I've been told that many of the various rail "school trips" in the post WWll era in the 50's and 60's were the results of RR passenger departments (desperately) trying to fill seats as travel by train began to plumment.
Three years after my school trip to DC, my father, mother, brother, and I journeyed north from Atlanta to visit the New York World's Fair.....my first trip (of many) to the Big Apple. (I was 15) Dad again secured passes for us, but paid an extra fee so that we could enjoy the comfort of a roomett. I believe our routing to and from NYC was via SAL/RF&P/PRR. The very next summer our famiy again departed on a rail journey, but in the opposite direction.....to New Orleans on the Crescent. While tourning that old city beside Ole Man River, I had no inkling that I would be living there 9 years hence due to a company transfer.
Oh, I'm riding trains now more that ever ......several times a year as a matter of fact on the tracks of Virginia's Buckingham Branch RR (Ex C&O/CSX) ....as a volunteer host/announcer on NRHS chapter sponsored public railroad excursions. To quote a popular 1960's singing duo....."and the beat goes on".
My interest in railroading dates back to the spring of 1960, when I rode a junior high school safety patrol excursion train on B&O from Wheeling, West Virginia to Washington, D.C. When the eastbound train stopped in Grafton, West Virginia late at night, my seat was opposite the roundhouse. Its doors were open; and I could look into the illuminated stalls, which were filled with locomotives and railroaders working on them. I stayed awake all night as my train overtook a succession of coal drags in the mountains east of Grafton. B&O was operating four-unit F7 helper consists; and I could hear them for several minutes before we began to pass them. While we were passing them, I could see their prime movers through the portholes and see sparks shooting up out of their exhaust stacks. After we passed the helpers, the noise gradually lessened and then, as we approached the head-end consists, gradually increased. It was a relatively dramatic experience for a 13-year-old who had no prior exposure to heavy industry.
BALT is correct about the Palm Beach patrol trips. Amtrak has streached its equipment so thin that it no longer can run the patrol train as a separate section. It uses Meteor equipment for the trip and whatever extra equipment it can round up. It runs as a Meteor on the Meteor schedule and does not allow public on the train.
After Amtrak day most RRs quickly retired almost all their passenger equipment with a few exceptions.
SOU RR kept most of their equipment and continued to run some safety patrol trains. Was on a Crescent that passed a same direction patrol special made up of heavyweight coaches and a few other types. Once SOU joined Amtrak it quickly retired most all of its fleet donating much of to various places. ( have 5 near here ). That ended the charters and allowed SOU to retire its car repair facility located in Atlanta. That area was then repurposed for other uses and buildings.
Only reason that anyone could come up with for the patrol train going slower was to limit speed of the friction bearing heavy weight cars or to have it arrive Atlanta after the Crescent.
We regularly run some school trips in the spring. Many are subsidized by local businesses and organizations wanting to enrich the student's education.
Given the number of folks on even our regular trains who tell me that it's their first ride on a train, at least some of the magic is still there.
Larry Resident Microferroequinologist (at least at my house) Everyone goes home; Safety begins with you My Opinion. Standard Disclaimers Apply. No Expiration Date Come ride the rails with me! There's one thing about humility - the moment you think you've got it, you've lost it...
The only school sponsored train trip I remember during my gradeschool days was a trip from Noblesville to Indianapolis, IN. I really liked trains then and was really hyped to think I was going to get my first train ride. Several different grade schools were involved and the students were to be bussed to Noblesville to get on the train for the ride to Union Station. My gradeschool had over 700 students in it and the day of the ride, my class of 35 students, the teacher and a janitor were the only ones in the building. My teacher was new and didn't know she had to sign-up for the class to take the ride, so we didn't get to go.
Semper Vaporo
Pkgs.
In the 1980's & '90's I would take my Advanced Placement United States history students on an annual overnight train trip. One year we went to Pittsburgh, the next year to Philadelphia, but mostly we went to Chicago. Every trip was a fine one and has led to a lifetime of happy memories for them; they still thank me in their Christmas cards.
Highlights included leaning out the dutch door as we climbed Horseshoe Curve, with a huge "Allegheny moon" in the clear sky of a warm May evening. One conductor told us to shut the door, and I replied that we'd come a long way and I wanted the kids to experience the curve as I had done over the years. Ok, he said, just be careful! Thank you, conductor.
