Interest in Amtrak or Trains in General

[sky12065]

While reading another post in another topic, the poster mentioned that he could see passing trains from his location. That got me thinking (sniff-sniff) and out of the burning smell came this poll!

As for myself, I was reminded that I grew up in a small village and my house was just one short block from a not too busy set of tracks that ran through a village street. The tracks ran mostly along a paved street but from the point I could view it left the paved street and began on ties! Many a times I walked the rails for two blocks of the rail. BTW, my wife and I are planning in the near future on moving back into that same house here more than 40 years after I left it! Sadly, the tracks are no longer there.

When I reached 20 years of age and I got married, I moved to the main street of the village, right next to the rails and would occasionally have to wait until the train passed my parked car before I could leave and even sometimes when I arrived home before I could park the car!

So, please feel free to share your story if you have one and care to share it?

p.s. I forgot to mention that as a child I spend a week each summer in Selkirk, NY directly across the street from a switching station of the New York Central Railroad! It awed me to be near the tracks when a train passed and it was impressive to get to see how they manually switched tracks from the station! (big levers that would either be pulled out or pushed in)

 

[jphjaxfl]

My Dad worked for a railroad when I was growing up. I started out traveling by train when I was less than a month old so I grew up riding trains.

 

[sky12065]

My Dad worked for a railroad when I was growing up. I started out traveling by train when I was less than a month old so I grew up riding trains.

You reminded me that my grandfather worked for the New York Central RR and I was told years ago by my mother that when I was a toddler, my grandfather was on his way home from work in Selkirk when he found me running down the middle of street near the switching station, naked as a jay bird! :unsure: I'll bet someone caught hell for that!

My aunt and uncle, whose place I stayed for one week as mentioned previously, also worked for NYCRR; my uncle in the Selkirk yards and my aunt in the YMCA that serviced RR workers away from home! I also loved spending time where she worked, but that's yet another story!

Anyway, you might say I was a pioneer streaker long before the practice became popular and before the "Streaker" song was written, recorded and released! :blush:

 

[RRrich]

I live in St Louis - and during the Summer my Mom is in the Berkshires - Massachusetts near Albany NY. Every year wifey and I go visit her - we had been driving - a long boring drive! Last Spring wifey decided that taking the train might be an interesting way to go. So we did, and this year we are again planning to take the train to Albany to see Mom - and to take the train to Colorado to see some friends and to take the train to Florida for her God-daughter's College Graduation. And maybe some other trips

 

[the_traveler]

As a kid, I lived 7-8 miles from FED. These were the days when the D&H ran trains like the Laurentian to Montreal. It was also when the D&H, the NYC and later PC operated out of Albany's Union Station! Back in the 70's (after Amtrak started), for a time they still used D&H PA 16, 18 & 19 as power - and the old time bubble top domes on the Adirondack!

Being that my sister went to college in PLB, I rode in those domes quite a lot! B)

 

[amamba]

When I was little I used to want to be a train engineer or conductor. That was pretty odd for a girl! My parents took me on an old style train somewhere in Pennsylvania, near the Amish country, when I was about 5 and was hooked. I also had model trains as a child but am not really into that anymore. No time.

 

[Bill Haithcoat]

My story is "old hat" to older users of this forum. Here it is,briefly, for newer members.

At age three I was taken on an overnight trip, round trip, between Chattanooga,TN, and Daytona Beach, FL. on the Dixie Flagler. Somehow I gotten bitten by the bug on that trip and there is no cure in sight.

This trip was in 1947.I have few vague memories of it.

This is railroading as I grew up with it. Explains why you frequently see me entering in anytime pre-Amtrak southeastern trains come up on a post. We are all accidents to some extent of our time and place.

 

[Montanan]

In 1968, when I was 10 years old, my grandparents took me on a train ride, because they figured that pretty soon there wouldn't be any passenger trains left in America. We rode on coach-only Union Pacific train 5 from Ogden, Utah (where my grandparents lived) to a desolate spot called Lund, which was the closest stop to my family's then-home in Cedar City.

