Background: Resources for Train Travel

I used various resources in planning and getting ready for my trip, including the following books, magazines and websites. As my friend Tim Kelly says, never neglect the research function.

• The Amtrak website, www.amtrak.com , which has all the information about routes, schedules and fares that you need to plan a trip.
• All Aboard! The Complete North American Train Travel Guide by Jim Loomis. Jim is a veteran traveler who has written multiple editions of this practical guidebook about travel on Amtrak. He also has a comprehensive blog called "Trains & Travel with Jim Loomis."
• Train: Riding the Rails That Created the Modern World - From the Trans-Siberian to the Southwest Chief, a 2014 book by Tom Zoellner which describes train trips he took in seven countries, including a trip from the northern tip of Great Britain to Land's End in the country where the railroad was invented, and a trip across the United States on Amtrak. Train received excellent reviews in the New York Times and other publications. Tom is a 1991 graduate of Lawrence University.  
• Nothing Like it In the World by Stephen Ambrose. The story of the building of the Transcontinental Railroad, completed 150 years ago in 1869. Written by the popular historian who grew up in Wisconsin and graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
• The Almanac of American Politics by Michael Barone and others, which provides capsule descriptions of all 50 states and all 435 Congressional districts. For each state and district, there's a brief description of its history, demographic characteristics, economy, and population and cultural trends. It also has detailed information about elections and politicians, but even if you're not interested in politics, you'll learn a lot from the background information about every area of the country.
• "Trains" magazine, from Kalmbach Publishing of Waukesha, Wisconsin, with features about railroad history and current industry developments.
• The Center for Railroad Photography & Art in Madison, Wisconsin, www.railphoto-art.org, which has online photo galleries, publishes a high-quality quarterly magazine and books, and puts on exhibitions around the country.
• Various websites on railroad history, including www.american-rails.com .
• Various travel guidebooks and videos from the Madison Public Library.  

Day 25: Final Leg - Chicago to Columbus, Wisconsin

The final leg of my trip took me from Chicago through Milwaukee to Columbus, Wisconsin, the Amtrak stop closest to Madison. I was on one of my favorite trains, the Empire Builder, actually repeating the first three hours of the trip. 

I enjoyed walking through the Chicago Loop at midday, with the cityscape dominated by skyscrapers and the Chicago River, and filled in with workers eating lunch and hurrying to their offices, the Elevated trains screeching overhead, and yellow cabs sounding their horns.

Then it was time for the train ride north through city neighborhoods and green suburbs, past factories and office parks, and into Milwaukee. From there a quick ride past lakes, farms, rivers and wetlands took me to Columbus, where our daughter picked me up for a ride home dominated by train stories.

It was a great trip, but it's always good to be home.

Midday at Federal Plaza in the Chicago Loop,
with sculpture by Alexander Calder and
buildings by Mies van der Rohe

The Third Ward on the Milwaukee River
just south of downtown Milwaukee,
where warehouses have been converted
to offices, stores and condos

Pewaukee Lake, west of Milwaukee

The Empire Builder getting ready
to head west from Columbus, Wisconsin
(I won’t be on it ... for now)

Day 25: Back to Chicago - Circumnavigation Completed

Arrived back in Chicago on Thursday morning, May 30, on the Lake Shore Limited. My circumnavigation of the country has been completed! A few figures: In 25 days, I visited 31 states and traveled almost 8,500 miles by rail (and many more by streetcar, subway, bicycle, ferry, bus, car, running and walking - lots and lots of walking).

I’m feeling good. Maybe I’ll do another lap. (Just kidding - although I’m taking the Empire Builder from Chicago to Columbus, Wisconsin on Thursday afternoon, so I’ll do a second lap for about three hours.)

For lunch I went to the Berghoff, a classic, wood-paneled, old-line German restaurant in the Loop. When I worked as an Amtrak waiter in 1975, it was a traditional place for crew members to go at the end of a run for a sandwich and a beer. Back then, the bar didn’t have stools, so you’d stand at the rail, like in the old black and white photographs.

At Union Station I met Antje and Jan, two Germans who are bicycling across much of the United States. They'd ridden across the Appalachians and then taken the train to Chicago, and next are taking a train to Denver and then riding to Astoria in Oregon. I offered to buy them lunch at the Berghoff but they said they could get German food at home and instead rode off to do a bicycle tour along the Chicago lakefront in between trains. Good choice. I would have done the same thing.

