[PRCo] Re: train travel

[galtfd at comcast.net]

 -------------- Original message ----------------------
From: "Dennis F.  Cramer" <dfc1 at windstream.net>
> My concept of the Glory Days would be between 1918 and 1930.
> 

Good!

This probably agrees with the consensus amongst railfans.

By the postwar era, of course, there were far fewer trains than in 1930.

On the other hand, express train speeds left those of the earlier generation in the dust; advances in suspension, air-conditioning and noise-suppression, trackbed and interior appointments brought a degree of comfort previously undreamt of.

And the bright postwar liveries (some more fortunate than others, of course!) and integrated trainsets helped considerably to ease the pain of withdrawal of steam.

The soot whereof, by the way, looks a lot better in photos than on clothing.

And, as I final reality check, the delights of a ride on one of those local or branch line trains which vanished between 1930 and 1947 are vastly enhanced by nostalgia, and the real thing didn't always equate to a pleasant afternoon trip on a preserved railway.

(In somewhat the same way that a modern jaunt in a Model-T doesn't always replicate the same trip on highways of the 1920s).

Trust me, I've nothing against railways of the '20s (I'd love to have known the interurbans). Just want to put in a good word for the postwar renaissance.

Echoing Dennis's comment about the B&O, a trip one of their domes was indeed memorable. Though I can't help wondering what people lineside thought of the floodlights coming through in the middle of the night!

And, Oh to have known the steam-powered Cincinnatian during its short life in the Potomac valley!

Don G