Private railroad cars roll back in time

 

CINCINNATI, Ohio (AP) -- Financial barons and wealthy socialites once traveled the country on luxurious private railroad cars, dining on fine china and crystal and pampered by stewards. Today's travelers can recapture that romantic era with journeys on some of the same cars.

 

A relatively small number of train devotees have purchased and refurbished the private rail cars familiar in the first half of the 20th century -- the golden age of passenger rail travel...

 

 

Find this article at:

http://www.cnn.com/2006/TRAVEL/DESTINATIONS/10/05/private.railroad.cars.ap/index.html 

 

Link to the Cincinnati Railway Company: http://www.cincinnatirailway.com/equipment.htm 

Last spring I passed up a chance for a Chicago - St. Louis group trip on cars including the Royal Street. A friend who made the trip said it was a wonderful experience.

 

Twenty years ago or so, as an anniversary gift I bought my parents a day trip from Fort Wayne to Peru, Indiana and return on a private car. I can't remember the name of the car, but it was a parlor/lounge car of Pere Marquette provenance, I think. The car was gorgeous inside and out; the paint was clean and shiny, and on the interior everything was immaculate and the car smelled fresh and clean.

 

They loved it. Service was impeccable, snacks were perfect, and everything was done in the full tradition of the glory days of railroading. The car was on the tail end of a steam excursion train pulled by NKP 765, and the layover time for turnaround and service in Peru was filled by a special performance of the Peru Circus.

Here's some pix of a recent private car excursion in New England.  A good friend of mine, Tom McOwen of Cincinnati was on this trip with his restored Northern Pacific streamlined "Dome" car. The photos were taken at Palmer, Massachusetts by Mark McInerney and were posted on the New England Rail Photo Archive Website: http://archive.nerail.org/show/?bydate:4