Union Station, Chicago 

Map showing where I went on my trip

Jan and Antje from Germany,
cycling across the United States

The Berghoff, in the Loop

The bar at the Berghoff

Background: The Dining Cars

The dining cars on the trains are very enjoyable. They’re great places to meet people, enjoy the scenery and have a good meal. The food is good, with a half-dozen basic selections for each meal.

When I worked as a waiter on the dining cars in 1975, the trains had real china and linen tablecloths, and quite a few different dishes were cooked on board. The cooks could do amazing things in the small, cramped kitchen as the train rocked and rolled at close to 80 miles per hour. It’s not as fancy now but it’s still good.

In 1975, the dining cars mostly used a classic configuration that had been used for years. There were 12 four-top tables on one end of the car, and a pantry that the six waiters used along with a kitchen for the three cooks at the other end. A steward oversaw everything, seating customers and making sure everything ran smoothly. A car with the classic setup is on display at the California State Railroad Museum (see photos below).

The current dining car on the Empire Builder 

Display at California Railroad Museum
showing traditional dining car with waiter in pantry 
and cook in kitchen in background

Display at California Railroad Museum
showing kitchen on traditional dining car

Background: Why Travel by Train?

Traveling by train is interesting and enjoyable. It's a great way to connect with people, places and history.

It's easy to meet a wide variety of people on trains. Meals in the dining car provide opportunities for conversation. On the long-distance trains, the observation and lounge car is a great place to meet people.

Train trips help you appreciate how big and varied our country is. You see scenic landscapes, farms, small towns and cities. You also see factories, mines, oil rigs, warehouses, railyards, ships and barges, which remind you of the things that need to be done every day to keep the country running.

Train travel helps you think about our country's history too. Railroads changed the United States from a country of small farms and small towns to an industrial nation that expanded across the continent. They employed hundreds of thousands of people and dominated the economy and public attention in the Nineteenth Century the way the automobile and technology companies have in later decades. They're still vitally important to the movement of goods and people today.  

Train travel is relaxing, somewhat mesmerizing and a good way to get a different perspective on things. As the coffee cups say, “Amtrak: Change how you see the world.”

Amtrak: Change how you see the world

Background: Family Vacations on the Train

Trains are great for family vacations. When our twin daughters were 12, in 2011, we took an overnight train from Columbus, Wisconsin to Glacier National Park. Our daughters really enjoyed watching the scenery, eating in the dining car and sleeping in the roomettes.

Departing from Columbus, Wisconsin

Enjoying the roomette 

Dinner on the Empire Builder

Admiring the scenery

Day 24: The Erie Canal and the Railroads

I drove to Waterford, north of Albany, to see the Erie Canal. There was also a good exhibit about it at the New York State Museum. In the early 1800s the Erie Canal was a technological challenge, a financial gamble, and a subject of heated political debate. When it was completed, it opened the west to expanded settlement, funneled trade to New York City and made it the predominant commercial center of the country, and gave rise to a thriving belt of technologically innovative cities across upstate New York.

However, after a few years of dominating freight and passenger traffic, the canal was succeeded by the railroads as the dominant means of transportation, although it continued to operate. The scale of operations eventually attained by the railroads is illustrated by several buildings in Albany, the former Union Station, which once served 100 trains per day, and the huge former headquarters of the Delaware & Hudson Railroad, a Gothic style building which now houses another massive organization, the State University of New York System.

The Lake Shore Limited to Chicago parallels the Mohawk River and the Erie Canal after leaving Albany. It also parallels I-90, so several different eras of transportation can be seen next to each other.

The Erie Canal at Waterford

Early railroad which competed with the Erie Canal
(exhibit at New York State Museum)

Former Union Station, Albany

Former headquarters of
the Delaware & Hudson Railroad, Albany

Day 24: Tour of Albany

Albany is an interesting city, with a lot of fascinating architecture. Visited the Nineteenth Century Capitol first. Quite an amazing place. Huge, ornate, with incredible craftsmanship. Three major stairways with distinctive designs, stone carvings and chandeliers. Also has a hall of paintings of New York scenes from the past two centuries, which is a nice touch.

The Empire State Plaza was Governor Nelson Rockefeller’s initiative, a modern, massive, stark Brasilia-style plaza with four identical high-rise state office buildings, the state history museum and other office buildings. It’s imposing and impersonal.

