In this video of an eight millimeter home movie filmed in or around 1964, which was posted at the YOU TUBE web site by "MWANGERIN" on Wednesday 15 October 2008, we see the CHICAGO, MILWAUKEE, SAINT PAUL, AND PACIFIC RAILROAD (i.e., the "MILWAUKEE ROAD") "OLYMPIAN HIAWATHA" passenger train that Mama, my sisters, and I rode from Chicago, Illinois to Seattle, Washington in 1953 when I was seven years old.
We started our trip boarding a train in Owensboro, Kentucky.
In Seattle, we would board the "USNS GENERAL M. M. PATRICK" and sail to Yokohama, Japan to join Daddy at Ashiya Air Force Base on the island of Kyushu.
We had a private sleeping compartment on the train, ate in the dining car, and I remember us spending a lot of time in that uniquely distinctive "Skytop Lounge" rear solarium observation car, where I watched the passing scenery while Mama relaxed.
I don't think we ever went to the "Super Dome" car.
As I recall, I wanted to, but Mama wouldn't allow it, and I never knew why.
Is it possible she didn't want us kids climbing stairs on a moving train?
After all these years, I think I finally appreciate how difficult it must have been for Mama to control and protect three small children throughout that long trip across country.
One of the stops for the Milwaukee Road "Olympian Hiawatha" is Ellensburg, Washington, the town where I was born during a poker game in a tent beside the railroad tracks.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago,_Milwaukee,_St._Paul_and_Pacific_Railroad#Passenger_train_service
1 comment:
I rode her in 1954, and for years my Daddy was 2nd engine on the Patrick.
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