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(Out side Lamar Colorado.) The one thing that you will take away from a train trip across the USA is just how massive the country really is. And for all the yelling and screaming about the big cities there is a lot of land that is used for agriculture. In the foothills of the Rockies it is all farming. ( and there are a lot of Green and Yellow tractors in the fields!) Where the earth was black and rich in Illinois, Iowa, and Nebraska, it is more reddish  and there is a lot of above ground irrigation sprayers in the fields. Right now as I write this, the train is under a slow order because of a signal problem along the tracks.

One thing about a rail trip, you get to see a lot of America’s back yards and we are a messy lot! We have been throwing stuff away for a long time and it’s piling up especially along the right-of -way of the Railroads.  Along with the mess there is a game that could be played if one was wont to called what the heck do they make in that place with all that stuff? It is a good game to because when you go past a building with a yard full of stuff it give you pause just to figure out what “The Jones Manufacturing Company” actually makes.

There are stories out here in the foothills too, empty buildings, old farmsteads long abandoned, animals standing alone in the fields, a lone car body with out window glass, tires or for that matter a motor out in the middle of nowhere.

The land is now begining to change, there are more rock outcroppings, more layered deposits of rock, deeply cut stream beds with out much water in them. Pretty soon the route of the train will swing south towards New Mexico, where the tracks will cross the old Santa Fe trail. 

Enough fooling around! We are now on the road, the railroad that is. The Photo is proof, Galesburg, MAY 17, 2:30 PM Out side the Amtrak depot.It was cold and there was a promise of rain but it did not happen. But the train was about 30 minutes late. The depot at Galesburg is considered to be “new” since it replaced the old red stone Santa Fe depot, but smaller and I guess more effecient. When I got there it was almost empty but there was an influx of passengers as time grew close for both the California Zephyr and the Southwest Chief to arrive. As I mentioned they were both late. Just before we left an officer from the Corrections Department and I guess his prisoner came in. The young man was dressed in white prison garb and had all his worldly belongings in a brown paper sack. From what I over heard either he or both were off to Chicago. It must of been on one of the later trains!

So what has been going on so far on the train? Since we were late as I got on the train I was given my dinner assignment for the first call. It was nice and it was not all that busy. After all the fooling around it was nice just to have a meal and stop worrying about details. In fact I finished up about the time we crossed the Mississippi into Fort Madison. Then a lot of time was spent on trying to make an Internet connection. I can keep it for just so long outside of urban areas  and then nothing. About 10 pm our Sleeping Car Attendant, Hazues ( Jesus) made up my bed for the night. (There is a story there which I  will have to tell later!) And I attempted to turn in but it was and is not successful as the AC knows no mercy! So I am trying to sleep with all my clothes on. But  am warm. . .  Mostly! So that is the story so far. It’s the middle of the night, I am sitting on the bed typing this and we are some where in Kansas, and no, I have not seen Dorothy Gale or her little dog!

(Go East young man!) In thinking about the rest of the adventure, I had considered going east. What I found out that there were several choices that could be made. Since I had done the western leg several times I had an idea of what to do but the eastern legs were total unknown since I had only made one trip from New York to Chicago and that was a long time ago. ( When I came back from Europe, the transition was so fast I could not plan so I just grabbed the first train out of Grand Central Terminal, which was the 20th Century Limited, which used to be the premier train of the New York Central, much to my surprise it had become a “milk-train” stopping at every village and cross-road and was now oft times very late!) Now I had some ideas, one was the Chicago to New Orleans to Washington DC. and back to Chicago trip which looked possible. ( Originally, I had looked at going to New York but Amtrak kept wanting to book me to Washington DC!) So plans are still liquid and even though my intents were to do this whole thing in the calendar year of 2016 it looks as if it will take me more time than I originally planned. Here I thought, some what naively, that I was retired and had no schedule, come to find out that I do have a very tightly schedule that needs attending!

As mentioned before, one of the triggers of this whole trip was the potential of Amtrak coming to Moline! It would make some of the trips much easier if I could just catch a train to Chicago and then proceed to other points from there. One of the hang-ups in planning is getting to and from Chicago in a timely manner that allows for transfers to other trains without staying over night. I guess we will just have to see how all this pans out and hope for the best.

