[PRCo] Re: Fwd: In Traffic's Jam, Who's Driving May Be Surprising - New York Times

[Edward H. Lybarger]

If they'd had to go by train in 1940, the trip wouldn't have happened.
Grandparents were along, and they went to see all those nice places you
couldn't get to by rail.  Costs were an item, too.  If I had time, I'd
sketch the itinerary from their trip log (when was the last time we did one
of those?) and Fred could fill in cost estimates for the Santa Fe and
excursions.  Then we'd compare them (multiplied by 4) with the expense
record my mother kept of the trip, which survives.  I think they spent only
about $400 (including Kodachrome, but not the new 1940 Ford).  My father
earned $3654 in 1940, so it was indeed a big deal.

But I don't have the time right now (count your blessings).

Ed

-----Original Message-----
From: pittsburgh-railways-bounce at lists.dementia.org
[mailto:pittsburgh-railways-bounce at lists.dementia.org]On Behalf Of Fred
Schneider
Sent: Friday, January 12, 2007 11:38 AM
To: pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org
Subject: [PRCo] Re: Fwd: In Traffic's Jam, Who's Driving May Be
Surprising - New York Times


Yup.   You understand it.   I remember my mother saying that my
father had two items on his wish list when she met him in 1930.   One
was a vacuum tube radio to replace his crystal set.   He built that
himself.   The other was a new Model A Ford so that he didn't have to
use Pittsburgh Railways.   He bought the Ford.   Unfortunately, then
he was laid off but he still had his dream car.   And he was only 23.

And Ed Lybarger has some great slides of his parents on vacation in
the "Great American West" in the Depression in the family car.   I'm
sure Sam enjoyed that independence a lot more than he would have the
Santa Fe's Chief and the affiliated Indian Tours bus rides.   What do
you think, Ed?    At least he didn't have to haul the luggage on and
off the trains and into cabs and into hotels. The luggage transfers
were minimized.

On Jan 12, 2007, at 11:10 AM, Dennis F. Cramer wrote:

> Unfortunately, New York is in the middle of the Washington-Boston
> metroplex
> and the Cross Bronx does provide a short way to New England.  Mass
> transit
> is often not an answer.  Several of the students at Purchase drive
> up from
> Manhattan everyday to actually save time.  For example: take the
> subway to
> Grand Central-the MetroNorth to White Plains and the bus to
> Purchase is
> about 2 to 2.5 hours with an instrument strapped to your back.  Not
> the most
> fun thing in the world to do.
>
> I do enjoy having the mass transit available and have used it
> regularly
> since I have live in Westchester County.  After all, I live at home
> in an
> area (rural Kittanning) that is served from no mass transit within
> walking
> distance of my home.  My wife and I use mass transit whenever we
> can in
> Washington, DC and have used it in Boston, NY, St. Louis, Chicago
> and SF.
>
> People like to be independent and the automobile is one of the
> crowning
> achievements of that independence in the USA.  Do you want to be in a
> crowded subway with all of those "people" or do you want to sit in
> a traffic
> jam, listening to your favorite music, talking on the phone, doing
> your
> make-up, etc.?  We love our independence and forget about what it
> costs.
> Also do not forget, the "terrorists" will attack those subways some
> day.
> Just put the vent in your car on recirculate and you can drive
> right though
> the anthrax attack.
>
> The peak of the transit industry was circa 1918.  I wonder what
> caused the
> rapid decline from there on?  Can anyone say Henry Ford?  There
> were no
> conspiracies or hidden agendas, just a desire for more independence.
>
>
> Dennis Fred Cramer
>      Trombone
>
>
>