Nostalgia & History > do you remember

when passenger trains left and arrived ON TIME! You could set your watch to them.

when employees and employers were proud of their trains, they were clean, the were the face to the public?

when multiple trains ran up the SP Coast Line with hand thrown switches and simple ABS and they ran faster than today's Amtrak?

when stations were manned the the agent was your friend?

What ever happen to those days?

Has all of America lost their sole?

Does anyone give a damn about anything besides themselves?

Bring back the "good old days."

Today's generation is all about themselves. What can you do for ME? And many apologists on TO who think that a passenger train that is within an hour of the advertised is acceptable.

These are the "good old days". If you can't find something to enjoy about the world or just railroading in general, then life is reduced to a pretty bleak remainder. I'm not old enough to have lived any of those examples you cited, but here I am, able to share my love of railroading with the rest of the world in near real-time... that's something we couldn't do back then, right?

Doom and gloom is so excruciatingly exhausting anymore.

-Ryan

I recall reading that the president of the IC had an office at the old Central Station, and each day he would look out the window to check if the City of New Orleans was on time.

iliketrains Wrote:
----------------------------
>
> Has all of America lost their sole?
>

the last sole I lost came up the cheap imitation of Bruno Magli shoes

Posted from Android

Agreed.

BN7149 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> These are the "good old days". If you can't find
> something to enjoy about the world or just
> railroading in general, then life is reduced to a
> pretty bleak remainder. I'm not old enough to
> have lived any of those examples you cited, but
> here I am, able to share my love of railroading
> with the rest of the world in near real-time...
> that's something we couldn't do back then, right?
>
> Doom and gloom is so excruciatingly exhausting
> anymore.
>
> -Ryan

Posted from iPhone

iliketrains Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> when passenger trains left and arrived ON TIME!
> You could set your watch to them.

I think this is still the case for many commuter rail services and, perhaps, Amtrak's Northeast Corridor.
>
> when employees and employers were proud of their
> trains, they were clean, the were the face to the
> public?

However, after World War II, passenger train service started going down hill with the decline accelerating in the 1960s as highways were developed and the post-office dropped its mail contracts with the railroads. Talk to anyone who rode commuter or intercity trains on the New York Central and Pennsylvania Railroad (and successor Penn Central) and they would paint a very different picture than what you describe. Other railroads, such as the SP with its Automat car were also problematic.
>
> when multiple trains ran up the SP Coast Line with
> hand thrown switches and simple ABS and they ran
> faster than today's Amtrak?
>
In some parts of California, there are more passenger trains now than there were 50 years ago.

> when stations were manned the the agent was your
> friend?
>
One may not have always encountered friendly station agents working for railroads trying to get out of the passenger business.

Now, some stations are staffed by women.

> What ever happen to those days?

Those days were not always better than now.
>
> Has all of America lost their sole?
>
While many Americans have lost the soles of poorly made shows, those who enjoy listening to soul music (which includes me) can find it in many places!

> Does anyone give a damn about anything besides
> themselves?

I don't know where you live, but my local paper publishes a weekly column titled "Random Acts of Kindness" written by people helped in difficult situations by strangers.

Sure there are self-centered people, but there are also many kind, altruistic people. Self-centeredness is hardly a new trait, either.

>
> Bring back the "good old days."

While this request is appropriate in a forum titled "Nostalgia & History" in many respects, the old days weren't always so good.

RuleG Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> iliketrains Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > when passenger trains left and arrived ON TIME!
>
> > You could set your watch to them.
>
> I think this is still the case for many commuter
> rail services and, perhaps, Amtrak's Northeast
> Corridor.
> >
> > when employees and employers were proud of
> their
> > trains, they were clean, the were the face to
> the
> > public?
>
> However, after World War II, passenger train
> service started going down hill with the decline
> accelerating in the 1960s as highways were
> developed and the post-office dropped its mail
> contracts with the railroads. Talk to anyone who
> rode commuter or intercity trains on the New York
> Central and Pennsylvania Railroad (and successor
> Penn Central) and they would paint a very
> different picture than what you describe. Other
> railroads, such as the SP with its Automat car
> were also problematic.
> >
> > when multiple trains ran up the SP Coast Line
> with
> > hand thrown switches and simple ABS and they
> ran
> > faster than today's Amtrak?
> >
> In some parts of California, there are more
> passenger trains now than there were 50 years
> ago.
>
> > when stations were manned the the agent was
> your
> > friend?
> >
> One may not have always encountered friendly
> station agents working for railroads trying to get
> out of the passenger business.
>
> Now, some stations are staffed by women.
>
> > What ever happen to those days?
>
> Those days were not always better than now.
> >
> > Has all of America lost their sole?
> >
> While many Americans have lost the soles of poorly
> made shows, those who enjoy listening to soul
> music (which includes me) can find it in many
> places!
>
> > Does anyone give a damn about anything besides
> > themselves?
>
> I don't know where you live, but my local paper
> publishes a weekly column titled "Random Acts of
> Kindness" written by people helped in difficult
> situations by strangers.
>
> Sure there are self-centered people, but there are
> also many kind, altruistic people.
> Self-centeredness is hardly a new trait, either.
>
> >
> > Bring back the "good old days."
>
> While this request is appropriate in a forum
> titled "Nostalgia & History" in many respects, the
> old days weren't always so good.

