Love to travel at night. somehow, it is just more dramatic. There is nothing like the secure feeling of well-being one gets, tucked into bed, peering out one's window at a passing scene of snowy roads.....the ringing of the bell, with the doppler effect, along with the flashing lights, and the distant sound of the train's airhorn, at crossings.....stopping at small town depots and watching whatever action takes place on the platform....seeing the deserted main streets of the sleeping towns....listening to the talk on the scanner, knowing that there are people working to insure our safety as we travel....back in the old days, enjoying the right front 'railfans's seat' in a Vista-dome, darkened to allow excellent viewing of the beam of the headlight, the figure eight swing of the Mars light, the wayside green lights, distorted by the heat waves radiating from the engine exhaust, turning red as the locomotive passed them, our train dimming its headlight as we met outher trains....late night parties in the lounge car...purchasing extra rounds when the attendant announcing his closing down........
As for urban scenery, used to love to ride the old Broadway Limited, especially in the long nights of winter. Starting dinner right in Penn Station in one of those twin-unit diner's. Envious commuter's peering in on their way to their commuter train on the opposite track of platform... Exiting the North River tunnel and whizzing past cars on the adjacent New Jersey Turnpike.......Crossing the massive, very industrial looking Dock Bridge into the art deco Newark Station.....seeing an unbelievable amount of commuter trains along the Northeast Corridor.....passing those nice old brick PRR block station towers (supposedly one hundred between NYP and CHI)....crossing the Delaware, and seeing the "Trenton Makes, The World Takes" sign on the highway bridge....seeing the urban desolation of the North Phladelphia landscape....remember vividly a faded sign on an old ice house, proclaiming: "Ice Never Fails", a reference to when new refridgerator technology spelled their demise....The end of electric wires at Harrisburg, and the switch from GG-1 to E8 locomotives....The beautiful moonlight reflecting on the Juniata River as we climbed our way westward....the rounding of The World Famous Horseshoe Curve....the muted roar of the engines passing thru the Gallitzen tunnel.....the steel mill fires lighting up the night as we approached Pittsburgh.......tugboats pushing barges on the moonlit upper Ohio River.......the landscape flattening out to far horizons as we progressed across Ohio.....breakfast in the cheery diner, 'As The Broadway Meets The Dawn'....the view of the mills along the tip of Lake Michigan from Gary, past Hammond, Englewood, the iconic green streetlamp poles of Chicago....the CTA el's.....The distinctive Chicago skyline.....
Sorry if I got 'carried-away'......
As for urban scenery, used to love to ride the old Broadway Limited, especially in the long nights of winter. Starting dinner right in Penn Station in one of those twin-unit diner's. Envious commuter's peering in on their way to their commuter train on the opposite track of platform... Exiting the North River tunnel and whizzing past cars on the adjacent New Jersey Turnpike.......Crossing the massive, very industrial looking Dock Bridge into the art deco Newark Station.....seeing an unbelievable amount of commuter trains along the Northeast Corridor.....passing those nice old brick PRR block station towers (supposedly one hundred between NYP and CHI)....crossing the Delaware, and seeing the "Trenton Makes, The World Takes" sign on the highway bridge....seeing the urban desolation of the North Phladelphia landscape....remember vividly a faded sign on an old ice house, proclaiming: "Ice Never Fails", a reference to when new refridgerator technology spelled their demise....The end of electric wires at Harrisburg, and the switch from GG-1 to E8 locomotives....The beautiful moonlight reflecting on the Juniata River as we climbed our way westward....the rounding of The World Famous Horseshoe Curve....the muted roar of the engines passing thru the Gallitzen tunnel.....the steel mill fires lighting up the night as we approached Pittsburgh.......tugboats pushing barges on the moonlit upper Ohio River.......the landscape flattening out to far horizons as we progressed across Ohio.....breakfast in the cheery diner, 'As The Broadway Meets The Dawn'....the view of the mills along the tip of Lake Michigan from Gary, past Hammond, Englewood, the iconic green streetlamp poles of Chicago....the CTA el's.....The distinctive Chicago skyline.....
Sorry if I got 'carried-away'......
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