(Getting my act together!)

Plans in a cocked hat!  In the process of thinking about this whole train trip extravaganza I felt that trying to do it in one massive undertaking was a bit too much and so I started plan in segments. The first was relatively easy, go west, up the coast and back to Chicago. Repeating some trips, and exploring new territory. ( I had taken the Empire Builder as far as Grand Forks, North Dakota once and then crossed the border and had gone the other direction in Canada.) Now it was time to look into the other trips. As soon as I started, things have continued to come up to frustrate the plans. Such as, last year I found out about the “Pullman Tours” and their special trains to New Orleans- expensive but classy and soon as I found out about them they discontinued them! ( something about a disagreement with Amtrak since they were just attaching their “old Varnish” to the “City of New Orleans.”) Then I thought I should look into the “Texas Eagle.” ( I had ridden this train too, as far as Dallas and had found out that it actually went much further!) So I started to plan a trip on that train only to find out that there was a strange 6 hour lay over in San Antonio, Texas in the middle of the night! When I explored the details it turns out that the “Eagle” terminates in San Antonio and part of the train is attached to the “Sunset Limited” coming from New Orleans. And the reason for the strange layover is that the “Limited” doesn’t run every day. So if you are careful you can plan to stay on the train coming from Chicago and sleep through the layover. While the car you are on is switched to the other train.

Then there was the “Gulf Hole.” I was aware that after a major hurricane had come through the Gulf of Mexico, the track infrastructure had been pretty much wiped out. Only in the last few years has it be restored and now at least the freight trains were using it again.  Amtrak had abandoned any use of that route which used to be from Tampa to New Orleans. Last year they ran a test train on the route and this year there is more action about restoring the route for passenger traffic. Of course, since it is a National rail system that means that the congress will have its fingers in the pie and that will slow the restoration process down considerably. There is hope that, finally I can actually make a circumnavigation of the USA on the train from New Orleans to either Tampa or Orlando!

( Go East, Young Man!)

Many of these blogs have been about my adventures in the past. It is that experience that gives rise to the up coming trips. As mentioned in the beginning, this time around is sort of a “hale and farewell” tour. I want to have one more good rail experience. Before this one, though, most of them were planned for me and I just enjoyed the trip. This time I am totally involved with planning and executing the whole shebang! In most cases I have been guilty of over-thinking the whole thing and have had to cut back on the planning and the paranoia involved. One thing is obvious, I have learned my lessons from other trips and advice I have received from others. There is a downside to experience as you know what can happen as it has happened before so you anticipate it will again. So you try to have all the bases covered and be prepared, which is ridiculous, but you try never the less.

So we are at the gateway to the latest adventure. Things still need to be done. Before I just depended on friends or relatives to take care of the mail and papers, this time I just stopped them. In other times I would just lock up the house and leave, now I need to slowly shut the place down. And make sure that all the internal systems are either shut off or reduced in consumption. Especially the “robo” things that suck electrical power all the time. Also there is the concept of “faking out” any potential “observers” to whether or not you are actually home by using the timed lights. Right now that device is being tested!  I suspect that once I have all this in hand it will be easier the next time I do this.

Being about 10 days away from lift-off, there is the final packing-re-packing of the luggage with a concern to not taking any thing not entirely necessary, this requires a heavy foot to push down a good dose of paranoia, and lots of “what if. . .” ( in the back of my mind there is always the Boy Scout in me who says, “Be Prepared!” For what. . . ?) So in that mind set, I have been watching the long range weather forecast, trying to scope out what the weather will be like and repack accordingly. “Layers” seem to be the solution and not worrying about re-wearing things too much.  All this is fine as I am on the move, I will not be seeing the same people all through the trip so I will be the only one to know and comfort is the important factor. ( One thing I did notice is about the time I am on the way, it will not be very warm out west especially along the Canadian border, which means I am not going to get away with shorts and flip-flops! Hench an order for a heavier jacket and gloves and the removal of a light jacket from the luggage.) Sigh!

( Plans in a cocked hat!)

