Europe's trains

When that young lady got married she found a like-minded guy who also loved riding the trains. After they made several transcontinental trips by train (pre-Amtrak) some with a six-year-old, they ventured overseas. At first they used the four-wheeled vehicle type of transportation but after a while HE got tired of the double yellow lines and not being able to enjoy the scenery so they tried out the trains in Britain and on the continent.

Both were more than satisfactory. It was a time when boarding a train still meant opening the door to a compartment right from the platform. To HER this was like living a movie scene from now long-forgotten British or French films. Together they criss-crossed England, Scotland and Wales. They crossed the Channel and explored train stations in Paris, Copenhagen, Oslo, Hamburg--wherever trains would begin and end.

The wonderful novelty of reading a departure board in London's Victoria Station, noting the track number, rushing to board your train and then settling down in your compartment, often with several other passengers, was a far cry from the American experience of boarding a coach car and having seats lined up a la airline format. On the continent they rode one of the TGV trains from Paris to the south and marvelled at the speed. Nothing like this to compare in the U.S. How ridiculous!

Dining aboard was also a novelty at times. In the German trains they were served at their seats by a waitress, with china plates and stainless steel knives and forks. In many cases, a trolley was pushed through the cars, stocked with sandwiches, assorted snacks, tea or coffee, cold drinks.

Perhaps all this was too long ago. It's been several years since they've ridden European trains. But they know the TGV in France still exceeds any speeds in the U.S. Governments can give the people comfortable transportation without adding more highways and increasing pollution. If they can do it there, why not here?

Saving The Rails

Many years ago a young woman, fresh out of university, got her first real job as a ticket agent with Pennsylvania Railroad. On 47th Street in New York City, a large glass-fronted office provided travelers with information about rail trips, long or short, and the chance to buy tickets without going to the station. Several railroads--New York Central, New York New Haven & Hartford as well as Pennsylvania-- shared the huge space; counters where passengers planned long-distance holidays or bought their communter tickets lined the walls. Although there was no seating for the future travelers, it didn't seem to matter to them how long they had to stand to plan a trip. Ticket agents were prepared with timetables and brochures describing various routes across the country and the time needed to do this didn't matter to them, either.

The system map in those days was, compared to the present-day Amtrak system, extremely extensive. The transcontinental trains, the north-south routes, featured trains with nostalgic names: The City of New Orleans, The California Zephyr or The Broadway Limited. People were, of course, accustomed to a more leisurely pace to their cross-country trips as this was still before the desire for speed in getting from place to place.

What happened to "travelin' by train'? How did it become a third rate means of transportation for Americans? Why have other nations--Japan, France--surpassed the once superior railroads of the nation?