Wish I had done that

[Bill Haithcoat]

Trains I wish I had ridden. What about you?

AMTRAK

Sunset Limited all the way from Miami to LAX same trip

Coast Starlight all the way same trip from Seattle to San Diego, not just LAX (that did not last long but it did happen)

overnight sleeper from Boston and/or New York to Washington

Floridian all the way same trip from Chicago to Miami, before operating conditions got so bad

through Crescent, Sunset Limited same trip Boston to LAX sleeper via NOL

PRE AMTRAK

20th Century Limited New York (the red carpet) to Chicago

Kansas City Florida Special, through winter sleeper from KC to Miami(must be frigid in KC, warm in FLA)

Rock Island's Golden State from Chicago to LAX

Olympian Hiawatha, with skytop lounge Chicago to Tacoma

Through Texas Eagle sleeper from Chicago to Mexico City

Through Texas Eagle slumbercoach from Baltimore to San Antonio

Dallas to LAX sleeper via Texas Eagle route and Sunset limited route (not always those two trains)

Tennessean's set out sleeper from Chattanooga to Memphis

Tennessean through Bristol to Nashville sleeper which was transfered in Chattanooga not just to another train or another railroad but even to another station, about 1 a.m. in one direction about 3 a.m.in the other.

any of the several through sleepers from NYC to California.(via CHI)

I am sure there are tons more I could think of but these are off the top of my head, both Amtrak and before. Trains or cars or complete routes I never rode

What about you?

 

[Bob Dylan]

Trains I wish I had ridden. What about you?
AMTRAK

Sunset Limited all the way from Miami to LAX same trip

Coast Starlight all the way same trip from Seattle to San Diego, not just LAX (that did not last long but it did happen)

overnight sleeper from Boston and/or New York to Washington

Floridian all the way same trip from Chicago to Miami, before operating conditions got so bad

through Crescent, Sunset Limited same trip Boston to LAX sleeper via NOL

PRE AMTRAK

20th Century Limited New York (the red carpet) to Chicago

Kansas City Florida Special, through winter sleeper from KC to Miami(must be frigid in KC, warm in FLA)

Rock Island's Golden State from Chicago to LAX

Olympian Hiawatha, with skytop lounge Chicago to Tacoma

Through Texas Eagle sleeper from Chicago to Mexico City

Through Texas Eagle slumbercoach from Baltimore to San Antonio

Dallas to LAX sleeper via Texas Eagle route and Sunset limited route (not always those two trains)

Tennessean's set out sleeper from Chattanooga to Memphis

Tennessean through Bristol to Nashville sleeper which was transfered in Chattanooga not just to another train or another railroad but even to another station, about 1 a.m. in one direction about 3 a.m.in the other.

any of the several through sleepers from NYC to California.(via CHI)

I am sure there are tons more I could think of but these are off the top of my head, both Amtrak and before. Trains or cars or complete routes I never rode

What about you?

Trains that still exist(as of today! :lol: )

The Copper Canyon Train-Mexico

The Canadian-VIA

The Ocean-VIA

The Winnipeg-Churchill Polar Bear Train-VIA

Any Train in Alaska

The DownEaster-AMTRAK

The Ethan Allen Express and The Vermonter-AMTRAK

The Cardinal-AMTRAK

The Silver Trains_AMTRAK

The SWC-AMTRAK

The CZ-AMTRAK

Hope to get them all in the next year now that Im retired even if its poor boy in coach

and save my points for the LD sleeper upgrades!!! :lol:

 

[VT Hokie]

Wish I had ridden the rebuilt RTL III Turboliners a few more times! Had I known they'd be pulled from service, I would have made a point of not only taking several trips on 'em, but getting some trackside photos and videos.

At least I got to ride the RTL III twice. And in fact, I rode aboard both sets that saw revenue service. And I managed to get a few photos, including these...

http://railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=29337&nseq=2

http://railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=36514&nseq=1

I'd been saving up my Guest Rewards points for the Turboliners' return! Now that they're apparently not coming back, anyone got any suggestions on what routes to use my 100k plus reward points on? I was thinking maybe a cross country trip on the Capitol Limited and Empire Builder.

