Who in the world are you?

[jiml]

When I was in high school I sat in class and daydreamed about flying on a Braniff 747 special performance... to far away places like Brazil and Korea. [In first class of course!] Aaaaaah... those were the days!
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A personal favorite. Several years ago I was doing some work for AA at their headquarters and had the opportunity to purchase the scale model (in AA colors) at the gift shop there before leaving. AA used to fly them to LHR. Definitely something special.

 

[Bob Dylan]

Braniff's Motto was " Flying Colors" and some of their Paint jobs, especially on 747s was not the Coolest thing going( especially the Orange one!)

I thought that Quantas,American Airlines( still miss the Silver and Red)and Pan Am had the best looking 747s ! YMMV

 

[basketmaker]

When I was in high school I sat in class and daydreamed about flying on a Braniff 747 special performance... to far away places like Brazil and Korea. [In first class of course!] Aaaaaah... those were the days!
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Ahh Little Orange

 

[UserNameRequired]

The Braniff stewardesses wore really neat uniforms too. There is/was? a display of some of the uniforms in the Mid America Museum of Aviation & Transportation in Sioux City

 

[dk9mail]

About to board the Southwest Chief at Lamy to LAX. Have not been on Amtrak since COVID times.

 

[Maglev]

About to board the Southwest Chief at Lamy to LAX. Have not been on Amtrak since COVID times.

Welcome to the forum, DK! I wish you happy travels--please post and let us know how it goes!

 

[dk9mail]

Welcome to the forum, DK! I wish you happy travels--please post and let us know how it goes!

Thanks, Maglev--currently watching train status via Track Your Train Map. In a roomette, so will provide info on food, etc.

 

[Cal]

About to board the Southwest Chief at Lamy to LAX. Have not been on Amtrak since COVID times.

Heritage Unit 184 is leading your train, correct? I'm going to try to catch it tomorrow morning close to Fullerton. Assuming I can get ready in time.

 

[dk9mail]

Cal I don’t know my trains! Here’s the photo I got at Lamy. Amazing service in sleeping car, so far.

 

[Cal]

Cal I don’t know my trains! Here’s the photo I got at Lamy. Amazing service in sleeping car, so far.

That is indeed 184. If I catch your train tomorrow I'll send you a video.

 

[Cal]

That is indeed 184. If I catch your train tomorrow I'll send you a video.

So when I woke up I saw it was late, and so I didn't worry about it. Later on I went on my morning walk with headphones in and was checking my phone, I heard a train and looked up. I saw the last two or so superliners, but nothing else.

 

[Devil's Advocate]

The Braniff stewardesses wore really neat uniforms too. There is/was? a display of some of the uniforms in the Mid America Museum of Aviation & Transportation in Sioux City

Stewardess uniforms from the 1970's look rather tacky to my eyes. That said the Singapore Airlines uniform still looks attractive and timeless despite showing almost no skin. EVA, ANA, Korean, and Japan Airlines are also quite sharp IMO. I cannot remember ever noticing any North American uniforms, which I guess is the point, but talk about bland.

 

[Joe from PA]

I'll be turning 80 in a few weeks. My wife and I have been putting up with each other for 55 years. We have 4 "children" (ages 46-53) and 8 grandchildren (ages 7-26). Rather than a life history, I'll give you my train history: At age 2, my favorite book was "The Little Engine That Could". At age 4, in 1946, I got my first Lionel train set for Christmas. Between 1949 and 1953, during visits to grandparents, I would spend hours each day on the platform of the Hollis, Long Island train station watching trains going by. This included passenger express trains pulled by steam locomotives going 70+ mph. We lived at the end of the Gladstone, NJ Lackawanna train line, which took me to high school between 1956 and 1960. It also got us into NYC in about 45 minutes (train to Hoboken, then ferry over to NYC). Once, in the Hoboken station, at age 10, I got to sit in the cab of the streamliner "The Phoebe Snow".
Now jump to 1986, when my love for toy trains was started once more. Today I have 2 layouts up all year...one Lionel "O" gauge, and one American Flyer "S" gauge. Additional ones go up under two Christmas trees. I also collect 1907-1920 "real photo" postcards of steam locomotives. I still take the kids to Strasburg, PA to ride the steam train and sleep overnight in a caboose.