That was the first step in getting me hooked. A few months later my Dad bought me a copy of Trains Magazine at the local Safeway, and that pretty much finished the job.

 

[PetalumaLoco]

When I was 3, about 1952, we moved to a house with SP 50 yds from the back fence. So I got used to sleeping with a lot of freight traffic nearby. Also my dad built a 5ft x 9ft HO layout at that time, and when he retired to a smaller home he gave it to me (out of 10 other siblings). He said I was the only one who would drive it at 'scale speed" instead of trying to run it off the rails. I still have it, but I haven't used it in years.

Whenever traveling, if we come across a tourist RR I make it a point to check it out.

First trip I ever took was on a day excursion down San Joaquin Valley in the 80's. First overnight trip was on Euro trains in 1999. Last month's x-country trip was my first Amtrak LD trip.

I'm hooked.

 

[NativeSon5859]

My grandparents used to take me on frequent rides on the Crescent to Meridian when I was a kid. This would be during the mid/late 80's. Just out and back day trips. We had around a four hour layover there and we used to take a cab to the nearby Village Fair mall to kill time and we always had lunch in the Morrison's Cafeteria there. We made the trip a couple of times a year every year from when I was around 5 to when I was 12 or so. Along the way most of my relatives at one point or another came along for the ride. Also, we caught the CONO a few times to Hammond and McComb because I was fascinated with the Dome Car. We never made it on the Sunset Ltd. because my grandpa had not so pleasant memories of crossing the Huey P. Long bridge on his way to/from San Diego during WW2. He said crossing the bridge scared most of the soldiers. Of course, my grandma hated crossing the Lake Pontchartrain trestle on the Crescent line but she made do.

I can gratefully thank my grandparents for my interest in Amtrak and in railroading in general.

 

[spacecadet]

I was born a year after Amtrak was founded. My parents were still used to riding trains back then so I went on a lot of trips with them. I grew up with Amtrak, and I remember even as a kid being fascinated by the thought that all this equipment I was riding on was once owned by disparate railroads from all over the country. I could sense the history there. I remember thinking "here I am in a New York Central coach, and if I walk one car down, I can be in a Santa Fe coach". I remember specific details about some of the cars I rode in, like the southwestern art and the four feet(!) or so of legroom. I also have fond memories of the slumbercoaches, which I often rode alone as a kid after my parents split up and moved to opposite coasts. I remember the "pub" and parlor cars on some of Amtrak's routes, one of which had a grand piano in it (I said in another thread that this was on the Crescent, but it may have been on the Silver Star).

The one long-distance train I've taken on a carrier other than Amtrak was the Southern Crescent, and I remember sleeping in an open section in that train. That was an interesting experience and even though I was about 3-4 years old, I remember it clear as day.

I feel like those early days of Amtrak still had some of the romance of train travel left in them. And I still feel that now when I ride long distance. I don't know how much of that is residual goodwill from when I was kid; I am not sure if I'd feel the same way if I started riding today and my first trip was in Amfleet or Viewliner cars (or even Superliner cars). They're all pretty antiseptic compared to the old stuff. But still, I love the feeling of being on a train and having nothing to do for the next day. There's no more relaxing feeling.

Interesting thing, though: my wife is from Japan, where the only overnight trains are excursions, and she'd never been on one. She's used to "real" trains being really fast and utilitarian. One of the first things we did after getting married was go on a cross-country trip on the LSL and EB. She was really worried about spending 3 days on a train. She thought it was going to be cramped and the food was going to be terrible and she'd be incredibly bored. Well, she's a believer now. She always says "we should take a train trip somewhere again." She doesn't even care where. She says she can't get bored on an Amtrak train, she can just sit in the lounge car and look out the window for hours. She can't do that in any other setting.