 

[Bob Dylan]

Wish I had ridden the rebuilt RTL III Turboliners a few more times! Had I known they'd be pulled from service, I would have made a point of not only taking several trips on 'em, but getting some trackside photos and videos.
At least I got to ride the RTL III twice. And in fact, I rode aboard both sets that saw revenue service. And I managed to get a few photos, including these...

http://railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=29337&nseq=2

http://railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=36514&nseq=1

I'd been saving up my Guest Rewards points for the Turboliners' return! Now that they're apparently not coming back, anyone got any suggestions on what routes to use my 100k plus reward points on? I was thinking maybe a cross country trip on the Capitol Limited and Empire Builder.

Im sure youll get lots of ideas on this one but I suggest the Cardinal instead of the CL,the EB is great,

if returning how about the CZ(the Colorado version! :lol: ) and the LSL to NYP!Better scenery and good

trains(except for the poor Cardinal which is a fading great train based on members reports!Im on it ASAP

on my trip East this fall!

 

[battalion51]

Since I've been paying attention to things in the world of Amtrak, I only wish I could've managed to get on the Three Rivers. When I went to Chicago back in 04 I looked at taking Silver Service to Philly and connecting to the Three Rivers, but it was vastly cheaper to take 98-1-58. Which of course got me now "abandoned" trackage from JAX-NOL. The funny thing about that trip was that Jon Stein (for those of you who remember him) came in to Chicago on the same day as me on the Three Rivers shortly before it was abandoned.

 

[tp49]

The funny thing about that trip was that Jon Stein (for those of you who remember him) came in to Chicago on the same day as me on the Three Rivers shortly before it was abandoned.

I remember him. Whatever happened to him?

When I was in Thailand last year I visited Kanchanaburi home of the Death Railway and the Bridge Over the River Kwai. Due to limited time there I took the bus from Bangkok but would have much rather taken the train from Thonburi to Kanchanaburi and ridden it over the bridge. Instead I had to settle for walking across the bridge and was able to be on the bridge while a train crossed at very slow speed. Definitely not something you oould legally do here.

 

[amtrakwolverine]

taken the train back fron flagstaff instead of taking greyhound. took the train up but took greyhound back as after a tour of the grand canyon didn't feel like getting up a 4am to catch the 5am departure of the train.

 

[jphjaxfl]

I would have like to have ridden the "Tweetsie" which ran on the Eastern Tennessee and Western North Carolina Railroad from Johnson City through Elizabethton, TN to Boone, NC. A small part of the line still exists as an excursion line near Boone. My cousins who grew up in East Tennessee took me on a hike along the right of way northeast of Elizabethton. The tunnels where the trains ran still exist. It was a very scenic route through the Smoky Mountains. The line from Johnson City to Elizabethton still exists for freight and serves a number of industries.

 

[frj1983]

Let's see:

I'd love to ride Via's Hudson Bay from Winnipeg to Churchill also...the Wife does not agree...sigh!

I'd love to ride Via's Ocean too!

I'd love to ride the Cardinal sometime.

I'd love to ride the Acela sometime.

Oh heck, I'd love to ride them all even if I've already taken a ride!

Back in time:

The original California Zephyr in it's heyday!

 

[Bill Haithcoat]

Since I've been paying attention to things in the world of Amtrak, I only wish I could've managed to get on the Three Rivers. When I went to Chicago back in 04 I looked at taking Silver Service to Philly and connecting to the Three Rivers, but it was vastly cheaper to take 98-1-58. Which of course got me now "abandoned" trackage from JAX-NOL. The funny thing about that trip was that Jon Stein (for those of you who remember him) came in to Chicago on the same day as me on the Three Rivers shortly before it was abandoned.

I remember Jon Stein. If you are still in touch with him, tell him "hello".

 

[MrFSS]

I'm glad I was able to take pictures (not very good ones some of the time) as a teenager of trains I rode and those I wished I could have ridden. Here are a few.

 

[Bill Haithcoat]

I'm glad I was able to take pictures (not very good ones some of the time) as a teenager of trains I rode and those I wished I could have ridden. Here are a few.

I have a similar memory of a steak dinner in one of beautiful dome diners. It was on a City of LA diner.

Those UP dinershad something that the El Capitan high level diner and todays superliner diners miss. I think it was the warm coziness of the furniture.

