by jonnhrr
The mention of timetables reminded me of A-day May 1 1971. A bunch of us railfans at school in "the Leaky Valley"
Bethlehem PA coincidentally were planning a trip that day which was Saturday down to Philly. The only question was, would the Reading RDC to Philly still be running or would it be another casualty of the Amtrak takeover? No internet in those days, no checking of RR.net. We showed up at the station and waited. The scheduled departure time came and went. No train. We were just about to give up when we heard the crossing gates on 3rd St. go down and the RDC slowly rumbled in about 20 minutes late. We gratefully scrambled aboard.
Oh the timetables. When we got to "cennercity" we immediately made a beeline for 30th Street and the information desk and got our copies of the first Amtrak System Timetable. I still have mine somewhere in my little collection. I remember time spent in the dorm poring over it imagining all the cool places you could go. Some of those I plan to be finally getting to 50 years later this September.
Bethlehem PA coincidentally were planning a trip that day which was Saturday down to Philly. The only question was, would the Reading RDC to Philly still be running or would it be another casualty of the Amtrak takeover? No internet in those days, no checking of RR.net. We showed up at the station and waited. The scheduled departure time came and went. No train. We were just about to give up when we heard the crossing gates on 3rd St. go down and the RDC slowly rumbled in about 20 minutes late. We gratefully scrambled aboard.
Oh the timetables. When we got to "cennercity" we immediately made a beeline for 30th Street and the information desk and got our copies of the first Amtrak System Timetable. I still have mine somewhere in my little collection. I remember time spent in the dorm poring over it imagining all the cool places you could go. Some of those I plan to be finally getting to 50 years later this September.
Courage is not the absence of fear; it is the determination that some things are more important than fear.