned how late the train was. It was so running late that I doubted that it could take me to New Orleans in time to catch KCS #10, so I stopped off in McComb and bought a seat on the Panama Limited. It, too, was running late, so I stopped off again, in Hammond. I knew that a man with the nickname "Panama Pinton" came over from Baton Rouge to meet the Pannyma (as it was called) and carried people to and from the Pannyma. I took advantage of his service, and he took me, not to his regular stop downtown, but to my brother's house. My trip back to Wesson was uneventful--KCS #9 to NOLA and IC #8 back to Wesson.
Johnny,
You are the only person I ever heard of that planned to ride IC No. 25, the Southern Express. For those who aren't familiar with it, the Southern Express was a local running between Chicago and New Orleans that made all stops south of Champaign. No. 25 made 22 intermediate stops between Wesson and NOUPT and covered the 138 miles in 5hrs-19min for an average speed of 25.9mph. The train deadheaded the consist of the Creole (which ran only northbound) back from Chicago to New Orleans and had only one coach (basically a rider coach for the train crew) open for the few brave souls who had to ride it.
One night in about 1954 I was returning to Champaign from Chicago and missed No. 3, the Louisiane, which left me with no alternative but to ride the Southern Express arriving in Champaign at 3:55am. The conductor, flagman and I were the sole occupants of the train's single open coach for the entire trip.
Mark
KCSfan Johnny, You are the only person I ever heard of that planned to ride IC No. 25, the Southern Express. For those who aren't familiar with it, the Southern Express was a local running between Chicago and New Orleans that made all stops south of Champaign. No. 25 made 22 intermediate stops between Wesson and NOUPT and covered the 138 miles in 5hrs-19min for an average speed of 25.9mph. The train deadheaded the consist of the Creole (which ran only northbound) back from Chicago to New Orleans and had only one coach (basically a rider coach for the train crew) open for the few brave souls who had to ride it. One night in about 1954 I was returning to Champaign from Chicago and missed No. 3, the Louisiane, which left me with no alternative but to ride the Southern Express arriving in Champaign at 3:55am. The conductor, flagman and I were the sole occupants of the train's single open coach for the entire trip. Mark
Incidentally, #8 made better time to Jackson than #25 made to New Orleans because it did not leave mail; all that it picked up that was going to points south of Jackson was transferred to #25 in Jackson.
Two holiday train trips come to mind both of which had a rather miserable beginning. At the start of the Christmas school holidays in 1949 I made a coach trip from Lafayette, IN to Florida. I caught Big Four train No. 410 from Chicago around 2:00am and it was standing room only. I had to ride nearly five hours the entire way from Lafayette to Cincinnatti sitting on my suitcase in the aisle. From Cincy to Jacksonville I had a reserved coach seat on the Southern's streamlined New Royal Palm. This was a truly great train with the finest coach, Pullman, diner and lounge equipment that the SR had to offer. Unfortunately we were delayed about three hours enroute waiting for the tracks to be cleared where a freight train had derailed at the mouth of one of the tunnels on the "Rathole" Division. This caused me to miss the West Coast Champion and I had to ride the ACL's all stops local from Jacksonville to Tampa. Nearly eight hours in a straight back coach seat with nothing to eat but a stale ham and cheese sandwich and a candy bar purchased from a news butcher who boarded the train at Orlando.
The other trip was in 1955 and I was going home to Chicagoland on Christmas leave from Ft. Leonard Wood, MO. There was an Army railroad that ran some 20 or 30 miles from the Fort to a connection with the SL-SF at Newburg. This single track military road wound through the Ozarks and surprisingly had semaphore ABS's over its entire distance. My journey began aboard a "Special" train consisting of three old Frisco coaches behind a Frisco GP. After a nearly hour long trip over the military road we arrived in Newburg and our three coaches were tacked onto the Frisco's all stops local for a 3-1/2 hour run to St. Louis. After about five hours in a straight back coach seat it was pure heaven to board the IC's streamlined Daylight bound for Chicago. After a couple of stiff drinks in the obs/lounge and a fine IC meal in the diner I had all but forgotten the rigors of my day trip up to St.L.
I am fortunate to say that i got ride in Canada greatest mainline passenger train a month before Mr.Mulroney the worst Prime Minister Canada has ever seen axed it. The VIA Rail Canada CP route "Canadian". I took the trip with my Mom and Sister on Dec.23rd 1989, we departed from Winnipeg on a snowy night, at VIA's Union Station which is still used for CN Route passenger train-service on VIA Rail, we stopped in Brandon before arriving at Virden Station, where my grandfather picked us up, He lived with my Grandma on a Hereford cattle farm just west of Reston, Manitoba. It was a memorable trip, and a privilege. To this day i think they still should re-route The Canadian back onto the "Scenic Line" where it all began, the CPR is much better.
Returning to Fort Jackson after Christmas 1966, from Penn Station. Too young to buy liquor on a train but the folks in the club car bought me all I could drink and then some. We were going to be late into Columbia, too late for the last city bus. Seaboard (I think it was Seaboard) brought our cars right onto the post, just ten minutes walk to the barracks. Nice.
Happy Christmas to all...
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Mike
Mike, going into Columbia from New York City after Christmas of 1966, you would have to have taken the Seaboard, unless you went by way of Asheville (New York to Asheville, Asheville to Columbia), or, even worse, New York to Florence, Florence to Denmark, Denmark to Columbia. The Augusta Special was gone from the Southern timetable by 30 October 1966, with only Fort Mill, S. C. to Warrenville, S.C. being left of the original schedule. I managed to ride the Augusta Special from Columbia to Monroe, Va., on my way back to Reform, Ala., from visiting my mother (Southerner from Monroe to Tuscaloosa) in June of 1966. Going to Monroe reduced the time spent sitting and waiting for the Southerner).
It is interesting that the SAL took your cars right to the post; the map I have of about that time shows only the Southern having a track to the post.
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