We didn’t take and pick him up from the station everyday.\u00a0 But it happened enough… so I think it was within in reason for me to think that my Father worked for the railroad.\u00a0 If he didn’t drive our 1952 MGTD to the station in the morning, Mom or Mommie Soph would drive him and then pick him up in the evening on his return.\u00a0 I loved tagging along.\u00a0 I thought that it was\u00a0cool that my Father worked for the New York, New Haven & Hartford (I would learn later that he did not).\u00a0 What little kid doesn’t love seeing trains moving in the yard?\u00a0 And my Dad was a part of that, or so I thought.<\/p>\n
I think I was 7 when I took the 8:02 Bankers from New Haven’s Union Station to New York’s Grand Central (non-stop to 125th St.).\u00a0 I am not sure that we took the MG to the station; but for the purposes of this story, let’s say we did.\u00a0 I loved driving in the MG with my Dad, he would let me beep the horn.\u00a0 On the way there, we would have stopped at Moriarity’s Garage… picked up a mechanic (maybe Mr. Moriarity himself?), I would have hopped in the tiny back and we would have proceeded the quarter mile down the hill to the station.\u00a0 The mechanic would take the car back to the garage for safe keeping, and then would bring it back to the station for our return.<\/p>\n
Dad and I boarded the dinning car of the train.\u00a0 It was all new to me.\u00a0 But I was impressed.\u00a0 The tables had thick white cloths on them.\u00a0 The Steward, in a starched white jacket,\u00a0greeted my Father with a smile and a hello.\u00a0 Perfectly natural, so thought I… after all my Father worked on the railroad… he probably knew everyone who worked on the train.\u00a0 Dad got a cup of coffee and opened his New York Times, folding it lengthwise (in the manner of others who travel the rails)…\u00a0the Steward brought me\u00a0a coloring book and crayons and a glass of orange juice & a bowl of Cheerios.\u00a0 Obviously, my Dad was very important.\u00a0 I was in heaven.<\/p>\n
I sat at that table.\u00a0 Had my cereal… the thick cloth giving me a great surface for my book, as I carefully remained within the lines… coloring in pages that had related railroad themes… scenes of trains rolling thru the countryside, that sort of thing.\u00a0 Dad caught up on the days’ news… and maybe chatted with other commuters.<\/p>\n
It was my first ride on a train, that I can recall.\u00a0 I was happy.\u00a0 I had breakfast in the dinning <\/em>car!\u00a0I felt important… and\u00a0after all my Dad worked on the railroad!<\/p>\n ******<\/p>\n I would eventually learn how prestigious The Greenbrier was.\u00a0 For me, back then, it was simply a destination\u00a0for a short family vacation.\u00a0 Paul was in College, and Lynn not… so I had to be 8 or 9 when we traveled by train from Penn Station to a station that was close to The Greenbrier… a luxurious hotel in West Virginia.\u00a0 I remember very little of our stay at the Hotel itself.\u00a0 Somewhere there is an old snapshot of me in jodhpurs and a small tweed hacking jacket, either on a horse, or about to get on a horse.\u00a0 Improbable to say the least.<\/p>\n But, I do remember the train ride.\u00a0 It was an overnight trip… and we had a private compartment (maybe two?).\u00a0 I can remember thinking that my berth (really a lower bunk) was perfect… small and cozy.\u00a0 I buried myself in the blankets… there was a small night light near the bed.\u00a0 I lay still, simply\u00a0letting the motion of the train ease me to sleep.\u00a0 I listened to the steady sounds of the wheels clacking along the rails and the occasional squeal when we traversed an interchange.<\/p>\n I am sure that in the nearly 50 years since that train ride I have\u00a0enjoyed other nights’ sleep that were as good.\u00a0 But none were better.\u00a0 Nothing can surpass the lulling motion of a train\u00a0combined with\u00a0the repetitious sound of rolling steel wheels\u00a0crossing rail joints.<\/p>\n ******<\/p>\n In 1960 Yale’s Varsity Football Team went undefeated and untied.\u00a0 I was 10.