I aways booked seats on the Capitol Limited so the students could ride in an old-fashioned dome car and they invariably loved it! One boy, up in the dome, the train running fast and with those heavy ups and downs passenger trains have as they move, commented to his buddies, "Can you imagine having a girl up here at night?" I didn't say anything to him, but I thought "Yes, I sure can! Ask my girlfriends!" The kids loved the dining car for all the right reasons. One evening the train carried a lounge car from the Florida service and in it was an electric piano (remember those from pre-Walkman days?). One of the girls in our group was an accomplished pianist and she sat down and played cocktail piano music for two hours; she walked away with about $20 in tips given to her by the other passengers!
One morning I heard Amtrak president Graham Claytor was aboard, so when we disembarked at CUS I had the kids hang back a bit in the hope we could meet and thank him. When I approached and spoke to him in front of my students, he never broke his stride. He and his two or three goons (ok, staff assistants), simply looked straight ahead and deliberately ignored us, astonishing me. I know in this forum he is considered St. Graham Claytor, but that morning he was an oaf. That's how I remember him, in spite of all his other qualities.
My students got to experience Amtrak station and train personnel who ranged from fabulously friendly and helpful to, well, you can guess. Some were then motivated to take their families on train trips, and others learned they could take a train to and from college when they got there.
Not all learning takes place in a classroom, and I think I made a lot of friends for Amtrak over that decade or so. Long live class trips by train!
In 1954, my class trip to Washington DC was on a special B&O passenger extra for all the Cincinnati area High Schools. My school had about 25 students and we had half a coach to ourselves. The train was about 14 coaches plus a diner and a coach observation car. It ran as an extra section of train #12 and followed #2 the National Limited. We disenbarked at Washington and had breakfast in Union Sta. then boarded another train to Baltimore. Thence by motor coach to Fort McHenry, Annapolis and finally to Washington DC. It seems that there were different itineraries for each school. On our way home, we were on a coach on train #1, the National Limited. I spent a lot of the time in the vestible (times were less restrictive) watching out the dutch door. I wish I had had a video camera (not invented yet) because going down some of the grades in West Virginia, with the retainers activated,and with no dynamic brakes, light show from the brakes was beautiful. Train window lights illuminated the woods and the brake shoes sent rings of fire around the wheels while the headlight showed where we were going. And the trip only cost $52.00, all meals included. And while some kids went to a theatre one night, I took off on my own and rode the streetcar out to Cabin John. PCC car, with plow power pick up to city limits, then overhead and private ROW. Great memories.
We have an educational program here at the Cuyahoga Valley RR to get local school kids on the train. We don't go to Washington but the kids get a 50 mile round trip. Most of theme are wildly excited about being on a train.
GREG HODGESIn the Spring of 1962, I joined with hundreds of other excited Atlanta area seventh graders as we boarded a special Southern Railway train at that city's Terminal Station for a 3 day trip to visit the nation's capital. This was, for a number of years, an annual affair as a sort of reward before we moved on to high school. (no Jr. High or Middle school at that time) Teachers were along as chaperones. Can't recall much about the rail journey as most of the trip was made at night....we sat up in coach, of course.....I "rented" a pillow for a quarter from the porter. My train ticket was gratis as my father was able to secure a 'pass' for me thru his long time employer, the Southern Freight Tarriff Burea. Anyone else take a similar schoolboy/girl rail journey?
'Back in the day' school trips to DC were a large passenger business opportunity for the carriers that served DC.
The B&O Passenger Agents worked on line and adjacent points for this business. As a kid in Garrett, IN I can recall being at the depot to meet the Capitol Limited on its Eastbound trip - school groups could be seen and heard having a good old time on their trip to the capitol. A couple of days later the groups were much more subdued on the Capitol Limited's Westbound trip (of course it was 5 AM).
That I am aware of Palm Beach County Florida is the only school district that continues to have 'Safety Patrol' trips to DC. Early in this century the Safety Patrol trips were special trains, direct from West Palm Beach to DC, stopping only for crew changes and fueling. In more recent years the Safety Patrol has been moving on the Silver Metor in both directions (I suspect Amtrak doesn't have sufficient extra equipment to operate a special train).
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
In the Spring of 1962, I joined with hundreds of other excited Atlanta area seventh graders as we boarded a special Southern Railway train at that city's Terminal Station for a 3 day trip to visit the nation's capital. This was, for a number of years, an annual affair as a sort of reward before we moved on to high school. (no Jr. High or Middle school at that time) Teachers were along as chaperones. Can't recall much about the rail journey as most of the trip was made at night....we sat up in coach, of course.....I "rented" a pillow for a quarter from the porter. My train ticket was gratis as my father was able to secure a 'pass' for me thru his long time employer, the Southern Freight Tarriff Burea. Anyone else take a similar schoolboy/girl rail journey?
Our community is FREE to join. To participate you must either login or register for an account.