 

 

 

Depending on my notes in the trip diary would leave us wondering “what did those two guys actually do in San Francisco?” One thing for sure we did take a number of Grayline tours to simplify the sight seeing around the Golden Gate City. It seemed that I was careful to photograph almost all the drivers of the buses and then send them photos when I got back home. We did spend a bit of time in old China town and did the touristy things there. We went to the only original part of Chinatown that survived the 1909 earthquake, Old Chinatown Alley and the Kun Leng Lee Temple. I made note of the population in 1954 of 20,000 in Chinatown. Although in the diary I did not make any reference to it, I remember the tour guide talking about the various family clans and the Tong Wars of the 1800s. It is carefully noted that we checked out; Fisherman’s wharf, Telegraph hill, Nob hill, Coit Tower and although did not go out to Alcatraz ( since it was still being used back then,  it was noted that 265 prisoners were incarcerated out there.) Of course, the younger me was fascinated by the hills of San Francisco, noting that the sharpest incline was 42 1/2 degrees, also noted that San Francisco Bay had a 10 foot tide!

I am sure that many of the facts that I carefully recorded were from the talks that the various tour drivers gave while we drove around the Bay Area. Like the sway of the Golden Gate Bridge of 20 feet either way or that the Oakland Bay Bridge was completed in 1936.  The tours took us to Berkely and  Peidmont so we saw all the good sites and we did go to the Muir Woods in Marin County to commune with the red woods.

As was mentioned before we returned to Galesburg via the CB and Q Zephyr, which followed the same route that the Amtrak California Zephyr follows today. So this was my first big adventure on the train as an almost-adult. Now we are close to another adventure. This one is to see how many of the existing passenger trains I can ride to get around the United States. As this is being written the plans are still being made and much of the trips are up in the air. There are potentials that did not exist at the beginning of the planning and some possibilities have come and gone. So the experience is one of flux even now. Since this is a “bucket-list” idea anyway, there is no need to be frustrated or even concerned about how this will all pan out.  It will be just another “rail experience” that seemed to be part of my life!

 

California Dreamin’– You have to understand that this trip, totally unexpected, had put me in what I thought was the center of what was happening now! Everything that was “cool” came from California or so I thought. So I was on the look out for anything that was “happening!” What I found out was other than it being sunny most of the time and that there was a lot of “smog,” California was pretty much just doing its thing. We went someplace every day but it was always by public transport. My uncle was working from an internal list of things he wanted to see and I tagged along. He also had his “bases” to touch, every day we stopped at the local Elks Club, usually after breakfast. He also had relations out in California and one of them lived up in the Pasadena Hills and had a swimming pool, where I had the opportunity to take part in a California swimming party and got to meet my first rattle snake! The other thing was we were out in Los Angeles during the construction of the Freeway system and the obvious was true, Los Angeles was 11 suburbs looking for a city center, none too successfully. When you moved about, you were never sure what part of the city you were in because back then Los Angeles looked pretty much the same.

Next on the agenda was a trip to the south, to San Diego ( St. James). We took the train, of course, this was before the advent of Caltran lite rail.  Although there are no complete notes in the trip diary, there are pictures and vague recollections. I know we did all the tourist things. From what I can tell the real reason for the trip was to partake in the Elks Convention in San Diego. If the ragged edges of the memory are true we took in a night game of the San Diego baseball team. My uncle would never miss an opportunity to see a sporting event. Then there was the trip to Tijana, which was an adventure so that we could say we had been in Mexico. It was a trip in a “shell” as we took a “Greyline” tour down there and it was just a couple of hours. Mostly we walked around the Main Street, looked at  the trinkets and touristy things took some pictures and returned across the border, no problems, no passport, or even ID. ( At this distance I don’t remember my uncle being hassled at the border, since he was a naturalized citizen born in Sweden.)

After seeing the sights, marching in the Elks parade, we took the train back to LA and continued our adventures.