\u00a0 The team was captained by Mike Pyle (who became a All-Pro Center for the Chicago Bears), the QB was Tom Singleton (like Pyle a graduate of New Trier HS in Chicago) and Guard Ben Balme made All America (but washed out in the pros as an Eagle).<\/p>\n Our home was but five blocks from the Yale Bowl, and I saw every home game.\u00a0 Yale’s final home game alternated between Harvard and Princeton.\u00a0 And my parents always hosted a cocktail party for the final home game.\u00a0 In 1960 it was Princeton.\u00a0 And when Princeton came to town my parents’ friends, the Hiltons were invited.\u00a0 Not the Hotel <\/em>Hiltons… the Clothing Manufacturer <\/em>Hiltons.<\/p>\n Norman Hilton was a grad of Princeton… and he added to\u00a0an afternoon\u00a0that included\u00a0both Elliot and Marty\u00a0Gant (the shirtmakers) & Izzy White and Henry Miller who owned men’s stores in New Haven and West Hartford respectively.<\/p>\n Norman was more than a supplier of my Father’s business.\u00a0 He was one of his closest friends in the industry, one of his closest friends period.\u00a0 And our 50 yard line seats that afternoon (albeit on the\u00a0Princeton side) were due to the pull that Norman had as a distinguished alum.\u00a0 I was warned not to cheer too aggressively for the Yales that afternoon, since we would be sitting behind enemy lines…<\/em><\/p>\n But that didn’t stop me from launching into some pre-game bravado in our living room when I told Norman that the Bulldogs were going to murder the Tigers that afternoon.\u00a0 And to prove my point I was willing to bet a HO Train set that I had seen in a catalogue.\u00a0 It think it cost all of $25.<\/p>\n Mr. Hilton, loyal alum that he was, said I was on.<\/p>\n Yale won, and the victory was its own reward.\u00a0The thought of that train set didn’t enter my mind.\u00a0 I also didn’t want to let a side bet put a hex\u00a0on Yale’s chances against the Harvards the following Saturday… and I don’t recall ever bringing up the “bet” during the post game festivities back at the house.<\/p>\n But some time later a Tyco HO train set that had been advertised in the catalogue was delivered to\u00a0our door… Norman had honored that side bet.\u00a0 I had another train set at the time… a Marklin; but that set had a European look due to its German manufacture.\u00a0 Tyco was American.<\/p>\n The set\u00a0had a simple oval track, the Diesel bore the NH and color scheme of the New Haven RR and passenger cars were New York, New Haven and Hartford rolling stock!\u00a0 I had 3 passenger cars and an observation <\/em>car (to my knowledge, there never was an observation car on the line).\u00a0 And the best thing?\u00a0 It was New Haven RR!! The best thing in New Haven other than Yale!! I loved that set… and eventually added additional track, switches, other engines\u00a0&\u00a0cars… and built several Revel models to decorate my lay out.<\/p>\n But it all began with Norman’s gambling debt.<\/p>\n ******<\/p>\n 1969 was the Summer of Woodstock… and of our\u00a0Lunar Landing\u00a0(more of the latter in a minute).\u00a0 It was also the summer I hosteled thru Europe with a group of\u00a0other college students.\u00a0 The highlight of the trip was 10 days in the Soviet Union (my first of two trips there).\u00a0 Also on the itinerary were two other stops\u00a0behind the Iron Curtain<\/em>:\u00a0Prague and Budapest.<\/p>\n Vienna was to be our “jumping off point” for those two cities, and to get to Vienna we planned on traveling by train from Berlin.\u00a0 Our route to Vienna would cut across Czechoslovakia… and while we had visas for our stay in Prague later that month… we were detained at the Czech border because we didn’t have transit <\/em>visas.\u00a0 Sound fishy?\u00a0 I felt like saying that the “letters of transit” were hidden in the piano at Rick’s American Cafe… but what were the chances that the Czech border guards would know about Casablanca<\/em>?<\/p>\n The train proceeded without us while the border officials sorted out this crisis.\u00a0 <\/em>After all, this was the era of the War in Vietnam, Eastern Communism was still a viable force and American College students were clearly CIA operatives.