Rail pass adventures
Jack Turner’s story [“The Spirit of ’76: Circling America by Rail,” page 16] evoked a memory of my first USA Railpass experience during 1977 spring break.
The route started in Rochester N.Y., and took me to visit a college chum in New England ended in Oakland, Calif. on the Coast Starlight.
“God looks after drunks and children,” was Dad’s advice when I left. Mom put vitamin supplements in my bag, but with most of my meals in dining cars, there was no need to worry about nutrition.
Highlights included a ride on a Clocker behind a silver, red, and blue GG1; the Southern Crescent from D.C. to New Orleans; and the Southwest Limited, still roughly on the Super Chief/El Cap schedule. I’d never been to Chicago or its rail terminals, but that wish was also fulfilled.
My California hosts, Warren and Adrienne Marcus, were the parents of another college chum. They happened to be friends of Richard Steinheimer. A phone call with Stein was yet another trip highlight!
Matt Farrand, Lewisburg, Pa.
This issue brought back fond memories from my own Amtrak trips in the mid1980s from Rochester, N.Y., to and from the University of Texas at El Paso. My normal route was the Lake Shore Limited to Chicago, Texas Eagle to San Antonio, and Sunset Limited to El Paso.
One year I rode the City of New Orleans out of Chicago (after an afternoon White Sox game) to connect with the Sunset in New Orleans, and a car attendant took me to a fine lunch in the adjacent New Orleans U.S. Post Office cafeteria. On the same trip I met Yankees’ great pitcher Ron Guidrey’s father, who was a conductor on the Sunset in Louisiana.
During these years, side trips to Milwaukee to visit a cousin and a Lake Cities Chicago–Detroit–Toledo connection to the eastbound Lake Shore also occurred. I was probably the only passenger into Toledo that night. Hard to believe that was three and a half decades ago.
Cameron Lonsdale, State College, Pa.
The old Seaboard station in Miami was on NW 7th Avenue, not NW 17th Avenue as stated. I took many SAL/SCL trains in and out of that station during the 1960s.
Paul Seidenman, San Francisco, Calif.