Nostalgia & History > Passengers Lay Down, Halt Train

While cleaning out my basement (what else is there to do?) during the COVID-19 pandemic, I came across some old newspapers that my parents had saved during the Apollo 11 voyage to the moon.  On July 17, 1969, the front page contained this story:

PASSENGERS LAY DOWN, HALT TRAIN
ALTOONA, Pa.  (AP)

Some 35 persons protesting what they called poor conditions on the once famed Spirit of St Louis laid in front of the train and held it up for one hour and 35 minutes Wednesday night.  

The passengers spontaneously got off the train during a short lay-over at the Altoona station and laid in front of the locomotive.

They told Penn Central Railroad Co. officials that they wouldn't move until the railroad repaired their car.  They said the car didn't have water, air conditioning or electricity.

"Good accomodtions for the moon, but a lousy train ride west of New York," said one passenger, apparently referring to Apollo-11, the moon shot launched Wednesday.

Penn Central officials repaired the car and it continued en route to St. Louis from New York.  The railroad says it's trying to eliminate the run because it's losing money.

 

Interesting article—thanks for sharing. Read Peter Lyon’s book “To Hell in a Day Coach” for some more background on Penn Central and other RR’s notoriously bad passenger service in the late 60’s. I was a kid riding the trains then, but still knew something was very wrong. Amtrak’s LDT’s now are very close to what this era looked like— history repeats itself— as always.

Interesting. 
In the late '60's my home was in Rochester, NY (Webster, actually) and was going to school in South Bend, IN,
I once took the train from Rochester to SB.
There was a 2 hour lay over in Buffalo, 4 hour layover in Cleveland, and another 2 hour delay in Toledo... 
It was rather like being waterboarded... Yikes!