 

[JayPea]

I grew up with what was then a branch line of the Union Pacific bordering my back yard. The son of the depot agent in our town at the time was a good friend of mine, and both those explained my interest in freight trains, at least. My dad was a train enthusiast too, and since we didn't see eye to eye too often, at least we had an interest in trains in common.

As for passenger trains, my interest started there as a little kid, too. Twice, in 1963 and again in 1965, I along with my sister and mom traveled from Spokane to Chicago to visit my grandparents and uncle. The trip in 1963 was on the North Coast Limited and in 1965 the Empire Builder. I remember nothing of the first trip and only vague recollections of the second, but it was those two trips that got me interested in train travel. It was further fueled by my uncle, who lives in Illinois. He has taken several train trips from there to here in Washington, and seeing his pictures and videos from those trips made me more interested. Unfortunately, it wasn't until 2004, 39 years after the previous trip, was I able, due to many sets of circumstances, was I able to take another long distance trip. I had taken a few short Amtrak trips in the meantime and one short trip from Spokane to Hinkle, OR ( in 1970), in the meantime, but nothing too substantial. And I hope to make up for lost time!!! I have a couple of long-distance trips in the works for 2009.

 

[Amtrak839]

As I said in the poll, I consider my interest to have begun in a past life. My grandfather was a lifelong collector of Lionel prewar tinplate trains, and had a very large collection, worth quite a bit. Unfortunately, he died in 1972 and the entire collection was sold for a tiny fraction of its value. My great grandfather briefly worked for ALCO. My great great grandfather was a surgeon, and he worked for the Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western in the early 20th century. I have an old wallet of his filled with Lackawanna Railroad passes for the years 1902, 1903, and 1909-1918. They all say "Company Surgeon" on them, and are signed by the president of the railroad. There is also an Erie Railroad pass from 1876, that belonged to my great great great grandfather. So the interest seems to run in the family.

In my own lifetime, my model train collection began before I was born, when my aunt bought me a tinplate Lionel tank car as an early birthday present. I took my first ride on Amtrak in 1994, when I was seven months old, on the southbound Auto Train. This was one of the Auto Train's last trips with the single level equipment (including the domes) before the train began operating with Superliners. It's always bothered me a little that I can't remember that trip. My parents both liked the train a lot, despite leaving Lorton 6 hours late (they say the crew was great), so we kept riding it. I got my first trainset when I was 6, and it now takes up a large chunk of my basement.

 

[sky12065]

As I said in the poll, I consider my interest to have begun in a past life. My grandfather was a lifelong collector of Lionel prewar tinplate trains, and had a very large collection, worth quite a bit. Unfortunately, he died in 1972 and the entire collection was sold for a tiny fraction of its value. My great grandfather briefly worked for ALCO. My great great grandfather was a surgeon, and he worked for the Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western in the early 20th century. I have an old wallet of his filled with Lackawanna Railroad passes for the years 1902, 1903, and 1909-1918. They all say "Company Surgeon" on them, and are signed by the president of the railroad. There is also an Erie Railroad pass from 1876, that belonged to my great great great grandfather. So the interest seems to run in the family.
In my own lifetime, my model train collection began before I was born, when my aunt bought me a tinplate Lionel tank car as an early birthday present. I took my first ride on Amtrak in 1994, when I was seven months old, on the southbound Auto Train. This was one of the Auto Train's last trips with the single level equipment (including the domes) before the train began operating with Superliners. It's always bothered me a little that I can't remember that trip. My parents both liked the train a lot, despite leaving Lorton 6 hours late (they say the crew was great), so we kept riding it. I got my first trainset when I was 6, and it now takes up a large chunk of my basement.

Wow! I added the "previous life" choice as an injection of humor. I never expected that it would actually be chosen, with a "legit" explaination! Thanks!

