I started traveling by train when I was less than a month old. My Dad worked for a railroad and trains were the only way to travel more than 25 miles. I was born in Joliet, Ill on 8/2/48 and christened in Council Bluffs, Iowa at my Grandmother's church on August 29....we traveled on the Rocky Mountain Rocket. During the 1950s, we traveled between Peoria, Illinois and Council Bluffs, Iowa several times a year sometimes via Burlington, sometimes via Rock Island. When I was 4 and my Mother was expecting my brother, we traveled to visit my Dad's family in Tennessee via P&E, C&EI, L&N, Southern. We usually did a summer rail trip and sometimes during the Christmas/New Year Holiday season. My Mother taught school and we were off from school. We went from Peoria to Bar Harbor Maine one summer via various railroads. We went to New York City several times include over the holidays to see decorations. My Dad also had family in Hot Springs, Ark, so we also traveled from Bloomington, Il to Hot Springs on a through Sleeping car that was switched at St. Louis Union Station. In 1962 my Dad, brother and I moved to Hot Springs Ark. We rode trains of the MoPac, Rock Island, Frisco and KCS in that era. We also did a long trip each summer...always by train because my Dad had a pass even after he retired. When Amtrak started in 1971 I was a frequent passenger every year. I have ridden every Amtrak route, many multiple times. I am looking forward to continue to ride whatever passenger trains are running.