Re: [CBQ] Imagine What Travel Was Like in the Classic Era 💭

["Ken Vandevoort" <countrydepottrains@gmail.com>]

I was 7 when I had my first train ride and went with my grandmother and aunt to visit my cousins in Montana.  We took the Rock Island from Des Moines to St. Paul.  St. Paul Union Station had the William Crooks inside on display.  I had never seen anything so shiny.  While waiting for the Olympian Hiawatha, I was looking out the windows over the tracks and heard a loud barking sound.  It was a steam locomotive with a freight.  That was a real treat since I grew up on Rock Island's K&D that went to diesel early.  The Olympian Hiawatha had the full length domes.  I watched from up there as our diesels were traded out for a Little Joe.  My favorite diner menu item was BLT's.

Fast forward to my next trip in 1968.  I was stationed outside of Boston and was going back to Iowa on leave.  I got tickets from Boston to Ottumwa.  Baggage was checked and the train left from South Station on the Penn Central.  It was the modern version of the New England States.  We were in a day coach with seats that did not recline.  I never read the book, but all I could think of was To Hell in a Day Coach.  Passengers were trying to sleep anywhere they could.  The dining car had a door that wouldn't stay closed and flopped back and forth.  The glum dining car crew said they kept reporting it, but nothing was ever fixed.

We had to transfer from LaSalle St. Station to Chicago Union  Station.  The transfer bus could only hold half of the passengers that had tickets for it.  I was lucky to be in the first wave.

Now to make this Burlington.  I missed the first Burlington train going west, so I was given a reservation for the next train which was the California Zephyr.  What a difference!  The seats were soft and they could recline so you could actually sleep on them.  Unfortunately, I was getting off in Ottumwa.  Crossing the Mississippi River at Burlington in one of the five domes on the bridge that was featured in Hollywood movies and company promotions was a treat.  Little did I know that a pasture we went by in New London would someday have my house where I am now writing this.  We arrived in Ottumwa and I went to retrieve my baggage.  I was told that Ottumwa no longer had baggage service.  All of my uniforms were in that baggage except for what I was wearing (tickets 50% off if you were in uniform).  Railway Express delivered my baggage to Ottumwa in about a week and I went back to get it.

Time for the return trip.  I was packed and ready to go, was driven to Ottumwa and told that there was no eastbound today due to a wreck out west.  Time to panic.  A quick trip was made to the Air Force recruiters office in Des Moines and they got me the paperwork so I could fly back to Boston the next day.

Best part of the trip was the California Zephyr.  Now I can see it everyday from my recliner.  A Superliner can never replace a dome car where you can watch the whole train ahead of you.

Ken Vandevoort

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