 

[cpamtfan]

I don't think anyone in my family jeans had anything to do with trains (my Granfather even worked for Grumman!) I started by Thomas the Tank Engine, followed by the LIRR. This was in about '98, but I do remember alot of it. We moved to my grandparents house (my Fathers childhood house) in 2000. Within three months, I had my first LIRR bi-level run and even got a cab ride! I did get a model train, and my had model trains growing up (which I still have in the bacement), but I am really into the real trains. I took my first Amtrak trip in early 2001 to see the flower show in Philidelphia. Even though I was young, I saw that we were riding the Acela Regional and thought "O boy, were going to ride the new high speed train. But when we got to the train, I was surprised to find a round shaped car that was dark, dirty, smelly, and really old . I have only been as far as Milwaukee on Amtrak, which I accomplished early this summer. Unfortunitly, I can't affored to go on many trips right now, for we have lots of other non-train tripstaking place <_< .

cpamtfan-Peter

 

[GG-1]

A long time and far away I was skinny and 6 and on the Haddon Field local station platform when I heard this high pitched sound. aka Centenary sing, when off to my left was this huge red beast (beauty) with yellow cats whiskers approaching on the express track, with a fence between us, traveling around 100 mph heading for Philadelphia or more. As she passed she almost pushed me off my feet from the wind and then I felt the tugging from the suction. I was scared and impressed by this incredible Iron Horse that will ever intertwine me with trains and the GG-1.

Aloha

 

[Amtrak Watcher]

Being an older person (63) and having spent most of my life in Europe (except for growing up in my tender years in Hawaii where I still maintain a home) trains were always part of the furniture of life. I recall the advent of passenger air travel and how silly and wasteful it seemed to me. Upon moving back to the U.S. in 1995 I simply assumed Amtrak would be my normal, default mode of transportation, and so took an apartment right next door to the train station in easy view of the tracks. But I quickly discovered that the system was a mere shadow of what came before, a largely dysfunctional contraption on government life support, confined by its own rules, traditions and legacy, hanging by its fingernails, and living off the good will of those afraid to fly, those living in certain out-of-the-way places, and a few who have some kind of psychological attachment to trains. My interest in mere convenience changed into a fascination over how such a disjointed and broken system continues to survive, and how Amtrak's messy arrangement with the government and the freight railways reflects the general mess of American polity and life. Thus, while it seems obvious to me that trains offer an escape from the prison of foreign oil, we continue in our national habits of driving, flying, consuming, rationalizing, and borrowing our way into oblivion as we let the solutions to out problems pass away.

My apartment is still butted up against the tracks next door to the station. Amtrak is convenient when I have the time, and train travel, even in the vast shambles and ruin of Amtrak, is at least civilized, welcome but fading relief from the official hassles and utter nonsense in the decline of America.

 

[Everydaymatters]

My first association with trains was terrifying. I was about 10 years old and we were on vacation somewhere in Pennsylvania. It was dusk and my mother was driving the car. She wanted to go across the tracks and turn right. Somehow she turned right too soon and ended up on the railroad tracks! We were there for a couple of scary minutes before she figured out she needed to back up and get back on the road.

Around that same time, we lived ½ block from the Chicago El tracks. We were in the burbs, but the train went into Chicago. We would walk about 2 blocks to the pale yellow or cream colored wood station. Now, living a few miles from the Illinois Railroad Museum, I reminisce when I see an old Chicago El pale yellow train station in the museum grounds.

 

[Shanghai]

My father was a model railroad enthusiast. Before I knew what a train was, I had several Lionel trainsets running all over my bedroom. The trainsets grew over time. I had never ridden on a train until my daughter developed a liking for trains. From my town, I can catch the New Jersey Transit commuter train, and would take my daughter for rides on the train on weekends. Later, I was transferred to our office in New York City, so I rode the rails to work each day.

I was transferred to Europe living in both Paris and Amsterdam, but did travel throughout Europe. I found it more convenient to travel by train as the air travel was always uncomfortable and late. The trains were comfortable and usually on time. For eight months, my family lived in Paris and I was working in Amsterdam, so I would take the train back and forth rather than flying. The train was more spacious and I could work on my computer while traveling. I would travel to AMS on Sunday afternoon and return on Thursday evening.

