My (sort’a) Iron Journey (Apologies to Otto Kuhler)

Most toy train folks have probably ridden a train or two in their lives, and I’m no exception. The recreational train rides have far exceeded the “real” train rides, but all have had a positive influence on how I view the hobby.

I divide my train trips into three eras, the “Hazy Memory” Era (rides up through elementary school); The Junior Railfan Era (rides up through high school); and the All Grown Up era (contemporary times).

The hazy memory years

Baltimore & Ohio, Hamilton Ohio, 1962: Sometime in the early elementary school years there was a special Santa Train run on the Baltimore & Ohio in Hamilton. In spite of it being as Jean Shepard called it, the high point of the kid year, on this day I was into the train and not so much Santa and the elves or the candy. I mean the train actually moved. It went somewhere. Okay, what I know now, it wasn’t all that far. Looking at a more recent railroad map of the Hamilton area, if I were to take a guess, it would have been up the track a few miles toward Middletown and return.

The train stopped, and I distinctly recall the locomotives running back down the train, re-coupling, and heading back to town. This small person thought it was awesome.

Six-Gun Territory, Ocala Florida, 1966:  I’m not including small-time amusement park trains in this era – you know, the kind where the operator is almost as large as the locomotive. However, in Pre-Disney Florida, for a few years at least, Six Gun Territory was a tourist destination. It was a pseudo wild-west town built out in the Pine trees. It featured shootouts, dancing hall girls, and all of that sort of corny, but fun, stuff.

I am including Six Gun territory simply because the train you took to get into town was a three-foot gauge operation with “real” passenger cars in tow. The locomotive itself was a 4-4-0 American-type built in 1964 by the prolific Crown Metal Products and dressed up in 1870s attire. Don’t know if it was an oil burner when I rode behind it, but in later years it warmed the boiler with propane. The only disappointment I had was that neither when riding into the mock-western town or riding back to the entrance, there was no train heist. So much for ‘truth in advertising.’ Heartache.

After Six Gun Territory folded in the early 1980s, the locomotive and cars were sold to the Historic Jefferson Railway, in Jefferson Texas, where it is in regular service. A sister 4-4-0 from the Southern Railway & Six Gun is on display in Atlanta.

Honorable mention: American History train, Baltimore & Ohio, Hamilton Ohio: Though parked where we boarded the Santa train, this rig actually didn’t go anywhere. Our school car-pooled down and went through the train at, what seemed to me, to be a leisurely pace. While I am really into American history, what stood out in my mind (this was shortly AFTER my Santa Train ride) is that these cars looked the same from the outside, but there were no seats – “just” the displays of uniforms, documents, and assorted relics. In my kid’s mind, I wondered ‘why put a display in a train, if it isn’t going look like a train.’ As far as I was concerned, they could have just used a truck!

The Junior Railfan years

Seaboard Coast Line, Orlando, FL to Washington DC (The Silver Star and I believe The Silver Meteor) and return, 1969: This trip resulted from the most "Out of the blue" thing my father ever did. He came home from work one day, entered my room, tossed a Seaboard Coast Line timetable on my bed, and said "I'll take you on a trip anywhere the Seaboard goes."

It didn't take long to figure out the longest route with appeal to me: Orlando to Washington D.C. Orlando had the nearest SCL station, and Washington had the famous terminal and of course, the Smithsonian had a Southern Railway engine on display!

We went by coach and didn't want to sleep and miss a second of it. But I did sleep. I suspect that somewhere inside my brain there is still an untapped audio recording of everything I missed.

This trip was a mystical experience for this young train fan. The train was long, fairly well filled with passengers. Many were coming and going at stops between the two key cities. The food was marvelous, and the train crew was friendly (perhaps helped along by my camera bag with railroad patches glued on it) and delivered outstanding service. I even met a traveling freight agent who commended me for my interest in trains!

My only regret was that not a single photo I took with my ancient camera (with a bellows) even rose to the level of being horrible. The camera had two shutter speeds, wide open and 1/50 of a second. Neither was optimal for moving trains. I had a lot to learn about taking photos.