Very well said.

I have to agree with the original post, only in different terms.
I MISS the days of HW passenger trains that ran on time, pulled by steam or first generation diesels which were oddities
I MISS roundhouses and engine terminals, smoky with steam engines going about their daily business and crawling with people.
I MISS the local depots which had agents who were the face of the railroad in small towns. And the sound of the telegraph sounder.
I MISS the local visiting said small towns and switching using an old 2-8-0 or a Mike.
I MISS water towers, coal chutes, wood interlocking towers, crossing watchman towers or ground level.
I MISS being asked what my Dad did and telling them he was an engineer on the railroad and seeing the envy in their eyes.
I MISS cabooses.
I MISS 40' cars with roofwalks, stock cars, outside braced cars.
I MISS Semaphores, train orders and multiple sections of a train.
I MISS lying in bed with the window open at night and hearing the Frisco leaving the yard and tackling the hill to Kirkwood.
I MISS lying in bed with the window open at night and listening to MP doubleheaders tackling Kirkwood Hill for 30 minutes
So I do dearly miss the days when I grew up, the attitude of the country then and being able to walk the street at night.
And to me THESE will never be the good old days. We have many trains a day through where I live now. Two yellow painted boxes and 120 hoppers and another yellow box. No depot, no real presence in town. Just tracks and yellow boxes and BNSF painted boxes.
Sigh................



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/18/14 07:26 by Frisco1522.

BN7149 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> These are the "good old days". If you can't find
> something to enjoy about the world or just
> railroading in general, then life is reduced to a
> pretty bleak remainder. I'm not old enough to
> have lived any of those examples you cited, but
> here I am, able to share my love of railroading
> with the rest of the world in near real-time...
> that's something we couldn't do back then, right?
>
> Doom and gloom is so excruciatingly exhausting
> anymore.
>
> -Ryan

Ryan - I guess you had to be there to know what you are missing.

Way different life now - not a good as the one I grew up in.

Too bad - you've missed so much.....much soul. Heart and soul of America.

I chose to reproduce as much as I could of the railroading that I remember in HO gauge. Frisco Ry in Newburg, MO ca. 1943

Models simply don't capture it for me.

Models, photos and memories are all I have left.

Frisco1522 --
So well-said. I really like everything on your list,
even though I was not a railfan until I was a grown
woman, so I missed enjoying all that. I miss that era
a lot, too, although there were some things about
the past that were not so nice. But we had a lot of
really neat trains back then, and many, many separate
railroads. And there were the people -- lots of them, and
in places where the public was often welcome, or at
least not actively discouraged from being in.

EDIT:
I also miss a LOT the many name train of the glory days
that I never ever got to ride even once (except for the
"Coast Daylight"):
the Broadway Limited
the 20th Century
the California Zephyr
the City of San Francisco
the City of Los Angeles
the City of Portland
the Portland Rose
the Sunset Limited
the City of New Orleans
the Overland Limited
the Hiawatha -- at 120 mph behind streamliined 4-6-4s

And all the others I cannot now remember.
I want them ALL back, on their original routes,
with all their original equipment in superb condition,
with friendly, well-trained, superb crews.

Oh -- and the FOOD served in the glory days on all
the name trains -- how I would love to have all of that
back.

I miss all that.....



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 09/19/14 16:41 by Margaret_SP_fan.

I suppose we could blame today's conditions on the Government (that all-purpose "whipping boy"). For many of us things started to go downhill in the 1950s. The Eisenhower administration sponsored the Interstate Highway program, that made it easier for buses and trucks to travel between cities. The Department of Defense supported the aviation industry; I suspect that much of the development for the B-47 bomber translated into the 707 and other jet transport planes. Cheap used cars and cheap gasoline made it possible for even those at the low end of the financial food chain to have their own wheels and travel on their own timetable rather than the streetcar or bus schedule.