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Do you have short anecdotes of what you have seen etc on the railroads?
Here is one from me.
Way back in time, 1950 actually, I along with my Aunt and two cousins were going on holiday to Bridlington. To catch the train at Leeds City Station the entrance was at the side of Queen's Hotel. A long passageway led to the ticket office on the right. My cousins and I waited beside two heavy suitcases whilst my aunt joined one of the many queues to purchase our train tickets.
As we waited I could see smoke faintly drifting down from the trains in the station. I looked towards the ticket office. It looked eerily dark with a faint glow from the lighting. Lighting shades that (I bet) had never been cleaned since before 1939. The smell of smoke drifting ever closer. How could anyone see what they were doing? Whatever; the sight has never left me. Amazing. I loved it.
Another little anecdote. This time it is the mid 1950s and living with my aunt and uncle and two cousins. The station is Dewsbury Market Place. The only times I ever went to the station was to go on the Annual Excursion to the Seaside. Southport or Cleethorpes were the main destinations.
Trains arriving at the station travelled through a tunnel. A short stretch of 20 yards leaving the tunnel before plunging into the station. Smoke was everywhere. Everywhere was dark and dingy. Once again the lighting was almost non-existent. I loved it.
The station opened in 1867, closed to passenger trains in 1930 (except for excursion trains). From 1930 it was a Goods Station and closed 1961.
More memories than anecdotes, but in the early 50s several times a year, my mother and I would board the train in Galveston, either the SF Texas Chief to Chicago or the Katy going to Kansas. Her Dad lived outside of Chicago and her grandmother lived in Girard KS. We always traveled coach and packed a lunch. Still love riding the train...
I was about five or six years old, back in the late '40's, when we took a Zephyr from Chicago to Quincy, Illinois, to visit my maternal grandparents. The train, probably one of the articulated shovel-nose Zephyrs, had to go through Burlington, IA, but after pulling into the station, had to back out on the wye, in order to continue down the West side of the Mississippi River. The conductor (brakeman?) stood in the rear of the round-end observation car, controlling the movement with the air hose he took out of a cabinet. He let me watch him. I also learned to balance without holding on to anything, with the train in motion.
In the late 60’s our Cub Scout pack did a summer day trip leaving Syracuse NY in the early morning and going to Albany by train. Someone discovered that the toilet flushed right onto the track. I think we all had to see it for ourselves. I bet that water tank was low before we left the station. Once we got to Albany we walked to the state capitol building and toured it then walked across the street and toured that then walked back to the train station and caught the train back to Syracuse. I don’t remember lunch but we probably took bag lunches with us
From the song, "City of New Orleans", "...the conductor sings his song again, 'passengers will please refrain' (from flushing toilets while the train is in the station.)" I guess AMTRAK uses closed tanks???