Walked around downtown, visited the history museum and then drove north to Waterford to see the Erie Canal. I’ll do a separate post on the canal and the railroads.

New York State Capitol

Empire State Plaza

Albany City Hall,
by Henry Hobson Richardson

Capitol view from Corning Tower on
Empire State Plaza

Day 23: Along the Hudson River to Albany

On Tuesday I retraced my train route from Boston to New York City and then took the train from New York to Albany along the Hudson River. The direct train from Boston to Albany had been canceled, perhaps due to track work, which necessitated the two-step trip through New York City.

The two and one-half hour ride up the Hudson was spectacular. The weather was quite different from the weekend, cloudy, gray and misty, which made the scenery perhaps even more dramatic. The train closely follows the east bank of the Hudson for most of the trip, with great views of the palisades, bluffs, and deep green hills with wisps of mist on the opposite shore.

We passed many historical sites and landmarks along the way, including the George Washington Bridge, Tarrytown (site of Washington Irving's "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow"), the Sing Sing Prison at Ossining, the West Point Military Academy, and Hyde Park (Franklin D. Roosevelt's home), among other places.

Arrived in Albany late in the afternoon. It's a city with lots of interesting older buildings along with the Empire State Plaza, which has a Brasilia-like series of stark office towers set along a plaza leading to the ornate Nineteenth Century State Capitol. Stayed in a bed-and-breakfast in a block of row houses across from a large leafy park.

West Point Military Academy

View across the Hudson River
north of West Point

Bridge across Hudson at Rhinebeck

Washington Park neighborhood in Albany

Day 22: Boston

Drove from Portland to Boston in the morning. Weather was beautiful - sunny and in the 70s.

Visited my Aunt Connie (my mother's sister) at her retirement home in Cambridge in the morning. Minor glitch - I arrived about 15 minutes before my 10:00 a.m. scheduled arrival time, but was caught in gridlocked traffic behind the Cambridge Memorial Day parade, which was passing right in front of the retirement home, so by the time I waited for all the bands and Little League teams and fire trucks to go by and parked several blocks away, it was 10:30.

In the afternoon, visited my cousin Anne (on my father's side of the family) in Brookline. We took the "T" (streetcar/subway) downtown and spent most of the afternoon walking through the colonial houses in the North End, past Paul Revere's Old North Church and along the waterfront to the U.S.S. Constitution, then back along the harbor walk past many new hotels and condo developments. Big sports day in Boston - Bruins played in the Stanley Cup Finals at the Boston Garden at 8:00 p.m. and Red Sox played at Fenway at 4:00. Finished our walk at the Boston Common, where thousands of American flags had been placed on the lawn to honor veterans for Memorial Day.

Anne at her Brookline home

Boston Bruins fans on the “T”

U.S.S. Constitution,
with Bunker Hill Monument in background

Memorial Day Flags on
Boston Common

Days 20 and 21: Portland, Maine

Drove to Portland on Saturday to visit my mother’s cousin and childhood best friend Janet. She’s in her 90s and is an avid book reader and excellent photographer. She takes care of the pond behind her condo, does research on her iPhone and enjoys life.

Toured Portland today. It’s an attractive and lively city with lots of solid Nineteenth Century red-brick buildings in the Old Port area. I went on a ferry ride in Casco Bay, walked around the Old Port area, and went on a bicycle ride along the Eastern Promenade.

Portland’s Old Port area

Bicycling along Portland’s Eastern Promenade

My mother’s cousin Janet and
her daughter Abi and son-in-law Scott

Days 19 and 20: Concord, New Hampshire

On Friday, I took an early train from Providence to Boston and then took a bus to Concord, New Hampshire to visit my college roommate, Chris Porter, and his wife Margaret, who's a historical biographical novelist. They live in a former municipal water pumping station built in 1890 with a recent residential addition in a pleasant neighborhood of mostly older colonial homes.

Visited the 1819 New Hampshire State Capitol, which includes a 400-seat House of Representatives, the largest state legislative body in the country. Margaret is a former state representative, so she was a good tour guide. Also toured Concord, including the Main Street lined with Nineteenth Century red brick storefronts, and St. Paul's School, a well-known quintessential New England prep school.

