[PRCo] train travel

[Dennis F. Cramer]

Amtrak is a relaxing way to travel if you do not have a strict schedule to 
hold.  I know they are not the grand dames of old, but we will never go back 
to that.  Just like the street railways, cross country passenger trains 
never made a profit, they had to take money from the freight side.

The freight railroads today do not want to take Amtrak seriously as it is a 
guest and the freight money still pays more.

I have over 20,000 miles on Amtrak over the past 25 years and do not regret 
doing it once.  I was born too late to enjoy the glory days, but then again, 
so were all of us here.

My first trip was in December of 1972 from Pittsburgh to Paoli on Penn 
Central/Amtrak.  The heat and electricity was off on half the train but 
spent the night in the cold, dark club car with 3 other people.  One was a 
retired PRR engineer who knew every whistle crossing across the state.  The 
moon was full and snow lay on the ground.  It could not have been a better 
introduction to rail travel.

The down side of living in Pittsburgh is all of the trains come and go in 
the middle of the night since we are mid-way between NYC and Chicago.  The 
great Pennsylvania fleet did the same thing.


Dennis F. Cramer
      Trombone