This train trip set a standard that Amtrak has failed to meet. But the carrier is up against my childhood memories, and as we all know, these are always brighter than they may have been in reality.

Gold Coast Railroad Museum, Fort Lauderdale, 1969: This is the first and only standard gauge steam-powered train ride I’ve ever ridden behind. At the time, the museum had two Florida East Coast 4-6-2 Pacifics, but only the 153 was operational. The museum had a nice collection of cars, including a Presidential observation car.

The locomotive was beautiful. It looked well balanced and seemed quite capable of stepping up and moving a passenger train along the track at a good clip. And I was impressed to find not one, but two ex-FEC locomotives in the same place.

The train ride, however, was a tad underwhelming. The locomotive pushed the train backward maybe a mile or so through an industrial area, stopped, and started moving forward. Not the Central running along the Mohawk, or the Super Chief in New Mexico, but a notable milestone in train travel for me.

In 1969 I was left wondering, as Peggy Lee sang, "Is that all there is? Today the museum has a pretty impressive roster of locomotives and a much larger footprint than 'back in the day.' If I ever get back to that part of the state, I'll check it out for sure.

Oh, I took the pics, but with my Uncle Chuck’s 35mm camera, which is why they were viewable!

Walt Disney World Railroad, Orlando, Florida, 1971-74: Growing up on the east coast of Florida before Walt Disney World was built, by the time high school came around, many of my friends has seasonal and weekend jobs at the theme park. One, Brian Cormac, was a fireman on the WDW line. He took pride in his job, and it obviously took more skill than operating Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride. I mean, Mr. Toad wouldn’t blow up if nobody watched the steam pressure, right?

The locomotives were real freight haulers re-imported from South America, and then as now, they are treated like great ladies of an elegant era in train travel – not like forgotten 1920s engines sent out to rust in a pasture.

Like an O gauge layout, the route was circular but the train was a fun train experience. Besides, why walk into the park when you could take the train?

 All grown up

Spirit of Washington Dinner Train, Renton to Woodinville, Wa. and return, 1995: The Spirit of Washington was a dinner train operated in Seattle by the Washington Central. You know, the sort of train that was either a high-end date event or a special occasion activity. The train was exquisite, the service four-star, and the event was fun.

When I rode it, it was powered by three ex-Bessemer & Lake Erie F units (two cabs and a B unit). At the mid-trip stop (A winery in Woodinville) I was able to inspect the train and it was in spectacular condition.

The physical railroad it ran on no longer exists,  it was severed by highway construction. I believe Iowa Pacific Holdings bought the rolling stock. As for the F units, I have seen photos of two the locomotives cited as being from the dinner train rusting away in California.

Amtrak, Milwaukee-Chicago:  Hiawatha, Milwaukee to Chicago and Return to Milwaukee: What can I say, fast, minimal stops, and darned close to standing room only. Railroading as a mass conveyor of people. Not fancy, but functional.

Amtrak: Milwaukee to Harrisburg, Penn. and return. Also known as "The Trip From Hell," 1996:

I bought into the idea of going by train from Milwaukee to Harrisburg to attend the semi-annual train meet in York, Penn. held by the Eastern Division of the Train Collectors Association.

This experience is why I have vowed never to take Amtrak again if it was a) for business and b)  I needed to be somewhere on time. When the trip began the Hiawatha had an on-time departure to Chicago. That was the end of scheduled railroading for the duration. You didn't need a timetable to check the train's pace. Like a grueling cross-country trip from everyone's childhood, you got there when you got there and no number of "Are we there yet" cries made that train move any faster.

The Capitol Limited left Chicago for Pittsburgh late. Hit a deer and severed a brake line in Indiana. Got into Pittsburgh way, way late. But that was okay – the connecting train, The Three Rivers, was even later than The Limited. Standing outside the Pittsburgh station at 3 a.m. with 100 other passengers, waiting of the sun to rise, doesn’t have much to commend it. The return train left Harrisburg late as well. Had to wait for a late train at Pittsburgh again. The trip was nothing, if not consistent. Sigh.