 

[mc0621]

Hi all! Just started a new job really far away from home and am considering to take amtrak Empire Service instead of the hours-long driving.
Found this forum to be extremely informative, and people here are more than friendly. So I applied to join. Wish everyone a great day and pleasant trips in the future.

 

[jis]

Welcome aboard! Wishing you many pleasant trips both on rails everywhere and also at Amtrak Unlimited.

 

[rodwalsh]

Hi,

Just joined the forum as I've been thinking about taking a trip or 2 or 3 by train. When I was a kid we took the train from Manhattan (either Grand Central or Penn Station - don't remember) to the grandparents who lived at Lake Ronkonkoma. It was always fun. But since achieving adulthood over 60 years ago it's been the car and the airplane.

Well, a few years ago I got cancer (cancer-free now) and wear an ostomy bag. And 2 years after that I got my first of 3 hernias.
So, my wife has grown tired of the packing of supplies and me using a walker or a wheelchair. So, she informed me that our last plane ride was last July for our annual vacation in Hawaii.

With that, we're thinking car and train. And, that brings me here. I don't have a lot of airline miles compared to others, but enough. So, can I use American Express or Delta Airlines, or United Airlines points/miles to buy train tickets? Including handicapped rooms?

Even though I was raised in the South Bronx, I joined the Marines in 1963 and never returned to live back there. I settled in the high desert in California and have lived in this state since 1966. Close to Palm Springs and Barstow - both less than 2 hours drive.

Where would we take the train - I'd like to go to the Grand Canyon and Branson and perhaps Austin.

Any ideas?

Thanks and what do they say - keep on trainin'
Rod

 

[pennyk]

Hi,

Just joined the forum as I've been thinking about taking a trip or 2 or 3 by train. When I was a kid we took the train from Manhattan (either Grand Central or Penn Station - don't remember) to the grandparents who lived at Lake Ronkonkoma. It was always fun. But since achieving adulthood over 60 years ago it's been the car and the airplane.

Well, a few years ago I got cancer (cancer-free now) and wear an ostomy bag. And 2 years after that I got my first of 3 hernias.
So, my wife has grown tired of the packing of supplies and me using a walker or a wheelchair. So, she informed me that our last plane ride was last July for our annual vacation in Hawaii.

With that, we're thinking car and train. And, that brings me here. I don't have a lot of airline miles compared to others, but enough. So, can I use American Express or Delta Airlines, or United Airlines points/miles to buy train tickets? Including handicapped rooms?

Even though I was raised in the South Bronx, I joined the Marines in 1963 and never returned to live back there. I settled in the high desert in California and have lived in this state since 1966. Close to Palm Springs and Barstow - both less than 2 hours drive.

Where would we take the train - I'd like to go to the Grand Canyon and Branson and perhaps Austin.

Any ideas?

Thanks and what do they say - keep on trainin'
Rod

Welcome to AU.

 

[AmtrakMaineiac]

With that, we're thinking car and train. And, that brings me here. I don't have a lot of airline miles compared to others, but enough. So, can I use American Express or Delta Airlines, or United Airlines points/miles to buy train tickets? Including handicapped rooms?

Even though I was raised in the South Bronx, I joined the Marines in 1963 and never returned to live back there. I settled in the high desert in California and have lived in this state since 1966. Close to Palm Springs and Barstow - both less than 2 hours drive.

Where would we take the train - I'd like to go to the Grand Canyon and Branson and perhaps Austin.

Thank you for your service. I was in the USAF stationed in New Mexico and loved my time in the Southwest.

You could jump on the Sunset at Palm Springs (unfortunately it stops there at O Dark 30 i.e. around 2 AM) and take it to LAX then get the Southwest Chief to Flagstaff. There is allegedly a shuttle from there to Williams where you can get the train to the Grand Canyon. You would have time in LAX to check things out as the Chief doesn't leave until 6 PM. Note the Sunset only runs 3 times a week.

For Austin, you could take the Sunset the other way, a portion of the train runs through to Chicago as the Texas Eagle. Again 3 times a week and a middle of the night departure from Palm Springs.

Edit: I forgot to mention - I don't believe any of the airline points transfer to Amtrak. Amtrak has its own system, Amtrak Guest Rewards, which you should sign up for as you can earn free travel and other benefits.

 

[Cal]

You could jump on the Sunset at Palm Springs (unfortunately it stops there at O Dark 30 i.e. around 2 AM) and take it to LAX then get the Southwest Chief to Flagstaff.

