Trains.....

[espeefoamer]

1st. LA to Oakland on the San Joaquin Daylight.Return from San Francisco on Coast Daylight, in 1961.
Last(so far). Fullerton to LA round trip on Metrolink.
If you count interurbans,roundtrip between Long Beach and LA on Pacific Electric.I was very young,and dont remember the year.I don't remember very much about this trip,except that I did ride it.

[donl409]

1st train ride in '61 on the El Capitan (Sta Fe) moving from Dayton Ohio to Southern California (my mom and 3 brothers and I). Last train ride - in the cab of a small 44ton (?)switcher in south San Diego , out of Campo by the border (a birthday present). Also have been on the Strausburg train. That coal smoke smell was neat!

[Anonymous]

First was on a yard switcher (I think an NW-2) marshalling cars in the downtown Fort Worth Santa Fe yard in spring of 1965. I was 6-years old with a friend of the family who worked for the ATSF.

My last ride has been the daily commuter train on the Trinity Railway Express between Fort Worth and Dallas.

[rlbarnard]

I got my first ride in the spring of 1944, while I was in kindergarten. My teacher got the class on a New York Central caboose. The switcher that was working our small town took us down the track a short distance. Not sure, but I think the switcher was an 0-6-0.

***

[FJ and G]

1st train ride was in the now defunct 3rd Ave El.

2nd was about 1962 in a PRR GG-1 heavyweight consist from NY to Harrisburg

Last ride was this morning in VRE, w/vintage diesel and 1950-era gallery cars.

Envious yet? :-)

[laz 57]

On a Santa Fe at an Amusment Park called Angela Park just outside of Hazleton, Pa. Ii took you for a ride around the park about 5 minutes. The last was a small ride around the yard in Steamtown in Scranton,Pa. over the summer.
laz57

[Anonymous]

If you count riding a trolley car on Cicero Ave in Chicago then 1945 or 6, otherwise I remember riding many times between Libertyville and Fox Lake, Ill in the late forties and early fifties. My last was a steam excursion in 1999 out of Dillsboro, NC. I have ridden many different trains in my life including cab rides on steam engines, but modern trains are not much different from busses and airplanes.....all similarly boring. Odd-d

[Kooljock1]

First? I'm sure it was the Long Island Rail Road from Amityville to Pennsylvania Station. I can't remember how old I was, but I do remember my Mom complaining that they had ruined the place, and we might as well have gotten off in a basement, so it must've been the late 60's.

The last train I took was the Southbound Amtrak Adirondak out of Plattsburgh, NY on New Year's Eve. There were a couple of really hot French Canadian girls from McGill University sitting behind me sipping Champagne and heading for Times Square.

By the time we rolled out of Schenactady(sp?), we had a train-load of party-types packed into the cafe car drinking and singing and carousing.

By the way, if you're looking for a truly "scenic" ride in North America, you better ride this train before they shut down Amtrak.

Jon [8D]

[Back2Trains]

C&O from Plymouth, MI to Detroit circa 1949. I spent the night at my aunt's house and we went to the J. L. Hudson thanksgiving day parade the next morning.
In the early 60s I rode the New York Central between Chicago and Ann Arbor Mi many times. It was always an enjoyable trip.
I also rode the B&O between Chicago and Deshler Ohio once and that was enough. NYC was clean and state of the art compared to that B&O train.
I spent a lot of time on the CTA elevated and subway. I loved riding during off hours and Sundays when I could often get the front seat in the lead car. After a while I even learned to understand the conductor over the horrible PA systems in those cars.

[Anonymous]

I think my first was NJ Transit at age 5.
My last ride was a NJ Transit train on December 18 riding home from New York City, it was a 9:00 ride and it was full of drunk people, you have to be careful sometimes, the 7 out of the 8 times didn't have any drunks though but they tend to bother alot of people, thank God for conductors.

I really like riding steam trains though, I remember going to Allaire State Park as a kid. I want to go there this year, when I get my license I'm probably going to stop there before going to a race at Wall Township Speedway. I've also rode the trains at the Magic Kingdom in Disneyworld and one time at Hershey Park.

I really like riding trains and enjoy the window seats when I go to New York via NJ Transit, last year when I went to the Rangers game January 28th a Wednesday, I saw alot of trains. If you want some advice on when you'll get the most trains on your train rides take a busy weekday.

[prewardude]

First train ride was on the Cass Scenic Railroad in 1977 (when I was 8). The most recent was on the Western Maryland S.R. from Cumberland to Frostburg and back.

