Railfans

[fritzkep]

And another song to get in the mood for train travel is "Beyond the Blue Horizon". I much prefer the Morton Gould orchestral version which builds up speed much like a locomotive, but that's not on YouTube. But, there's always the original, from the 1930 movie Monte Carlo, as sung by Jeanette MacDonald.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWiPyStv_Hc

[fritzkep]

And of course, there's Glenn Miller's "Chattanooga Choo Choo", from Sun Valley Serenade.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2aj0zhXlLA

Interestingly, the second part of the piece with Dorothy Dandridge and the Nicholas Brothers singing and dancing was edited in such a way that it could be eliminated in theaters in the South, where performances by black artists were not welcomed, at least by the theater owners. Their loss.

[gnash]

A night stopover in San Antonio, a Southern Pacific steam locomotive decorated for Christmas

haha, excellent! loving the train pics, fritz!!

[gnash]

i heard a spoof of chattanooga choo choo and now when i hear the song all i think of is:

pardon me boy, is that the cat that chewed your new shoes?

[CellarDweller115]

i heard a spoof of chattanooga choo choo and now when i hear the song all i think of is:

pardon me boy, is that the cat that chewed your new shoes?

[janjo]

I have a few railway video's that  I have made on "You Tube." I always find choosing the music difficult. The first one I did has a kind of Blue Grass version of "Wreck of the Old 97" on it, and it works well, but as Fritz pointed out, it isn't very English.
For the second one which was all filmed in Wales, I used a folk song by two Welsh singers Huw and Tony Williams, called "Right Side of the Footplate Travelling by Steam."
The last one wasn't railway music at all but was Gustavo Santolalla's "Motorcycle Diaries."
I just can't think of many other pieces of British railway music.

There is this great Ewan McColl song "The Iron Road," here performed by Luke Kelly, but I haven't found any film that would fit it so far.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=deZadYK0pb4

[dejavu]

Union Station, Dallas

Nice Texas Eagle shots, Fritz.  Plus, that building in the background here (a block or so away from Union Station) is certainly unusual.  Like an old castle.

[dejavu]

One of the passengers

Hey there, Fritz!   

[dejavu]

The local northern New Mexico commuter rail system, Rail Runner, named after the state bird, the road runner.

 

Cute.

I'm looking forward to my next train ride, and will try to take some pictures.

[fritzkep]

A website about the Trans-Siberian. Would love some year to traverse all 9288 km!

http://www.transsib.ru/Eng/

[Nikki]

Hey Fritzey, I rode the Southerner a number of times from New Orleans to Washington D.C., and New York thought I would never get there -- think it was like 27 hours.  I would love to ride the train from Montreal to the west coast. Nowdays I would get a sleeper or cabin or whatever they call it.  I would never sit up again!!!

[fritzkep]

Yes, I've taken that train a few times myself, once back in 1970 before it became Amtrak, the Southern Crescent then. Fortunately, sleeping in the coach car doesn't bother me, especially when I can sprawl out over two seats!

And I'd love to take the Canadian from Toronto too! Or even better, the Canadian from Vancouver to Toronto, the shuttle to Montréal, and the Ocean to Halifax! A dream trip!

[dejavu]

Yes, I've taken that train a few times myself, once back in 1970 before it became Amtrak, the Southern Crescent then. Fortunately, sleeping in the coach car doesn't bother me, especially when I can sprawl out over two seats!

I'm reading the book Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe, and it has a lot of train lore, as well as stories of the south (and southern food) in general.  An elderly woman mentions, in 1986, that the Southern Crescent used to run in the old days.  I wondered about that name change to the Crescent, but you have answered my questions, Fritz.

My train trip to New Orleans starts next Monday.  If I get any train pictures, I'll post them here.

[dejavu]

From Monday April 11 to Friday April 15, I took a round-trip ride on the AMTRAK Crescent from Philadelphia, PA to New Orleans, LA.  Train #19 on the way down, in the route guide; train #20 on the way back.

These were single-decker Viewliner trains, with two sleeper cars, numerous coach cars, a dining car, a lounge/cafe car, and a baggage car, in addition to the engines.


This is the best picture of the whole train that I was able to get.  It was taken at the Meridian, Mississippi station, where we had time to get out and walk around.

[dejavu]

Train arriving at Philadelphia's 30th Street station, where I started my trip.