(Off to San Francisco)

There is nothing like some notes from your younger self to jog your somewhat foggy memory. I looking at the “trip diary” from 1954, I see that I am interested in the mechanics of the train, on-time status and what happened when the train stopped any where. Some times I wish that my younger self was a better note taker and kept track of other things that he had see and did. There are a lot of gaps in the information. One thing that I do remember was coming across the edge of the Mojave Desert at Needles, CA. In fact it made an impression on me each time I have crossed it. It is possibly the most desolate place I have seen and strangely, one of the more beautiful, especially with the sun just coming up over the mountains in the east.  According to the time table the train arrived at the Raymond street Depot in Pasadena at about 6:40 which is pretty early in the morning.

From now on I am in the dark about what we did and when we did it. As mentioned before my Uncle was on a restricted budget and so we stayed at the Pasadena YMCA. He was a “joiner”, like many of his generation, he belonged to almost any fraternal organization that existed. Elks, Moose, Eagles, etc. He also made his home at the “Y” for several years, so our staying at the Pasadena Y was not so unusual and not a hard ship as it was very well kept. ( and still is.) It also gave us a central headquarters in which to explore both Pasadena and Los Angeles.  Now I am not sure in what order we did things, but I do remember going to the Huntington Library to see “Blue Boy” and “Pinky” among other things and to Forest Lawn, ( as Johnny Carson called it “the “Disneyland for the Dead!”) Where there is a stained glass window of the “Last Supper” and a reproduction of Michelangelo’s “David” ( Although it is in some kind of white material that did not age well and because of the pollution in the air was showing its age.)

Of course, the big event was the tour of the Disney studio! I dutifully called the studio as instructed and we were given our time and day of the tour. We took a bus out to the studio in Burbank. We arrived at the gate and we were greeted by our tour guide. She was a very nice young woman, who I gather when she was not giving tours was a member of the “paint department.” Our group was small and I was the youngest member.  If memory serves we went through the animation department, paint and then got to see the animation equipment, plus the invention that made Disney films Disney, the multi-plane camera! From there we toured the sound effects area and the music studio. We also got to see the administration wing and were disappointed to hear that we had missed Walt by 5 minutes as he had just left to go out and look at the new Disney park being built in Anaheim! Then we went through the sound stages where the set for “20,000 leagues under the sea” was still up. And in another where the interior sets for “Dragnet”were.  Outside of the sound stages were the “live sets” where Dragnet and some the Disneyland shows were filmed. ( the only activity that day was the “green-men” watering the lawns!)  Although, I suspect we were not supposed to see this, we did get to look over a three dimensional plan of the proposed Disney land that was out in a back lot. All in all it was a heck of a tour and I was duly impressed by the “House that the Mouse built!”

(California Dreamin’)

After the disappointment of Dodge City, which wasn’t all of a big deal, I was going to spend as much time as possible in the “Vista Dome” car to see the “real west!”

( during the trip I took so many pictures that I was entitled to one enlargement and so this was the one I chose to “blow-up!” the interior of the “Vista-dome”)

The advantage of the “domed car” was it was higher than the rest of the train and give a better view of the terrain. Once the train got beyond the Sand Hills of Kansas the views became more spectacular. Although in the photo the car looks to be empty, it would fill to capacity later and every seat would be taken.

Coming into Colorado, I got my first taste of place names in Spanish. Also the idea of silent letters, “js”that were pronounced as “Hs” and interesting names for places like ” Sangre de Christo Mountains.” Here, I thought Latin was tough. ( ” First it killed the Romans and now it’s killing me!”)  After the train left La Junta- ( Lah-Hun’ta) Colorado we start the climb into the mountains. When we reach the Raton Pass we are as high as we will go. At 7835 ft above sea level. The train tracks follow the old Santa Fe Trail through the mountains. Although, then I was not aware of it, if you know where to look you could still  see remainents of it today!

It seems my younger self was very concerned that the train was running late. The trip diary has notations about how the train was late out of Newton, Kansas. But was happy to report that by the time the train had made it to Arizona, time had been made up.  In the middle fifties, the Santa Fe Railroad hired Navajo and Pueblo native Americans to ride the trains and give lectures on the local sights. My notes talk about”Chief Blue Wing”and how he was dressed. I was impressed by his turquoise jewelry and made several drawings of it. ( reference was made to a piece of literature that the railroad supplied “There’s an Indian on this train. . . ” but it is long gone.)  Interestingly, there are no photos taken of the business of the “Chief.” I am not sure if he requested that we not take any or just didn’t out of respect.

