I know this is ancient history but thought it might be interesting for some. Back in 1985 I was a software developer for a process control company near Philadelphia PA. We had sold a system to a cement plant out in Davenport IA but the system would occasionally reset for no apparent reason disrupting production. My company flew me out to the Quad Cities on a one way ticket since I was going to be out there until the problem was fixed. Well to make a long story short we were able to figure out the cause after about a week and I was free to return home. I found out Amtrak was running a sale on sleepers for the Broadway so I booked a roomette from Chicago to Paoli PA a suburban stop where my wife could pick me up.
OK so the only issue is how to get to Chicago. I considered driving down to Galesburg and getting the train from there but dropping off the rental car was an issue. I elected to fly from Quad Cities to O'hare so booked a flight on one of the local puddle jumper airlines. Boarded the flight, departure time came and went. Then I saw a technician board the plane then depart with what looked like a piece of radio gear. Not a good sign. Shortly after they announced the flight was cancelled. Back to the terminal and a mad scramble over to another airline desk. I was able to snag the last seat on Horizon Airlines to ORD. Got there OK, took a "limo" downtown which turned out to be a bus which stopped on Canal St. right across from the station.
The train was a very long one as in those days Amtrak combined the Broadway with the Capitol Limited as far as Pittsburgh. It also used a different routing than today, using the old PRR mainline via Fort Wayne IN, Canton and Lima OH. Mostly all the old "heritage" cars. I was assigned a roomette in a 10 roomette 6 bedroom car. Fairly similar to the old Viewliner roomettes with sink and toilet in the room. We left on time and I was sipping a glass of wine as we raced through the Chicago suburbs. I recall passing through Valparaiso and seeing the Amtrak Valparaiso local that they had inherited from Conrail.
Dinner in the diner was good, I recall I had the Vegetable Lasagne, something I wish they would bring back. One benefit of being combined with the CL is that in those days the Cap had a dome car so I headed there and got to ride through Indiana and Ohio with a great view. Soon it was time for bed.
Woke up the next morning, the train had split in Pittsburgh. Went to the diner for breakfast around Greensburg as I recall I had scrambled eggs and sausages and it was pretty good. The scenery got interesting as we wound our way through the mountains with the climax being the famous Horseshoe Curve.
Don't recall if they still changed engines at Harrisburg in those days. Anyway we pulled into Paoli more or less on time. All in all a fun trip and at company expense, although I had fun trying to explain it on my expense report
OK so the only issue is how to get to Chicago. I considered driving down to Galesburg and getting the train from there but dropping off the rental car was an issue. I elected to fly from Quad Cities to O'hare so booked a flight on one of the local puddle jumper airlines. Boarded the flight, departure time came and went. Then I saw a technician board the plane then depart with what looked like a piece of radio gear. Not a good sign. Shortly after they announced the flight was cancelled. Back to the terminal and a mad scramble over to another airline desk. I was able to snag the last seat on Horizon Airlines to ORD. Got there OK, took a "limo" downtown which turned out to be a bus which stopped on Canal St. right across from the station.
The train was a very long one as in those days Amtrak combined the Broadway with the Capitol Limited as far as Pittsburgh. It also used a different routing than today, using the old PRR mainline via Fort Wayne IN, Canton and Lima OH. Mostly all the old "heritage" cars. I was assigned a roomette in a 10 roomette 6 bedroom car. Fairly similar to the old Viewliner roomettes with sink and toilet in the room. We left on time and I was sipping a glass of wine as we raced through the Chicago suburbs. I recall passing through Valparaiso and seeing the Amtrak Valparaiso local that they had inherited from Conrail.
Dinner in the diner was good, I recall I had the Vegetable Lasagne, something I wish they would bring back. One benefit of being combined with the CL is that in those days the Cap had a dome car so I headed there and got to ride through Indiana and Ohio with a great view. Soon it was time for bed.
Woke up the next morning, the train had split in Pittsburgh. Went to the diner for breakfast around Greensburg as I recall I had scrambled eggs and sausages and it was pretty good. The scenery got interesting as we wound our way through the mountains with the climax being the famous Horseshoe Curve.
Don't recall if they still changed engines at Harrisburg in those days. Anyway we pulled into Paoli more or less on time. All in all a fun trip and at company expense, although I had fun trying to explain it on my expense report