On Saturday morning, took part in a very popular New Hampshire tradition, attending a Presidential primary campaign event at a home in Chris and Margaret's neighborhood. This one was for Mayor Pete Buttigieg from South Bend. It was well-attended and the weather was great. I was told that there are dozens of similar events in Concord in a given primary cycle; some residents are diligent about attending many of them before deciding who to vote for, and others are more selective.

Margaret and Chris Porter 

New Hampshire State Capitol

Margaret pointing out her former seat
in the 400-seat House of Representatives

Presidential primary campaign event
for Mayor Pete Buttigieg

Day 18: New York City to Providence

Took a midday train for the three and one-half hour ride from New York to Providence. An all-coach train, filled to capacity. After we emerged from the tunnel under the East River at Sunnyside, Queens, we had some good views of Amtrak's Sunnyside yards, the midtown Manhattan skyline and the massive bridges connecting the boroughs.

Then it was on through the affluent New York and Connecticut suburbs close to the city (New Rochelle, Stamford and so forth), the belt of somewhat tired industrial cities in central Connecticut (Bridgeport, New Haven and others), and some scenic stretches in eastern Connecticut with harbors full of sailboats and weekend homes on the water,

After arriving in Providence, I toured the State Capitol. It's nice, built in 1904, with a very ornately painted interior under the dome and an interesting chandelier. It has some similarities to Wisconsin's and California's Capitols, because it's situated within a large park, but it's some distance from the center of Providence and doesn't show many signs of activity except during the day when there's legislative activity.

Then it was on to a walking tour of Providence: Benefit Street, with attractive Colonial houses; the Providence Athenaeum, an 1838 library and reading room with books and artifacts; Brown University, with a somewhat mixed collection of brick and stone buildings around a historic quad; and the downtown, with some interesting newer and older buildings.

Finally, I watched WaterFire, an event at dusk in a cove between downtown and the Capitol where boats with torch-bearers are used to light a circle of floating braziers, creating a ring of fire, accompanied by music. It's quite a scene and draws a large crowd. To add to the excitement, while waiting for the event to begin I came across a reception for a National Association of State Treasurers conference and chatted with several of the attendees about various money management and public policy issues such as the administration of state unclaimed property programs.

Rhode Island State Capitol

Providence Athenaeum

Brown University:
Prospect Gates and University Hall

The East Side has many houses from the 1800s

Day 17: The Jane Hotel (Out of the Ordinary)

I stayed at a highly unique hotel in New York City: The Jane Hotel, in Greenwich Village, a few blocks south of the High Line. Quirky, reasonably priced, and fascinating.

The Jane was originally a lodging house for seamen, who walked there from the piers across the West Side Highway. It's in a 1908 red-brick building designed by the same architect who designed the buildings at Ellis Island. Everything is very nicely designed and solidly built.

The standard rooms are small, like ship's cabins (or roomettes on trains), with one bed or bunks. Shared bathrooms are down the hall; robes are provided. As a bonus, the bathroom windows have views of the Statue of Liberty, especially nice when it's lit up at night.

The Jane has many advantages: Interesting architecture and décor, reasonable rates ($125 per night for a single), great location, friendly staff and an eclectic clientele. They say they have a long tradition of housing guests with more dash than cash. (I wonder if I qualify in the "dash" category?)

Check-in at The Jane Hotel

Standard single room at The Jane Hotel

Room at The Jane (like a ship’s cabin)

Old Rose restaurant/coffee shop at The Jane

Day 17: Washington to New York City

Took a morning train from Washington to New York City, riding in coach. The train was filled close to capacity. It's a much different atmosphere than on the long-distance trains in the West. People are inclined to keep to themselves, in part because many of them are traveling for work purposes and are getting ready for meetings or checking email, but I think also because the pace of life in the East is faster and people aren't as inclined to chat and just want to go about their business.

The train passed the row houses of Baltimore, the scenic rivers flowing into the Chesapeake Bay, and the bank buildings and chemical plants in Wilmington, Delaware. In Philadelphia, we caught glimpses of the city skyline, the Art Museum where Rocky ran up the steps, the picturesque boathouses used by the crew teams on the Schuylkill River, and a lot more row houses.

Everything got more dense as we approached Manhattan through New Jersey. We could see the Manhattan skyline in the distance just before we entered the tunnel under the Hudson that took us into Pennsylvania Station.

Row houses in Baltimore

Boathouses on Schuylkill River in Philadelphia

Manhattan skyline from New Jersey