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I have ridden the line 3 times; July 1973, May 1978, and October 1980. After Conrail rebuilt it, It was an excellent double track line with welded rail ABS signals, and had all the makings for moderately high speed, high frequency passenger and freight service. The May 1978 eastbound trip on the "Broadway Limited" was during the afternoon as far east as Ft. Wayne. I got away with "vestibuling" in my car, the last sleeper which had the vestibule facing the rear. I remember lots of freight trains on a fairly straight and gentle route that was fast enough to prevent me taking very many photos. The farmland and small towns were not spectacular, but they were pretty and looked productive. After living in Germany, it seemed strange not to see frequent passenger trains on such a well-maintained and populated route. What a waste to have it downgraded to branchline status. Failure to use this and a hundred other good routes is one reason we are up to our neck in the Middle East and fighting otherwise unnecessary oil wars and getting terrorism in return. On that trip I had an excellent gourmet dinner in the dining car and a very lively time in the lounge that night. Yes, even on Amtrak! That spring, much of Amtrak's food was better the the Southern Railway and D&RGW which were still independent that year. That night I shared a joint with an Isreali soldier who told me how the '73 Yom Kippur War almost went nuclear. That was our first oil war. We delivered tanks to Isreal, only the new media failed to mention that crews went with those tanks. Been there, done that. When I got back in '74, I told the politicians we'd better invest in rail and transit or we'd get sucked into more and bigger oil wars. Neither party gives a fat rat's *** about rail and how it can enhance our mobility, environment, economy, and defense. The PRR Chicago-Pittburgh line laying fallow is a prime example of the government-caused cancer.
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