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Does anyone out there remember the distinct smell inside pre-Amtrak passenger trains? I am referring to the pleasant distinct odor that you could smell as you walked from car to car, but especially when you entered the swaying and bouncing area between cars on the platform vestibule. I rode on Union Pacific's "City of Los Angeles" when my family moved out west to California from Georgia in 1959 and first noticed this smell then. I was only 9 at the time, but the best way for me to descibe it was a mixture of diesel fuel, cigar, pipe and cigarette smoke (more people smoked back then) and what I can only descibe as "metalic" and fabric odors mixed in as well (maybe from the seats?) In college I rode the "San Diegan" several times to visit my parents and it also contained these same odors that brought back memories of that first train ride. Later, as a man in my early 30's, I took the Amtrak "Zephyr" one summer from Oakland to Denver with my parents. Alas, the smell I had remembered on that UP "Domeliner" and San Diegan was not there anymore. I have been on several trains since and I can not find that "smell". Our brains can recall sounds, sights, and odors from the time we are very young all through our adult life. I would love to "smell" that smell again as it reminds me of a time long ago and my love for trains. If anyone knows what I am talking about, please let me know what you remember and/or what you think this smell consisted of.
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