One train trip that is closer to our time was back when I decided that I really needed a vacation and one as far away from the telephone as I could get and still remain on the American continent. It appeared to me that riding the train would fit this bill. In those days it was possible to find a travel agent who would book the train, hotel, bus and ferry passages without you having to do the hassle. So I asked them to book the whole deal. My idea was to go to Los Angeles, up the coast to Seattle, cross over the border and stop at Victoria, go on to Vancouver, BC and then across Canada to Halifax. It was a grand idea and a grand trip, no phones on the train and if I did not tell anyone which hotels I was stopping in then so there was no way to contact me. And it worked. ( Of course, you have to realize that this was way before cell phones and the Internet.)
Just a note here that the rail system called Amtrak was just formed and they were using old equipment from other railroads and pretty much following the old timetables. So it was almost like the “old days.” ( looking back at the old tickets it was decidedly cheaper back then too!)
So I traveled to the west coast, up the coast, then to get to Victoria I needed to get on a bus that took me to the ferry and then to Victoria. Where I stayed at the Empress hotel, my room was a single room that was the size of suite in a regular hotel which had a bathroom that was the size of a regular hotel room! They also had “high tea” which was a lavish spread, which if you participated would have cost you $18.50 but that was in Canadian Money which was out of paridy by 15% so it was not all that expensive but the tea was free. Then on to Vancouver, which at this time was a nice two story city. ( I came back in a few years and it was all ski-scrapers and bustle and you could go for blocks without hearing any English spoken!)
Then it was across Canada via the Intercontinental train which took four days just to get to Montreal. But it proved that one of the most civilized manner of traveling was on the train. I remember sitting in a dining car going across the Canadian Prairie, sharing a very nice bottle of wine with a tour guide from Montreal, thinking” this has to be the most civilized way of traveling in the world!” What was even more civilized was the dining car stewards just let us sit there and enjoy the moment, no rushing us out of the car.
Then there was the slow order through one of the native areas in Quebec. According to the treaty, any native person who wanted to stop the train and get on and ride to the next stop could. Every so often there would be a group of kids with their bikes and they would wave the train down, it would stop and they would all scramble on the baggage car and ride a few miles down the track ,the train would stop and they would all get off and ride off on their bikes down a forest trail and the train would continue.
At Montreal, I switched trains to the “Ocean” and continued to Halifax, which was still another day and a half away. We passed into two time zones one of which I had never heard of before, ” Atlantic!” The train station in Halifax was one of the old kind with a train shed with a glass ceiling. I kept thinking that this was as easterly as I could go on the train and still remain on the main land of the Americas. The trip back to Montreal was as interesting as the trip out. This time I changed trains and went down through Ontario to Windsor, crossed the border- using a cab, this was way before the border crossing required much more than a drivers license, where the only thing they seemed to be interested in was how long was I in Canada and what did I buy. Then I stopped in Detroit over night and continued on to Chicago.
Once in Chicago, I was again in La Salle Street Station, I was not aware of it but this station was about to be taken down and replaced with a commuter station without any of the old charm of the old building. And, also the same was for the Rock Island Railroad, it was on its last legs. Passenger service had been trunchiated to one train in the morning to Chicago and one in the evening, even then it was not operated by Rock Island but by a private company using the tracks of the old railroad.
The train consisted of an engine, baggage/ mail car and “Big Ben” the last of the elegant dining/observation cars. The major attraction of the ride was breakfast going to and dinner coming back included in your fare. The trip back was fairly slow because of the condition of the tracks, which had been deteriorating for years and were just barely passable. But slow and easy made for a very relaxing ride and dinner was always served in the old way by two stewards. As I remember, it was a very nice filet, baked potato, side vegetables and coffee/ and or wine. When I had finished my dinner one of the stewards offered ” dessert,” another filet and potato and who was I to refuse the offer. It was one of the most remarkable dinners I ever had on a train.
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