One thing that I did not understand on that trip was how much the temperature gradient differed between the inside and the outside but I soon discovered it was fairly wide. At Alburquerque, NM the train made a stop for service, crew change, to have the Windows washed and  that allowed for the passengers to disembark and walk around on the famous station platform. ( and I might add, purchase hand made items from the Navajo craftsmen and craftswomen.) On the train the temperature was 78 degrees and on the station platform it was 110 degrees at 3:45 in the afternoon!

(California- is still waiting .)

The Trip Diary- continued. From this time and place I am not sure how the events occurred. I have some vague recollections about the days leading up to the trip and some of the plans. But most of it is blurry and depends on photos taken at the time and by some luck, a trip diary. ( If my memory serves, my uncle gave it to me some time before the trip, it came from a hand-out from the Augustana Book Concern which was a publishing house for the Lutheran Church.) It must be noted that this document is not very expansive or complete, in those days I did not feel the need to write down much, but there is enough material to give an idea of what the trip might have been like and what I saw and did. The reason I put this in the blog in the first place is I am about to duplicate at least part of the trip. For the most part over the same route, only not the same conditions. Also the present trip will expand the boundries by returning to Galesburg via another route entirely. ( From what I can recall we returned to Galesburg or Moline but it was on the old CB and Q California Zephyr.) As I remember the trip to California took place in June, ( according to notes on the trip diary it was June 14, 1954) that means it was just after school was finished for the year. My father took me to Galesburg the day before we were to leave and on the way down we stopped for supper and he gave me some money for the trip.  ( it was a lordly sum of thirty-five dollars- but for that time and place it was a fortune!) I am not sure what I packed but it was in the “family suitcase!” ( Which by some miracle I still have- and I might add, will not be using for this trip!) My uncle who had since moved to Galesburg, now had a room with a family and privileges and so I stayed with him over night.

The train left from the Galesburg Santa Fe station in the evening at the next night about 8:15 pm. Galesburg was a “flag-stop”  for the “El Capitan,” that is the station- master would have to “flag” the train so it would stop for passengers. In the reality of service at Galesburg this was not necessary since almost every trip there would be passengers for the train since this was one of Santa Fe’s most popular trains and it was always in demand. The “El Capitan” was one of the classic trains of the Santa Fe, the other being the “Super-Chief.” Although the “Super-Chief” was always considered to be the “luxury-train,” the “El Capitan” was a very classy mode of transportation. This nine car train could transport 350 passengers in style at an average speed of 56.3 mph.

My uncle who at this time was retired and a man of modest means, he booked reserved seats for both of us. ( I am pretty sure he would not have considered booking a sleeping compartment, nor could he afforded to.) So we would sleep in our seats, not that it was a hard ship, as it was all part of the big adventure ,but according to the notes in the trip diary neither of us slept at all well that night. Even if  the railroad did supply small pillows. The next morning we freshened up in the men’s lavatory. (Which was always interesting as there were always a bunch of men and boys all trying their best to get themselves presentable for the day, I would not see such a scene again until I was in the army!)

Breakfast was served in the dining car for the sum of $.80 and &1.10. The rest of the meals were ala cart. I was up early as the train was going to pass through Dodge City, Kansas. I wanted to see that. Again, you have to understand, that this was the time of radio and one of the big programs on the air was “Gunsmoke.” Finally, I would have the chance to see where it took place- since it was very real to me even though it was fiction. The train did not stop at Dodge City as it was a flag stop and. . . There was absolutely nothing there, no buildings, cattle pens, no US Marshall, no Doctor, no Dance hall girl, nothing. It was a disappointment! ( later when the program went on to television, the state of Kansas felt it necessary to re-create the “old” Dodge City for tourists and for train passengers!)

One of the items I had taken with me was a comic strip that I had created around the program script from “Gunsmoke?” If the opportunity presented itself when I was at the Disney Studio I could show what I was able to do. ( I also learned that it was not possible to do fine drawing work on the train!)

(California, here I am!)