 

[JayPea]

I'd have loved to have ridden on the Milwaukee Road's Olympian Hiawatha. Since it was discontinued in 1961, when I was only a year old, I guess I also have to wish I'd have been born about 10 years sooner too. The route it traveled through the Montana and Idaho Bitterroot Mountains and Washington's Cascades was every bit as if not more so scenic than the Empire Builder is today. And in its crossing of the Columbia River in Washington, it crossed a bridge, which is still in place, that was just a few feet above the water. Like the Huey Long Bridge in New Orleans, only on a shorter scale. It was said that traveling over the Columbia there gave the impression of the train actually riding on the water.

 

[Bob Dylan]

Great pics Mr. FSS/Im old enough to remember those days and seeing the old long gone cars still

brings a tingle to my heart that is one of the joys of my life!A couple of memories of trains I actually

rode especially come to mind: The Crescent from WAS to ATL in a slumbercoach/one of the roughest rides of my life since

I was so tall(and skinny :lol: )and it was very uncomfortable!Duriung the night in NC some idiot tried to run

the train and we hit him and sat for hours in the dark!Id do it again tomorrow if I could!

The other is my trip to active duty in 1961 when I rode the Texas Eagle from San Marcos,Tx. to St. Louis

in a dome sleeper! and had vouchers to eat in the diner(my first time in a real diner!!!)

Just last month the company BNSF train came gliding past a resturant I was eating in while visiting San Marcos,

I saw the lucky folks riding in the vista lounge and the folks in the dome and I wanted to be on it!

Found out later it had come from Houston and was going to SAS via the old Katy tracks,then to FTW.Guess the tracks between

Houston and Dallas were too rough for the VIPS!(the old TE stub train from DAL-HOS used this route/now a bus

from Longview to HOS!)Those were the days my friend, I thought theyd never end!

 

[MikefromCrete]

One of the Milwaukee's Skytop observation cars- the Cedar Rapids - still exists and is in excursion service for the MILW 265 steam locomotive group. The car was used on the SP 4449 special from Minneapolis to Durand, Mich., last week, and is at the Trainfest in Ossowo, Mich., this week. It will return next week to Minneapolis and the 265 group will use it on some Minneapolis-based fall excursions with the 4449. I had a chance to see the Cedar Rapids as it passed through Michigan City, Ind., last Sunday and it looked great! They don't build them like that anymore, unfortunately.

 

[battalion51]

To answer previous questions, Jon is starting his Senior year at Bridgewater State working on his Management Degree.

 

[Bob Dylan]

I'm glad I was able to take pictures (not very good ones some of the time) as a teenager of trains I rode and those I wished I could have ridden. Here are a few.

I have a similar memory of a steak dinner in one of beautiful dome diners. It was on a City of LA diner.

Those UP dinershad something that the El Capitan high level diner and todays superliner diners miss. I think it was the warm coziness of the furniture.

Tom, I sent you a PM but a quick comment: Makes you want to hear "Old Diz" singing "The Wabash Cannonball"

and did my eyes deceive me or were there 5!!!!! domes on one of those trains?Ive never seen more than 2

in person but is that the record? For sure Ill view these over and over!!! Jim

 

[Bill Haithcoat]

I'm glad I was able to take pictures (not very good ones some of the time) as a teenager of trains I rode and those I wished I could have ridden. Here are a few.

I have a similar memory of a steak dinner in one of beautiful dome diners. It was on a City of LA diner.

Those UP dinershad something that the El Capitan high level diner and todays superliner diners miss. I think it was the warm coziness of the furniture.

Tom, I sent you a PM but a quick comment: Makes you want to hear "Old Diz" singing "The Wabash Cannonball"

and did my eyes deceive me or were there 5!!!!! domes on one of those trains?Ive never seen more than 2

in person but is that the record? For sure Ill view these over and over!!! Jim

The original 1949 California Zephyr had five domes, 3 on top of coaches, one on top of a midtrain sleeper lounge car and one on top of the rear observation car. .

The Twin Cities Zephyr also had several domes but I am not sure how many. Easily could have been five.

 

[chuljin]

In a general sense, I wish I'd 'discovered' Amtrak 15 years ago while I was still in (read: near) Chicago, instead of just 1.5 years ago (though I've made up for lost time, at least segment-wise! ). I'd have been all over on the corridor services that radiate out from there (though I don't know how many of them existed at the time).

The Pacific Surfliner is very enjoyable, to be sure, and none rides it more than me, but it's just the one route.

