More Classic Roger: That First Train Ride

This first appeared here on The Blue Parrot on November 10, 2010.

That First Train Ride

Finishing off the week, a little more nostalgia. Of the transportation kind.

The art director for this photo shoot sure touched all the right buttons here. Mother and daughter in matching red jackets, not to mention hair styles. The table at the far end of the dining car set with all the classic Union Pacific items including the red carnations, Streamliner silver and china. Even the childrens dining car menu being read by Mom there.

And lunch looks pretty good too! Some great meals (as usual) from the crew in the kitchen. 

My first trip on a long distance passenger train was about 9 years after this view. On the Streamliner City of San Francisco on the Southern Pacific on Labor Day of 1963. From Truckee to Oakland, with my mother and infant sister. And my dining experience wasn’t this ornate, but just as special. The Espee, cost cutting at work, had created the Automated Dining Car or Automat. Save money but cutting out all the waiters and cooks jobs with just a single attendant for the vending machines to make change and operate those radar range ovens.

My 50-50 orange and vanilla ice cream bar tasted pretty special as we made the big sweeping curve coming into the station in downtown Sacramento. And it is something I still recall fondly many trips over the Sierra later.

Remember yours?