My travels to Calabash North Carolina are over for another year.

To bring others up to speed:
We have a summer home around the NC/SC state line and the wife and kids get to spend the summer down there. My job is to get them down there after school lets out and fly back home - fly back down and drive them back to NY. I'm the "Summers Over: Grim Reaper"

This year we decided to take the train back home. What a mistake. We left at 5pm to travel to Florence SC, the train was suppose to leave at 10pm but didn't show till 2am.

The sleeper coaches were harder than sleeping on the pavement. Every time you get to sleep the train blows it's whistle and you wake up. The room rattled and the overhead lights didn't work in our car.

I remember the Little Rascals having a better time than I. The next morning we awoke (Did I sleep?) to our son wide eyes grinning from ear to ear looking and talking about trains. The real reason we did the train was so our kids could experience this.

The next morning we had breakfast in the dining car. Not that great but, the views were good. My kids couldn't stop looking out of the windows.

The attendant in the car was an old rail hand and he told our kids the most delightful stories about the railroads. The kids have this fascination with spoons and we were treated to Amtrak logo'ed spoons as a parting gift.

I remember going thru Washington and looking out the windows. I was trying to see Lee's airport. I thought I saw it but then someone said that it was Quantico. I was thinking about you Lee.

We stopped at a station were they traded the diesel for the electric train. It was neat to watch. I walked around snapping pictures of this and was approached by 2 security agents who told me they would have to confiscate the disposable camera if I took anymore.

This is when I had to explain to the mushrooms (my kids) how the world had changed since I grew up and now there's bad people trying to get us. I would rather have talked about the birds and the bees than that.

From the time we left our vacation (retirement) home 'til we walked in our front door 24 hours had passed. The cost was at least 4x what the drive would have cost and it took us twice as long to do.

You can't equate $ when it comes to your kids experience. I know this is something they will always remember. Yeah, it was worth it! No, I won't be doing that again.

Bill N.Y.

Enjoyable reading post, Bill.........

Amtrak is probably the most frustrating, irritating, uncomfortable, most time-consuming, least cost-effective mode of transportation in existence today....Time tables are merely time suggestions, and some of the rolling stock is a hands-on exposure to American history during our great Industrial Era......

It's also an experience that everyone MUST do, at least once in their life...and once is usually enough. Thank you God, for creating the brothers Wright & Duryea.......

Like you, I once took the kids on the big TRAIN trip...Washington-Chicago......a routine 11 hour car drive that Amtrak managed to turn into 23 hours of hell-on-steel-wheels. But ya know, the kids still talk about that trip years later, so I guess there was some added value that I never factored in at the time.

During the diesel-to-electric switch, I hope you had time to check out Union Station. It really is beautiful, and shows you what can be done with a bazillion dollars of taxpayer's money

Ya missed College Park Airport by about three miles...If you had boarded the Wash-Baltimore-Philly local, you would have stopped at the airport....(and THAT train would have made your Amtrak accommodations look like Mr. Pullman's personal coach!)

Anyway, enjoy the experience, be glad it's over and relish your kid's memories of the adventure!......and let's hope that Amtrak executives never take over the airline business or the Interstate Highway system!

SIDEBAR: The police helicopter unit is based at CGS. The Chief Pilot used to keep his Class-C camper at the airport, for use during any long layovers or deployments that came up. He recently retired, so now I've got a 30amp & water parking spot sitting empty......

If anyone is Barthing thru DC, it's available as an overnight haven from the I-95/495/295 Insane Asylum, located less than 10 minutes from the North side 95/495 interchange. CGS also has the Metrorail adjacent to the airport, so you can be on the Mall or at the Capital in about 20 minutes from your parking pad......A five buck-one day Metro pass gets you unlimited use of the subway, so you can cram a lot of DC tourism into one day....(Unlike other RR's, Metrorail is clean, safe & fast)

Complimentary parking for any Barth.....$500.00 per night for SOBs...Just give me a holler.....