When I returned to the US, I swore that I would never get into an airplane again!! That was in 2001 and I have only been on an airplane twice - both to attend funerals that I could not reach in time by rail.

 

[had8ley]

Well I guess I was a train nut before I even worked for the RR. My mother used to push my carriage down to the train station to meet my father in the evening. When she would try to put me down for a nap after lunch I wouldn't go to sleep. Well, one day my father came home right after lunch. We got home and I fell fast asleep. Yup, every day my mother had to wheel me down to the train station after lunch if she wanted any peace and quiet.

After I was discharged from the Coast Guard I was going back home to Scottsdale and wound up in the French Quarters of New Orleans with $3700 in my wallet~ a mountain of money for the time. I woke up about three days later in a suite in the Royal Orleans with 17 cents to my name. I wasn't mugged or robbed but there wasn't a female on Bourbon Street that I didn't buy, or try to buy, a drink for. Well the Picayune was a dime and the phone was a nickel at that time so I went to the lobby as I checked out and called the Court of Two Sisters. They needed a bartender. I didn't know they wanted a 20 hour a day bartender!!! I was filling up on gas (for 23.9 if I remember correctly) and looked up the street and saw a sign "Texas & Pacific Railway." I drove down, parked and walked in and asked if they were hiring. After a 5 minute interview with the asst. Supt. (I had a short stint with the NYC as a fireman but Award 282 got me) he asked me if I could go to work that night. I said yes, he handed me a switch key and a lantern and had my first T&P job as a switchman in Race Street yard next to the docks of New Orleans. It was paved over for the 1984 World's Fair. From there I swapped over to brakeman, conductor and then to fireman and engineer. The rest is history~ 40 years later.

 

[chertling]

I had little exposure to trains as a child... we lived several miles from the nearest rail line and the only trains I rode on were the Detroit People Mover and subways in DC, Toronto and Chicago. I only rode those systems once or twice each as a child.

I would have to say my interest in Amtrak began with a single trip while I was in college. While I was home (Lawrence, KS) on break during my Freshman year, we had a family emergency in St. Louis. I joined my parents there, but I had to return home earlier than they planned so that I could go to KU's library to work on a research paper. (as a local, I had a library card for KU's library, despite the fact that my college was actually in Tennessee) So, once their plans changed, I bought a one-way ticket from Kirkwood, MO to Kansas City.

I had never been on such a relaxing trip! I loved the legroom... I loved that I could get up and walk around... I loved that I had a power outlet at my seat so I could pull out my laptop and work on my paper... I loved the conversations with my fellow passengers... and most of all, I loved the fact that the overall stress level was so much lower than flying!! Despite the delays, I was hooked!

Since Nashville had no Amtrak service, I didn't have any other opportunities to use Amtrak during my college years... and after graduation, I just didn't travel that much.... but now that I am able to travel, Amtrak is my first choice whenever time allows!

 

[Bierboy]

Here's my story -- I don't know how young I was, but my parents (Santa Claus!) got me a Lionel 027 gauge train set for Christmas. My dad (Santa Claus!) put the set together late one Christmas Eve, but left the transformer on all night which left a burn mark on the carpet! From then on, I was hooked...it had a steam locomotive (you'd put these white "pills" in the smokestack to make the smoke), three or four freight cars and a red caboose. Then I added a Santa Fe diesel set with passenger cars and put the entire set on a ping pong table in the basement. Later, in my early teens, the family took vacations to see aunts, uncles and cousins in Washington State, so we'd ride the Northern Pacific North Coast Limited from Chicago to Seattle. I grew up in the western suburbs of Chicago only a couple blocks from the Illinois Central line. Those trips out west got me hooked, and we "re-discovered" rail travel with a family vacation to D.C. six years ago (the summer after 9/11). The wife and I celebrated our 30th anniversary in June of 2007 with a sleeper trip to LA, and this coming spring we're taking another trip to Montana.

