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?
No comments:
Post a Comment