\u00a0 We watched the American Astronauts landing on the moon on a TV in the border station with the Czech guards.\u00a0 We were congratulated for our achievements… and then informed for twenty-five dollars American each, we would be provided “temporary transit visas.”\u00a0 And that’s why being a Czech Border guard was considered to be a desirable job.<\/p>\n The next train we boarded, nearing the midnight hour,\u00a0was a local <\/em>train.\u00a0 It brought a new definition to the word “local”.\u00a0 It made as many stops as a bus traveling on Fifth Avenue.\u00a0 Each station that we pulled into looked smaller than the next.\u00a0 And we were traveling in the wee hours.\u00a0 Where the hell were people going?\u00a0 We were crammed into the spaces with fellow proletarians… each carrying one small valise and two large shopping bags… and another bag containing food… obviously there was no dinning car <\/em>set with thick white cloths on this<\/em> train.\u00a0 Fat salamis, onions, cloves of garlic (I think it was used as a deodorant) and the smell of warm beer filled my traveling compartment.\u00a0 The only thing that\u00a0was missing was a goat and an open latrine.<\/p>\n The added charm to this train was that it was pulled by a coal burning locomotive.\u00a0 How’s that for nostalgia?\u00a0 Traveling the rails the way they did in the 19th Century!\u00a0 The American West, the Orient Express, eh what?\u00a0 I guess I was too exhausted to appreciate this romantic form of travel… but I tell you what wasn’t lost from the train ride… coal dust.\u00a0 <\/em>They don’t show you that in the movies!\u00a0 Did you ever see John Wayne smeared with soot?<\/p>\n When I got off the train in Vienna I was coated with coal dust.\u00a0 I took off my sport shirt and it looked like I had a good “tan”.<\/em>\u00a0 So this is what Al Jolson felt like in black face?<\/p>\n The journey had taken\u00a0four times its scheduled length… but then again, I have always enjoyed trains… I guess I was just lucky.<\/p>\n ******<\/p>\n I think I was on I-84 late at night traveling back from a wine tasting when I first heard it.\u00a0 I was cruising along, but just had to crank the tune up.\u00a0 Maybe it was my mood?\u00a0 I knew that this song… a song that I did not recognize… had that special feel.<\/em><\/p>\n Well, on a train, I met a dame I drove into the darkness.\u00a0 More volume!<\/p>\n She was pretty, from New York City Good guitar.\u00a0 Good vocal.\u00a0 No, great <\/em>guitar.\u00a0 Terrific drums.\u00a0 Booming bass.\u00a0 The road opens up.\u00a0 The music demanded <\/em>speed.\u00a0 I loved the way the drummer changed beat half way thru the song.\u00a0 The song<\/em> picked up speed…<\/p>\n I’m in heat, I’m in love There are times that music captures you… you become enveloped… and then you can’t be held responsible for your actions.\u00a0 You slip\u00a0the jacket off your shoulders, stand on the table, move your feet as if nothing mattered but the pulsing music in your veins… or<\/em>, if you’re driving in a car late at night, you just push the pedal to the floor.<\/p>\n Well, we made a stop in Albuquerque But I just couldn’t tell her so… I drove further into the night fueled by the music.\u00a0 No fatigue, I could have driven to the end of time.<\/p>\n Train kept a rollin’ all night long<\/em><\/p>\n ******<\/p>\n Trains keep rollin’… oh\u00a0yeah<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" We didn’t take and pick him up from the station everyday.\u00a0 But it happened enough… so I think it was within in reason for me to think that my Father worked for the railroad.\u00a0 If he didn’t drive our 1952 … Continue reading
\n<\/em>She rather handsome, we kinda looked the same…<\/em><\/p>\n
\n<\/em>I’m walkin’ down that old fair lane<\/em><\/p>\n
\n<\/em>But I just couldn’t tell her so…
\n<\/em>I said, the train kept a rollin’ all night long
\n<\/em>Train kept a rollin’ all night long<\/em><\/p>\n
\n<\/em>She musta thought I was a cool jerk
\n<\/em>Got off the train, and put her hands up
\n<\/em>Lookin’ so good I couldn’t let her go<\/em><\/p>\n
\n<\/em>Train kept a rollin’ all night long<\/em><\/p>\n