WASBASH CANNONBALL

Thanks for sharing Steve. Here is Johnny Cash’s version of City of New Orleans:

That brings back good memories.  I actually rode the Wabash Cannonball in 1966.  That was the name of the WAB day train between Detroit and St. Louis.  I was on my way from New York to Chicago via Fort Wayne, STL, KC, New Orleans and Louisville.  I arrived early in the morning on PRR's General and took the Cannonball to St. Louis.  Being on a pass, I was able to ride first class, which meant a seat in the diner-lounge.  At Decatur, the Cannonball was combined with the Banner Blue for the trip to St. Louis.  The timetable equipment list showed the BB as having a parlor-lounge Chicago to STL.  Much to my surprise and delight, that parlor lounge turned out to be one the Wabash's two remaining parlor observation cars.  I got in plenty of rear platform time between Decatur and St. Louis.

mlaughlinnyc posted:

That brings back good memories.  I actually rode the Wabash Cannonball in 1966.  That was the name of the WAB day train between Detroit and St. Louis.  I was on my way from New York to Chicago via Fort Wayne, STL, KC, New Orleans and Louisville.  I arrived early in the morning on PRR's General and took the Cannonball to St. Louis.  Being on a pass, I was able to ride first class, which meant a seat in the diner-lounge.  At Decatur, the Cannonball was combined with the Banner Blue for the trip to St. Louis.  The timetable equipment list showed the BB as having a parlor-lounge Chicago to STL.  Much to my surprise and delight, that parlor lounge turned out to be one the Wabash's two remaining parlor observation cars.  I got in plenty of rear platform time between Decatur and St. Louis.

Nice rail journey of a way of travel greatly diminished by plane travel.

I commuted via LIRR for 30+ years from Long Island to NYC and someday just may look into an Amtrak journey.

My favorite version of Orange Blossom Special:

Rusty

I was born along the tracks of the Wabash Cannonball a few blocks from the Lafayette, IN station.  My wife and daughter were also born on towns along the Wabash Cannonball and the Wabash River.  For the first 30 years of my life, I lived within a few miles of the Wabash Route in Indiana. I rode the Cannonball about a week before it was discontinued.  Needless to say the passenger cars were worn out and the locomotives were filthy dirty.  During the depression, my grandfather and his brothers would wait on a bridge over the Wabash tracks for a slow moving coal train. They would jump from the bridge onto a hopper full of coal and put as much as they could into gunny sacks. They would then hop off and head home with the coal to heat their families homes.

Trains Unlimited has a great video of the Wabash.  It can be streamed on YouTube.