Ch 4: Death Train

March 15th, 4:30 PM CT, Mile 90, 14 miles east of Princeton, IL

Jillian was amazed by the Sightseer lounge and its incredible view of everything around it. The floor-to-ceiling windows and curved roof skylights were what George had described, but they were absolutely breathtaking in person. These cars were, truly, the crowning jewel of not just the Superliners, but Amtrak's fleet in general.

In addition to being unabashed luxury conveyances on which to tour and sightsee the beautiful vistas that their western trains passed through, they were incredibly functional. They replaced the old dome cars that held 20 cramped people in their domes and 40 people in their lower level lounges, with a car that could seat 70 people, most of them in lounge seats, while providing two bars, a cafe, and at one time, even a private piano lounge. Moreover, their floor-to-ceiling windows meant they could survey not only vistas above the roof of the car, but below the car as well.

"Wow," Jill said, "That's all I can say."

"I know how you feel," George admitted, "But keep in mind that these trains don't hold a candle to the best trains that ran before Amtrak itself. My dad told me stories about the Super Chief that he ran and how it survived past Amtrak. Amtrak called the coach section of the train the El Captain and the sleeper section the Super Chief and he told me that when the load permitted, they'd be ran in separate sections."

"Even in the early days," he continued, "They'd be pulled by FP45's, the best engines in Santa Fe's fleet. They'd have the El Captain with four to eight hi-level coaches, the "Top-of-the-Cap" lounge- sorta a precursor to the Sightseer- and the huge six-axle, hi-level Diner. Sometimes coupled to the rear, and sometimes run separately, was the Super Chief, with a Slumbercoach, five to eight sleeping cars, a dining car, and the "Pleasure Dome" lounge with its Turquoise Room, a private dining room."

"They served first class meals, by Fred Harvey, and before Amtrak there would even be a observation car on the back. The food on the train would rival the finest restaurants."

"Wow," said Jill, "Although I'd say that Amtrak comes as close as anything to that these days."

"At its best, Amtrak can come surprisingly close," George admitted, "But at its lower end performances it's a shadow of that. Still, compared to the increasing inhumanity of transportation today, Amtrak is almost the equivalent. In today's world of travel, Amtrak is to other forms of transportation what the great name trains were in their day."

"Why do people travel any other way?" Jill asked, in wonderment.

"They are on the misconception that trains take too much time," he said, "People these days have forgotten that the point of life is to enjoy it. Spending several hours trapped in an uncomfortable tin can high off the ground being served bad food, if you are served anything at all, is seen as being a better use of time then enjoying yourself on the train for several days," he said, "But I myself can't see things that way."

"Me either," Jill averred with conviction, "How come Amtrak doesn't use these cars on the Broadway Limited?"

"It runs out of New York City. These trains don't fit under the electric catenary on the Northeast Corridor in many places," he said, "And even if they did, they couldn't fit into the Hudson River tunnels into Penn Station."

They sat in silence for a good long time, before Jill asked another question

"Couldn't they just expand the tunnels?" she asked.

"Maybe an ordinary tunnel, they could," he said, "but the Hudson River Tunnels are anything but ordinary."

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"At the time it was built, the Broadway was considered largely impossible," George explained, "It was considered impossible to build tracks over the Jersey salt marshes- Pennsylvania achieved this by elevating the tracks and laying the support posts down in the bedrock.

"But that was considered nothing compared to building a tunnel through the soft silt of the Hudson River. Stable tunneling earth would have meant putting the tunnels hundreds of feet below the bottom of the already deep river. The grades would have been impossible, not to mention the ventilation for the kind of smoke a steam engine would be putting out, which is what was used at the time.

"Pennsylvania's solution was two-fold and ingenius," he continued, "Typical Pennsy 'we can do it' attitude and thinking. The first thing was that the entire tunnel was to be electrified. Steam engines would be attached outside the tunnel- although that didn't last too long. Pennsylvania electrified the line to Washington, their subsidiary Long Island Rail Road electrified to Jamaica and Babylon shortly afterward, and the New York, New Haven, and Hartford electrified to New Haven.

"The second thing was pure ingenuity," he finished, "Instead of tunneling deep, or attempting to tunnel through the deep mud, they built a foundation down to bedrock, then laid large metal pipes on top of the foundation. The Hudson River Tunnels are, in reality, two metal pipes running from Jersey City to New York. Expanding them is impossible."

"Yeah, I can see that," Jill said, "they really were an impressive bunch, weren't they?"

"They weren't the largest private railroad in the world for nothing," he pointed out, "And they deserved the name 'Standard Railroad Of The World.' Pennsy overbuilt and over did everything. They built much of their own equipment. Their main electric passenger locomotive was the GG-1, and they went into service in 1934."

"They were considered the most beautiful engines ever built," he continued, "And justifiably so. They produced 4650bhp, unheard of for the time, and were incredible pieces of engineering. They also proved incredibly durable; they were finally taken out of service by NJ Transit, the last revenue run being by 4879 on October 28th, 1983.

"But what's more," he finished, "one of the last ones to retire, 4876, crashed into Washington Union Station on January 15th, 1953. It fell into what is now the food court. In order to get it out, they had to cut it in half, and they ended up welding it back together. Yet when it retired in 1983, 30 years after that crash, it was 44 years old!"

"Wow," said Jill, "This is all very interesting, but I can think of something I'd rather do right now then talk about trains."

"What's that?" George asked.

Jill reached down and petted his inner thigh, brushing against him. "You'll see."

With that she got up and walked in the direction of their sleeping car.

March 15th, 6:15 PM CT, O'Hare International Airport, Chicago, IL

Barry was quite frustrated. First of all, Krista and Justin didn't care to go to Salt Lake City. Second, Amtrak was entirely uncooperative with telling him what train his niece was on, nor what her destination was. That agent, Margaret, was entirely uncooperative- she seemed to almost be laughing at him. Especially since he described the douchebag who had taken his Jilly doll from him. She knew, but she wasn't going to tell him.

When he tried to get pointed, a couple of cops, identifying themselves as members of the Amtrak Police Department, came up and asked him his business. When he explained, he could have sworn he saw a look pass between them and Margaret. As soon as that happened, they seemed anxious to escort him out of the station, which they did.

However, when he leafed through the timetable again, he noticed that a train that went to Los Angeles left at the same time as the California Zephyr, and made the same stops at the same times up to Salt Lake City. When he asked someone who looked like they knew the place, he found out that up to Salt Lake City, they were the same train.

That crafty bastard, Barry thought, he took a different train to throw us off!

He called the number listed in the time table and made a reservation for the 16th's Desert Wind out of Salt Lake City. He would have preferred a first class accommodation, but they insisted they were all sold out. He took coach, after cursing out the agent thoroughly.

He then grabbed a cab and raced to O'Hare.

He talked to United Airlines, and all their planes were sold out into Salt Lake today and tomorrow. Same damned thing with American Airlines. He ended up at Delta's, and at first it seemed that all qualifying flights were sold out. Then the agent, who was tolerating his abuse and figured that the quickest way to get rid of him was put him on a plane, asked him why he needed to be there at that time.

"I need to catch a fucking train, which fucking gets the fuck in there at 11:36!" Barry yelled.

"We have a flight that will get you there at 11:15, and there is one first clas-" she started.

"That's not enough time, you stupid bitch!" Barry snapped.

"The California Zephyr?" she asked.

"No, the Desert Wind, but it's the same fucking train!" he yelled.

"You know its almost definitely going to be hours late, right?" she asked.

"Really?"

"Yes. You have a good chance to get on that train with this flight. No guarantees, but I'd expect to make it."