 

[PetalumaLoco]

Hah, I just remembered something from my childhood; trainpaper. My dad would give me a roll of calculator paper, a few inches wide and yards long. I could draw pictures of trains and make them as long as I wanted.

Great fun. I'll have to give a roll to my 2yo grandson. And that reminds me, when we visited last month, he has an easel and draws on 18" wide paper that comes in a huge roll. We peeled off about 12 ft of paper, laid it on the floor and drew train tracks on it. He had great fun chuff-chuffing back and forth on his railroad.

I think he's already a railfan.

Here's a pic of him "playing on the tracks" of an abandoned miniature railroad. One happy kid.

 

[Greg]

Lived across the road from the train tracks in Gretna, Fla. growing up. Played in the rail/woodyard as a child, sold parched peanuts in front of father's store as a child to buy first train set. Caught the train in Bainbridge, Georgia in '68 to go to D.C. to visit sister and brother-in-law who was in the Marines.

 

[the Other Mike]

I was BORN with the train gene.

( picture me & family to be very much like "A Christmas Story" )

First Christmas I can remember was walking down the hall at 3 years olf and being stunned by this magical train running around the living room and this big black oval thing with red and green lights and a red lever you pushed back and forth.................and the smell of electricity.

The next year we moved from American Flyer to HO and the insanity began.

On Thursdays I was brought to my grandmothers house for the day to let mom doing shopping and have a day to herself. It was in her front yard that the magic of passenger trains cast a spell on me.

She lived in the 3rd house off the IC mainline and one street over from Central Ave. ( one of the HOT SPOTS for railfanning in New Orleans.

From her front yard I watched trains all day. Keep in mind that 12 houses the other direction was the KCS mainline. During winter with no leaves on the trees you could see past the IC tracks to the East approach to the Huey Long Bridge.

IC City of New Orleans

IC Panama Limited

KCS Southern Belle / flying Crow

MP's train going over the bridge

Sp's Sunset

And I could be wrong but I swear I thought I saw a UP passenger train going up the bridge.

Every afternoon my grandmother would walk to the tracks to wave to the Panama heading out. We did this EVERY day. The engineers would sometimes throw things to us. Before Christmas, my grandmother would take us to UPT and to bring homemade cookies or cake to the crew of the Panama.

I was allowed into the cab of that beautiful monster and the engineer told my GM to drive to Hammond and they would let me have a cab ride to the Hammond stop. What a fool I was, the noise was so loud I was crying and just wanted off. IDIOT IDIOT

At Audubon Park I never wanted to see the animals, just put me on the park train and let me FLY. Later my parents would walk me back to where 745 was and let me cling on it for hours.

My life has been consumed by trains, model, or prototype.

After a 69 day hospital stay and flat lining twice with Guillian Barre' Syndrome back in 04, I just didn't feel up to driving to see my brother for Christmas. After a 15 year gap of not riding, I started again.

I can't get enough.

Before I found this forum, I only knew a select few who loved trains as I do. This forum is wonderful. A great cross section of different ages and types of people who all understand that sometimes you can't even describe what it is about a train, hence why a few of my friends and I say "either you were born with the train gene or you just one of "them".

Every day I can't wait to see what has been posted. There is so much to learn, so much information to give, and so many smart remarks to make...................

One thing I'd like to see if possible ( we did this on another forum after 911 ) is a list of "safe houses".

Lets say another attack happens and all planes and trains are shut down. I'd be more than happy to go to UPT and get anyone stuck. Heck I'd even drive a few hours to get someone stuck in a small town. My house is not big, but in case of emergency.......what the heck, it's better than being trapped at the station. Likewize, if I was across country and got stuck in say Portland, it would be nice to know there are people who would be available.

But I digress

I have 2 Christmas Stories regarding trains that I will post at another time.

Thank ALL of you for sharing both your love and hate for trains.............