Not sure about pre-Amtrak...Amtrak is 3 years pre-chuljin. But I think I would have liked the LD services of the time. A friend once accused me of having a 50s mentality...perhaps trains when trains were trains is part of it.

 

[NativeSon5859]

In my lifetime...off the top of my head...

* Pioneer

* Desert Wind

* Gulf Breeze

* Gulf Coast Limited (no excuse for me not to have ridden that one)

* River Cities (towards the end it used to run with a Dome Coach all the way from New Orleans to Kansas City, so the departing CONO out of NOL had two domes)

 

[John Bredin]

I'm glad I was able to take pictures (not very good ones some of the time) as a teenager of trains I rode and those I wished I could have ridden. Here are a few.

Well, it's not the same thing as riding on the North Shore Line itself, and it's not the Electroliner as in your photo, but you can ride old North Shore cars at the Illinois Railway Museum.

The museum also has one of the two Electroliner sets and is restoring it, but as I recall it's not yet fit to carry passengers or run under its own power.

 

[amtrakwolverine]

well you could get a bank loan and ride all the trains you missed. at least the ones that are still around.

 

[zephyr17]

Trains I wish I would have ridden, and had at least a dim possiblity of actually riding given chronological, age and geographical constraints:

Southern's Southern Crescent

WP/D&RGW/CB&Q California Zephyr (near impossible, was 14 when it was discontinued and didn't live close)

UP City of Los Angeles

SP San Joaquin Daylight

AT&SF Chief

Amtrak North Coast Hiawatha

Vanished trains I am glad I did ride:

AT&SF Super Chief

SP Coast Daylight -- first train ride ever. 3 years old, and the red/orange/black train made a huge impression.

D&RGW Rio Grande Zephyr

Amtrak Desert Wind

Amtrak Pioneer

Amtrak Sunset Limited NOL-Orlando

VIA Canadian (CP route)

VIA Atlantic Limited (CP across Maine)

BCR Cariboo Dayliner

 

[Bill Haithcoat]

Trains I wish I would have ridden, and had at least a dim possiblity of actually riding given chronological, age and geographical constraints:Southern's Southern Crescent

WP/D&RGW/CB&Q California Zephyr (near impossible, was 14 when it was discontinued and didn't live close)

UP City of Los Angeles

SP San Joaquin Daylight

AT&SF Chief

Amtrak North Coast Hiawatha

Vanished trains I am glad I did ride:

AT&SF Super Chief

SP Coast Daylight -- first train ride ever. 3 years old, and the red/orange/black train made a huge impression.

D&RGW Rio Grande Zephyr

Amtrak Desert Wind

Amtrak Pioneer

Amtrak Sunset Limited NOL-Orlando

VIA Canadian (CP route)

VIA Atlantic Limited (CP across Maine)

BCR Cariboo Dayliner

You and I have something in common. My first trip, also, was at age 3 on the Dixie Flagler from Chattanooga to Daytona Beach. I barely remember bits and pieces of it. It made a huge impression on me as the SP train did for you.

You have an interesting list both of what you have and have not ridden. I do not think too many people today know that there was a Santa Fe train just named the "Chief",no more than that.

 

[railiner]

I have had the good fortune to have ridden on almost every route that Amtrak has ever operated on a regular scheduled basis through the years including all the variations of the Chicago Florida train. The only ones I missed were those two from a few years ago that ran from Chicago to Jansesville, Wi., and the other one to central Wisconsin (forgot terminal). As for routes that I missed prior to Amtrak, that I wish I could ride today would include the aforemention Olympian Hiawatha, and the San Francisco Chief, and the Golden State, and the Colorado Eagle, and the Royal Gorge, and the Texas Zephyr, and any FEC limited, and many more over now freight only or abandoned routes.

The most fond memory is of what my friend referred to as the 'convincer'.....the train that he correctly identified as the one that would make a railfan out of me.

It ran during the off season. It was the combined Burlington Route Afternoon Twin Cities Zephyr/Great Northern Empire Builder/Northern Pacific North Coast Limited.

What a colorful train that was! Especially when the BN first merged. Cars were in CB&Q stainless, NP two tone green, GN orange and green and later big sky blue, and even a few newly painted in BN green and white. And talk about vista-domes! Everything from dome coaches, dome parlor buffets, dome sleepers, and the Great Dome lounge. Sometimes there were 7 or 8 of 'em on the combined train. During the peak summer and holiday season the train ran as separate sections.