The low point of the trip: The Three Rivers was indeed moving – but our train was being passed, on an upgrade, by a Conrail coal train. Guess the coal had to get somewhere on time to meet a bulk freighter.

 The high point of the trip: The club car served Rolling Rock when it was real, and actually came from the brewery in Latrobe.

Special mention: The Amtrak staff in Chicago, and the sleeping and dining car crews on all of the long-distance trains were all outstanding. The Conrail dispatchers left a bit to be desired.

Disclaimer: This is my opinion and not the opinion of the CTT staff or advertisers. In fairness, this was nearly 20 years ago and from what I read in the papers, Amtrak has improved on-time performance quite bit. Maybe killing Conrail helped. It sure couldn't have hurt!

National Railroad Museum, Green Bay, Wisc. “Loop of track,” 1996: Situated in a place that is not really convenient for anyone going from point A to point B without a major detour, the National Railroad Museum in Green Bay has a remarkable collection of locomotives and rolling stock. They have a Union Pacific Big Boy 4-8-8-4, a Pennsylvania RR GG1, and GM Aerotrain, and even The Dwight D. Eisenhower, a British Railways A4 4-6-2 Pacific, and many other gems.

I knew that the museum had a loop of track and a train ride, but what sold me on actually taking that ride was the motive power. It was a Milwaukee Road Fairbanks-Morse switcher that looked freshly repainted. Not a long ride, or even a scenic ride (unless you looked inward at the outdoor displays). But it was a train ride behind a pretty uncommon diesel, and besides, the price of the tickets helped keep the doors open!

East Troy Electric Railway, East Troy to “Elegant Farmer” and return, 2010: Last, but certainly not least, is a short (7 mile) hop on the East Troy Electric Railway. The line is actually a terminating branch of The Milwaukee Electric Railway & Light Co. that once operated a pretty decent web of electric railway lines in Southeastern Wisconsin.

The museum has 27 pieces of equipment ranging from steel interurban cars to street cars, interurban diners, freight trailers and combines, and even a steeple cab electric locomotive. It even has an interchange with the Canadian National. Though it no longer serves active freight customers, it will occasionally receive a load of ties and the possibility of new rolling stock can’t be ruled out.

The East Troy station and gift shop is an old TMERL power-house. The destination is a market called The Elegant Farmer. Though short in time, it is a nice ride through farm country and there is even a spot where one car must take to a siding to allow another car to pass. There is no rush, and you can stay at the store as long as you’d like (As an ad might say, there will be another trolley along shortly).

The East Troy experience was a fun experience using equipment (electric) long out of favor much further West than Harrisburg, Penn. I enjoyed the outbound leg in an open sided street trolley – a cool way to ride on a hot, hot summer afternoon. The return trip was on a Chicago Elevated Ry. car and I loved the vintage signage on the inside of the car.

Lots of fun, not terribly expensive, and a unique insight into an obscure portion of railroading.

Neither fish or fowl:

I rode a host of two-foot gauge amusement park trains in my time. Many were undoubtedly made by National Amusement Devices (NAD) of Dayton, Ohio, other by the aforementioned Crown.

NAD locomotion and trains were probably the power behind the following attractions: Hamilton Plaza Shopping Center kiddie park, Hamilton, Ohio; Kissels Amusement Park, Cincinnati, Ohio; the LeSourdsville Lake Amusement Park, Monroe, Ohio; and I would bet Crown made the Hugh Taylor Birch State Park train ride in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. All of these 2-foot (or more narrow) gauge train rides are now Fallen Flags, though their equipment may live on either in operation or the hands of private collectors.

There is no trace of the Hamilton Plaza or Kissels rides today. Both locations have been built over.  There is little trace of the right-of-way at LeSourdsville Lake. Interestingly, though closed 30 years ago, there is a movement to convert the right of way of the 3 mile Birch Park line (along with two rather fancy trestles) into a walking trail – just like a 1:1 inch “real” abandoned railroad.

What about you? Have a train trip that stands out for good or bad reasons? What about smaller amusement park trains? Have a favorite from the past? Let us all know!