I took AMTRAK from Connellsville, PA to Birmingham, AL in 1995. The first leg of that trip (on the Capitol Limited between Connellsville and Washington, D.C.) was fine. The second leg (from D.C. to Birmingham on The Crescent) was horrible! Like Bob, that trip cured me of riding AMTRAK forever. Although, I must say that screaming through the Carolinas through the middle of the night at about 80 m.p.h. was one heck of a rush! Those telephone poles were flying by in the moonlight!
[:0]

Actually, now that I think back, my first time on a train was at Strasburg, back in '73 or '74. I had forgotten about that one. I've been on so many trains that I've lost track...

[Anonymous]

Nice, Roger..


Nice[8D]

[Anonymous]

First Train Ride: Staten Island Rapid Transit

Daily commuter, Northeast Corridor, NJT

[Roger Bielen]

Colin, if your into riding trains, don't care if there's a lack of night life and want to get a ways off the usual tourist path, it's an enjoyable week. The train itself was clean, well kept and run. The route is truely in back country. Getting to the train was a three day affair (bus ride) with interesting side trips and lodging.

The tour company we were with was "A Closer Look Tours" Phoenix, AZ, [e-mail]. They were great, though they weren't the first class, big $'s type tour. The canyon was not as colorful, nor barren as Grand Canyon.

[Anonymous]

Nice. How was the last one in Mexico?


Sounds nice.

[Roger Bielen]

My first was sometime in the late 40's, I've seen photos of me in Manhattan at about 3 yrs. and the only way we could have gotten there from Passaic, N.J. was by train. The last was the Ferromex from El Fuerte, Mex. to Copper Canyon this past summer.

[Anonymous]

I mean my last train ride was in August on a scenic train ride from Lake Placid,NY to Saranack Lake, NY.


It was pulled by a diesel but I don't remember what kind.


And the rid was'nt very scenic.

[Anonymous]

Some intresting rides!!!

Should I start a new post to get more people?

[mersenne6]

According to my Mom my first ride, at the tender age of 2 ,was on the Burlington Zephyr. I've seen #9900 in the Museum of Science and Industry...I only wish I had been old enough to remember riding on it! My last train ride was this past November on Amtrak between Akron, Ohio and Altoona, Pa.

[Bob Keller]

A couple of feet both directions, in a B&O switcher in the Hamilton, Ohio yard circa 1959. First passenger train on Seaboard Coast Line from Orlando to Washington D.C. and back, ca. 1969; and last train trip from Milwaukee-Harrisburg (for York) in 1996. That cured me of ever riding Amtrak again!

[Anonymous]

A kindgarden field trip to tour Cincinnati's Union Terminal. It included a visit to see the operations of Tower A. The trip ended with a local train ride home on the B&O. (About a 10 mile ride to our closest suburban station in Oakley) This was 1955 and steam was still very active. Unfortunaly it was 16 yrs before I'd ride a train again.

[cnw1995]

Hmmm. good question. I believe it was a NYC subway ride out to Ozone Park a few days after I was born. Oh, you mean the first I really remember? Penn Central from Stamford Ct to Boston MA when I was 12. I went by myself to visit an uncle - it was so crowded I sat on my bag in the open vestibule almost the whole way. Last: UP / Metra commuter scoot home from Chicago 46.7 miles on Friday evening - I figured I've commuted about 370,000 miles on this line during the past 16 years.

[lionelsoni]

First: San Antonio to Austin as a Cub Scout, around 1950.
Last: Austin to St. Louis on Amtrak last summer.
Lots of trips in-between, in Japan, Europe, and Alaska and the rest of the U.S.

[Anonymous]

Snell50

Now, You might get more replies if you had a title that said something like "What was your first real train ride" or the like...

[Anonymous]

my first train ride was on my hometown conrail local (on the olean secondary) I was shooting pictures (16 years old) and the brakmen asked me if i wanted to ride! I was in shock, we went from Falconer ny to Jamestown ny. It was the greatest feeling to be inside a engine cab and watching everything below. My last ride was on the Stradsburg rr too!

[Anonymous]

What was your first train ride? What train did you go on?

What was your last train ride? What train was it?

My first train ride was in Strasburg, Pennsylvania. I don't remember what the train was called but it was a passenger train pulled by a steam locomotive. I was 3 years old.

My last train ride was in Allaire State Park NJ, on October 17th 2003. It was pulled by a steam loco, too. It was supposed to be scary, but it was'nt.

Actually, My last train ride was this past summer on a Adirondack scenic train ride from Lake Placid to Saranack Lake