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Re: Missed opportunities: trips you wished you'd made
Author: Holly Gibson
Date: 02-06-2011 - 01:25
Where to begin?
I have a July 1956 OFFICIAL GUIDE reprint (the selling point was that it was made with good quality paper). After scanning the pages and dreaming of a time machine, I've fantasized about various itineraries that would take in mass quantities of track that's now abandoned or track that covers superb scenery and is now freight-only. Assuming that time and money would not be obstacles, I would have loved to have ridden all the branch line mixed trains, particularly of the western roads. Almost every UP branchline on the OSL and OWR&N had mixed train service up until about 1960. CB&Q had mixed trains on almost all of their branches, and ATSF had them on most of their midwest lines. The Olympian Hiawatha would have been a "must do." Ditto for the CP's Kettle Valley and Crowsnest Pass route. In the final years, almost all of that could have been covered in daylight by Budd RDC cars. CN service on Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and the Maritimes would have been high on the list. The Rock Island "Choctaw Route" and the C&NW's "Cowboy Line" would be high on the list. In 1956 the NWP was running an all-daylight schedule from San Rafael to Eureka. The NP's Budd car from Spokane to Lewiston would have been a great ride. Although they were already freight only in 1956, the SD&AE, the Camas Prarie branches, the GN between Spokane - Nelson, BC and the NP's St. Regis, MT - Wallace, ID line would have been high on the list. I never rode the GN between Spokane and Sandpoint or near Eureka, MT on the section of line that's now under a resevoir. Ditto for the WP under Lake Oroville. Now-abandoned-Ramsgate Hill on the ATSF's Peavine line was covered on several occasions by daylight excursions. SP's Lone Pine and Sterling City branches were also covered by excursions. The CP had a now-mostly-gone secondary line all across the Prairie provinces that hugged close to the U.S. border. It had mixed train service, but you had to take several trains and overnight in serveal towns along the way. That would have been an adventure. In 1956, there was very little Canadian freight-only mileage. Almost everything had at least a mixed train.
I would have liked to have taken an SP train to Del Rio, TX and crossed the border to Ciudad Acunya to catch an NdeM mixed train there. Most of the mileage in Mexico had at least mixed train service almost up to the end of NdeM's existence. Can't do that anymore.
Riding a sleeper to Hot Springs, AR, the Grand Canyon, West Yellowstone, Cedar City and Ketchum, ID would have been nice. The St. Louis - Mexico City through sleeper would have been a great ride. And, if you go back far enough, how about riding to Key West, FL and El Portal on the Yosemite Valley?
Riding the GN Budd car out of Butte, MT would have been nice. That track's abandoned. The NP's North Coast Limited was a train I would have liked to have ridden and never did.
The list just goes on and on and on . . . and if we knew then what we know now. **SIGH** I'm afraid we were born too late.
I have a July 1956 OFFICIAL GUIDE reprint (the selling point was that it was made with good quality paper). After scanning the pages and dreaming of a time machine, I've fantasized about various itineraries that would take in mass quantities of track that's now abandoned or track that covers superb scenery and is now freight-only. Assuming that time and money would not be obstacles, I would have loved to have ridden all the branch line mixed trains, particularly of the western roads. Almost every UP branchline on the OSL and OWR&N had mixed train service up until about 1960. CB&Q had mixed trains on almost all of their branches, and ATSF had them on most of their midwest lines. The Olympian Hiawatha would have been a "must do." Ditto for the CP's Kettle Valley and Crowsnest Pass route. In the final years, almost all of that could have been covered in daylight by Budd RDC cars. CN service on Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and the Maritimes would have been high on the list. The Rock Island "Choctaw Route" and the C&NW's "Cowboy Line" would be high on the list. In 1956 the NWP was running an all-daylight schedule from San Rafael to Eureka. The NP's Budd car from Spokane to Lewiston would have been a great ride. Although they were already freight only in 1956, the SD&AE, the Camas Prarie branches, the GN between Spokane - Nelson, BC and the NP's St. Regis, MT - Wallace, ID line would have been high on the list. I never rode the GN between Spokane and Sandpoint or near Eureka, MT on the section of line that's now under a resevoir. Ditto for the WP under Lake Oroville. Now-abandoned-Ramsgate Hill on the ATSF's Peavine line was covered on several occasions by daylight excursions. SP's Lone Pine and Sterling City branches were also covered by excursions. The CP had a now-mostly-gone secondary line all across the Prairie provinces that hugged close to the U.S. border. It had mixed train service, but you had to take several trains and overnight in serveal towns along the way. That would have been an adventure. In 1956, there was very little Canadian freight-only mileage. Almost everything had at least a mixed train.
I would have liked to have taken an SP train to Del Rio, TX and crossed the border to Ciudad Acunya to catch an NdeM mixed train there. Most of the mileage in Mexico had at least mixed train service almost up to the end of NdeM's existence. Can't do that anymore.
Riding a sleeper to Hot Springs, AR, the Grand Canyon, West Yellowstone, Cedar City and Ketchum, ID would have been nice. The St. Louis - Mexico City through sleeper would have been a great ride. And, if you go back far enough, how about riding to Key West, FL and El Portal on the Yosemite Valley?
Riding the GN Budd car out of Butte, MT would have been nice. That track's abandoned. The NP's North Coast Limited was a train I would have liked to have ridden and never did.
The list just goes on and on and on . . . and if we knew then what we know now. **SIGH** I'm afraid we were born too late.
