themnax
04-15-2006, 01:22 AM
anybody remember when railroads (u.s. and canada primarily, although now that europ seems to have gotten into that 'privitization' craze, the national railroads there) ran their own passinger trains? or greyhound and other interstate buss lines ran schedules almost or sometimes more then once an hour on major corridors?
over donner summit we had the city of san francisco. one of u.p.'s 'city' trains, that ran through to chicago from san fran (actualy the oakland 'mole' where the s.p. ferrys would take you accross the bay to the city). that was train 102 eastbound and 101 west. we also had 27 and 28, the overland, althoug no one called it the overland any more, it was just 27 and 28, the nonreserved seat 'local' passinger train that also ran between the oakland mole and chicago over the s.p., u.p., and milwaukee road. (or was c&nw, well i lived on the corridor over donner summit in california. still do)
we also had, when i was growing up in colfax, still did pretty much right up until amtrak as i recall, 21 and 22, the mail train.
when i was little, starting kindergarten in truckee, there was another, all pulman i think it was, schedule at least between sf and ogden.
and then the grey hound. that stopped everywhere and went everywhere there was anything resembling a major highway. and a lot of major highways were still 2 lane rather then four or more and devided. even what is now i-80, accross much of nevada was still 2 lane in the late 60s.
there was another interstate highway carrier too, trailways. they had bussess that were supposedly and in some ways were, classier, then greyhound's, but they didn't stop in as many towns or go as many places. they ran about like the trains, but mostly to where the trains didn't so that was ok.
growing up, with my dad not owning a car till the year i graduated highschool in 1966, we rode all of them. and it was fun. these are what i remembered enjoying the most about my own years growing up. riding the trains and bussess. and then the big cities in the bay area all had trolleys and really extensive bus systems. the bay area (san francisco) still has probably one of if not the, best public transit systems in the u.s. (though it HASN"T entirely kept pace with population growth)
well we rode the trains of course because on my dad's pass, he worked for the southern pacific railroad, we rode free. and i think greyhound, because it was somehow, though not closely affilliated, gave us some sort of discount on the basis of it.
even after amtrak. when the railroads finaly succeeded in dumping passinger service and it was up to the government to keep what we have now going, his pass was still good for the one way portion of a round trip fare.
yes i would have to say the best thing i remember about growing up was not HAVING to have a car. althoug i also remember envying my peers who'se parents had cars and took them places you, even then, couldn't get to on a bus or a train. but they still had to envy me too, for all the different places i had already lived growing up, at least untill we settled down in colfax and stayed there for 11 years.
=^^=
.../\...
over donner summit we had the city of san francisco. one of u.p.'s 'city' trains, that ran through to chicago from san fran (actualy the oakland 'mole' where the s.p. ferrys would take you accross the bay to the city). that was train 102 eastbound and 101 west. we also had 27 and 28, the overland, althoug no one called it the overland any more, it was just 27 and 28, the nonreserved seat 'local' passinger train that also ran between the oakland mole and chicago over the s.p., u.p., and milwaukee road. (or was c&nw, well i lived on the corridor over donner summit in california. still do)
we also had, when i was growing up in colfax, still did pretty much right up until amtrak as i recall, 21 and 22, the mail train.
when i was little, starting kindergarten in truckee, there was another, all pulman i think it was, schedule at least between sf and ogden.
and then the grey hound. that stopped everywhere and went everywhere there was anything resembling a major highway. and a lot of major highways were still 2 lane rather then four or more and devided. even what is now i-80, accross much of nevada was still 2 lane in the late 60s.
there was another interstate highway carrier too, trailways. they had bussess that were supposedly and in some ways were, classier, then greyhound's, but they didn't stop in as many towns or go as many places. they ran about like the trains, but mostly to where the trains didn't so that was ok.
growing up, with my dad not owning a car till the year i graduated highschool in 1966, we rode all of them. and it was fun. these are what i remembered enjoying the most about my own years growing up. riding the trains and bussess. and then the big cities in the bay area all had trolleys and really extensive bus systems. the bay area (san francisco) still has probably one of if not the, best public transit systems in the u.s. (though it HASN"T entirely kept pace with population growth)
well we rode the trains of course because on my dad's pass, he worked for the southern pacific railroad, we rode free. and i think greyhound, because it was somehow, though not closely affilliated, gave us some sort of discount on the basis of it.
even after amtrak. when the railroads finaly succeeded in dumping passinger service and it was up to the government to keep what we have now going, his pass was still good for the one way portion of a round trip fare.
yes i would have to say the best thing i remember about growing up was not HAVING to have a car. althoug i also remember envying my peers who'se parents had cars and took them places you, even then, couldn't get to on a bus or a train. but they still had to envy me too, for all the different places i had already lived growing up, at least untill we settled down in colfax and stayed there for 11 years.
=^^=
.../\...