Interesting. In 1997, the BW & I boarded Amtrak in Seattle to go to my 51st high school class reunion in Minneapolis. Had a restful ride, 2 nights & a day, no wrestling bags, no hassle with airport check-ins, no problems, nothing. We had a sleeper, diner food was great.

The BW got sick while we were in Mpls., & on the way home we had to get off in Shelby, MT where she was hospitalized 5 days with pneumonia. Motel a block from the hospital cost me a whole 100 bucks for the 5 days (adequate but not exactly plush). I took most of my meals at the hospital (good chow, 2 bucks a meal, & they only charged me for half of them).

Amtrak treated us well, & apologized when I reserved for the Shelby/Seattle leg - they could only give us a family compartment.

Except for the illness, we'd do it again. We did some rockin' & rollin' occasionally, Amtrak doesn't own the tracks. Maybe things are better in the West, or maybe we're not as picky.

I did tell the wife if we were going to the West Coast to take a cruise ship to Alaska I would love to take the train for that. Looking at the Amtrak website it seems that the larger/better sleeping, dining, and viewing cars for a family run thru the west. I would however try to book the sleeping cabin farthest from the engines whistle.

On the East Coast there are too many stops and the trains are "never on time". I must admit that the personnel on the train were very friendly and helpful.

Seeing that I'm a blue collar type who works in the Northeast in all types of climate conditions and with a diverse section of society (Fortune 500 trucking companies, high dollar rv owners, yacht owners, owner operators, truck drivers, dispatchers, parts houses, etc.) I don't think that I was being "picky". I feel comfortable in most circles and am always open to new ideas and ventures.

I was trying to equate the cost factor, comfort, and the time it took to do this trip. I don't believe that the east coast run is a time or money saver for someone who owns a car and has a family. I do think that this should be done by everyone at least once in a lifetime.

The big picture
I look forward to the kids talking about this and other experiences they had growing up. Discomfort is only temporary, the joy in my kids eyes will last a lifetime for me. And, it just might make them think twice about sending me to a home

Bill N.Y.

I think you would find the trains in the West to be more to your liking - whistles are less frequent, as towns are much, much farther apart.

Now, my first train ride was in 1946 - my grandmother, uncle and I rode his '36 Packard roadster from Atlatic City to his wedding in Miami, and grandma and I took the train back.

Until the mid 60s, train travel (before the Interstate system) was a very viable alternative to the auto. As midshipmen, we took the train to many football games - Navy-Army, Pitt, Penn State, etc. In those days the train was on its own RR's tracks, and PRR (Pennsy), NYC (New York Central), N&W (Norfolk & Western, Chessie (C&O), and Seashore Lines took great pride in their passenger service.

The advent of auto travel and the Interstates killed off train travel as it was once. Suburbia finalized the death.

First train trip was at your expense. From Chicago Union Station to Ft Knox, Ky. I was put in charge of our group of inductees with all the paperwork. I had a sleeping comparment to myself as the guy that was to share it with me, said he was going to a poker game and never saw him agian. JKB 28' Regal 454

My first train trip was also at taxpayer expense - from Minneapolis to Fort Sheridan, IL, & thence to Fort (then Camp) Lee, VA, in 1946. No a/c, open windows, cinders in your eyes & mouth. Going home after basic training, I got the Burlington Zephyr from Chicago to Mpls. Now there was a train. Smooth as glass, no clickety-clack, speeds above 100 mph in places.

There was no cost advantage to our 1997 trip. Considerably more expensive than airline coach, though coach seating might have been competitive except for the cost of meals.

Things may be going full circle. The news tonight reported that someone has started an intercity bus service connecting the downtowns of several midwestern cities from a Chicago hub. Cheap fares, & he's doing a land-office business. Talking about expanding nationwide.