The Chief stops at Barstow at about 9 PM when it runs, and something tells me that a 9PM departure with no connections is favorable to a 2 AM departure with a (long) connection.

 

[AmtrakMaineiac]

The Chief stops at Barstow at about 9 PM when it runs, and something tells me that a 9PM departure with no connections is favorable to a 2 AM departure with a (long) connection.

You are right, I forgot he said he was near Barstow. Makes more sense.

 

[anthonyleewatkins]

If this has already been done, I apologize, but thought it might be interesting. We have a "what does your username mean" thread, and that's good, but I sometimes wonder just who some of us are...

I rode my first passenger train as a 3 year old in 1960 from Topeka KS to I don’t know where. My uncle, my father, my brother and two cousins just took the train ride for fun, as best I can gather. The main thing I can remember is watching the sunset out the window. Of course I fell in love with trains and haven’t fallen out, though, like many here, I have a million ideas of how America could fund Amtrak to be a better resource for all of us. I have passed this desire on to my 17 yr old who spends a lot of time designing a 10,000 mile network of low speed rail to serve the 100 million folks who live south of the NEC and mostly east of the Mississippi.

In real life, I am, publisher, poet, painter, and educator, and live in rural north Florida with my long-suffering wife, the aforementioned teenager, and our 70 lb. pit bull lapdog. I write about the people and places around me and everyday life.

For the past decade I have been a community teaching assistant at Penn’s ModPo, and is also touring rural libraries to discuss poetry, both as subject matter, as well as how it impacts our daily lives.

I began publishing in 1995, today I publish Better Than Starbucks.

 

[pennyk]

I rode my first passenger train as a 3 year old in 1960 from Topeka KS to I don’t know where. My uncle, my father, my brother and two cousins just took the train ride for fun, as best I can gather. The main thing I can remember is watching the sunset out the window. Of course I fell in love with trains and haven’t fallen out, though, like many here, I have a million ideas of how America could fund Amtrak to be a better resource for all of us. I have passed this desire on to my 17 yr old who spends a lot of time designing a 10,000 mile network of low speed rail to serve the 100 million folks who live south of the NEC and mostly east of the Mississippi.

In real life, I am, publisher, poet, painter, and educator, and live in rural north Florida with my long-suffering wife, the aforementioned teenager, and our 70 lb. pit bull lapdog. I write about the people and places around me and everyday life.

For the past decade I have been a community teaching assistant at Penn’s ModPo, and is also touring rural libraries to discuss poetry, both as subject matter, as well as how it impacts our daily lives.

I began publishing in 1995, he continues publishing Better Than Starbucks.

Welcome from another Floridian.

 

[anthonyleewatkins]

Welcome from another Floridian.

Thanks!

 

[jis]

I rode my first passenger train as a 3 year old in 1960 from Topeka KS to I don’t know where. My uncle, my father, my brother and two cousins just took the train ride for fun, as best I can gather. The main thing I can remember is watching the sunset out the window. Of course I fell in love with trains and haven’t fallen out, though, like many here, I have a million ideas of how America could fund Amtrak to be a better resource for all of us. I have passed this desire on to my 17 yr old who spends a lot of time designing a 10,000 mile network of low speed rail to serve the 100 million folks who live south of the NEC and mostly east of the Mississippi.

Welcome from another Floridian from the Space Coast....

 

[Ziv]

I am a Montana Hi Liner, born and raised in Glasgow and a fan of the Empire Builder from a young age! My Father worked for GN, then BN, then Amtrak when he was injured and then back to BN. My first railroad trip was with my Dad in the caboose of a freight train he was the brakeman on. That cupola was the bomb for an 8 year old to play in! Father/Son trips were still common in the early 70's. My first passenger trip was on the Builder to visit my uncle in Seattle. I remember the sleeping car (luxury!), the porter and the dining car (halibut done perfectly!) and the dome car and a startled moose just outside of Glacier. Railroads are in my blood, my paternal grandfather was a railroader too. He died in the cab of his locomotive working on the Fort Peck Dam.
I am a retired Realtor, loved the job for the first 25 years.
Traveled around the world 4 times, one time primarily by rail, except for the wet parts as I told my friends.
I love fast cars and motorcycles, but had to give up the latter after I broke a couple bones too many.
I live near the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland now, and dream of moving home to Montana. But I have a 13 year old dog that gives me just enough reasons to procrastinate on any big move.