My interest in this thread has to do with the children involved. My earliest memories of traveling were when we went on our annual winter trip to Florida, which in the late 50's early 60's was a FULL 3 day trip, even under the best circumstances. A blizzard in Tennessee or Georgia added at least a day, but we always had time for the caves, Rock Mountain, and all the tourist traps that lined the county roads we travelled on. I never thought of the old Mercury Monterey breaking down, such things just didn't happen. I guess I bring these trivial memories up just to show that after nearly fifty years they stand out in my mind while a million other things have evaporated to the world of forgotten events.

quote:

Originally posted by olroy:
My first train trip was also at taxpayer expense - from Minneapolis to Fort Sheridan, IL, & thence to Fort (then Camp) Lee, VA, in 1946. No a/c, open windows, cinders in your eyes & mouth.

My first train trip was just a little later. I went with my dad to sell a load of cattle in Chicago. Somehow, the economics worked better if we sold them there and off-loaded them ourselves at the stockyards. We rode in the caboose, and they let me ride in the cab of the locomotive and blow the whistle. Quite a deal for a young train fan.

quote:

There was no cost advantage to our 1997 trip. Considerably more expensive than airline coach, though coach seating might have been competitive except for the cost of meals.

I remember in the 50s and early 60s, train travel was fairly cheap as long as you didn't buy food and drink on the train or in a station.

"Passengers will please refrain........"

My first and only train trip was while on Business I went from Chatsworth, CA to San Jose. Nice while along the coast. Had to walk through the smoking car to get to the diner though. That was a bummer.

I have been told that the Canadian trains are grand and that trip from Winnipeg to Victoria is the most beautiful in the world. Any experience with that??

quote:

Originally posted by Dave Bowers:
I have been told that the Canadian trains are grand and that trip from Winnipeg to Victoria is the most beautiful in the world. Any experience with that??

Some of the Canadian trains are quite nice with beautiful scenery. My faves, though, are European trains through mountain areas. As a railfan, I can recommend The Arlberg and Semmering Line in Austria, The Bernina Express in Switzerland and Italy, The Centovalli Railway in Switzerland and Italy, The Flam Railway in Norway, The Glacier Express in Switzerland, The Golden Pass in Switzerland, The Rauma Line in Norway, and The William Tell Express in Switzerland.

The Orient Express, sadly, is a mere shadow of its former self. We road it from Vienna to Budapest, and it was little more than a regular train with removable signs denoting the cars as the Orient Express. A family member still remembers the luxury of travelling that train in the 30s.

Six years ago, the BW, one granddaughter, & I took a night train from Copenhagen to Stockholm. Compartments were sold out so we settled for a "couchette," a 6 bunk rolling dormitory in which you got a sheet & a blanket, & took potluck with your bunkmates.

We were early so the BW & I took the 2 bottom bunks. Granddaughter took the one above Grandma, & we were in bed when the train started to roll. We thought we'd be alone, but a little Finnish girl popped in - purple hair & lipstick, rings in her eyebrows, studs in her chin, tongue & belly button, hip-hugger pedal pushers cut so low they left little to the imagination, tattoos that disappeared under the pants on her backside, & a cough so bad I was sure she'd give us pneumonia. We groaned inwardly, but she spoke elegant English & was a picture of courtesy & decorum. She took the bunk above me, & we all settled in.

Then a U. of Colo. professor & his teenage son planning to mountain climb in Norway, took the top 2 bunks. Everybody introduced each other, & we tried to sleep.

At the Swedish border they came through with a drug-sniffing dog & several tough-looking cops who took the little Finnish girl apart, down to turning her purse inside out & examining the lint in the seams. She stood stoically throughout, & apparently passed inspection, as they went on.

BUT - The drug-sniffing German Shepherd had his butt next to my face, & his head in the passageway. He gave a friendly wag to every passerby, & nearly beat me to death with his big, heavy German Shepherd tail.

And the folks in the compartment next door partied all night long. I don't know what they were drinking but but it didn't make them sing any better.