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DAYS OF PASSENGER TRAINS RECALLED WITH APPRECIATION
January 26, 1977
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PIX: B&O passenger train of the era when Potluck editor was
a boy and
selling papers at the train stations in Fostoria.
WHEN THE TRAINS WHISTLE
A train whistle, whether it be in the day, or a far away sound in the
dead
of night, always provokes memories for me. I guess because trains
have been
so close to me all my life.
Up to the time I was six, I lived just a stones-throw away from the
B&O
and Nickel Plate tracks in the south end of town. Then for another
18 years
I lived close to the old New York Central and C & O (then known
as Hocking
Valley Line, at the east edge of town.) And of course the L.E. &
W (Lake Erie
& Western) was nearby too. It was often called the "leave
early and walk".
Some of my reading audience may remember like I do, the "excursion"
trains
that ran on the L.E. & W. line to Cedar Point. The run started
at Ft. Wayne
and ended at Sandusky, where the rest of the trip to the Point was made
by
passenger boat. The train carried 8 or 10 cars and was usually
filled.
Cedar Point was as popular then as it is today. The main attractiion
was the
clean, sand beach, bu the roller coaster and fun house were popular
too.
They didn't have the sophicated amusements that are there today.
As a lad I met most of the daytime passenger trains that came into Fostoria,
selling newspapers of that day - Cleveland Plain Dealer and Cleveland
News
Leader; Toledo News Bee; and Cincinnati Enquirer. The traveling
men who
rode the trains were always anxious to get the latest news and tipped
heavily.
Cecil Hall, a friend of mine, peddled freshly popped corn to the same
trains,
and usually made a "killing". Anyway to make a - I was
about to say buck -
but, no it should be "a little extra change".
Forty car freight trains were long ones then. With the advent
of the big
"iron horse", and later the diesels, the trains grew to 100
cars or more.
Fostoria was known as a railroad center when the railroad business was
at its
height. There were five major lines runnin both freight and passenger
cars
through Fostoria and an average of 100 trains passed through here daily.
When I left The Review Times and started working for Fostoria Pressed
Steel
(now Fostoria Industries), the trains were my favorite mode of transportation.
They always got you there, in comfort and had good sleeping accommodations
and good food.
Twenty-five years aso, you could ride the trains north, south, east,
west out
of Fostoria, for Cincinnati, New York, Chicago, Detroit, with connections
for about any place in the U.S. It was possible to take an early
morning
train to Chicago getting there by mid-morning, transact your business
and
return on a late afternoon train the same day.
Or, you could leave here on a late afternoon train and arrive in New
York
early the next morning, leaving enough time to transact a full day of
business and return on a night train.
The passenger train 25 years ago were excellent, as was the service.
The
train crews should be remembered and honored for their service today,
as well
as then.
The C & O Sportsman was deluxe. What a beautiful ride it provided
from
Fostoria to Chicago. Both were excellent, but the Capitol was
the best and
fastest. Dee Harrison, whom many readers will remember rode the
B & O
consistently to Chicago and return. We often rode in the clud-car
together
and sometimes had breakfast or dinner.
The Nickle Plate had a very good passenger train to Hoboken, N.J. where
you
could get the ferry boat, to complete the trip to New York City.
The Nickle
Plate ended its run in Buffalo, but switched the New York cars to the
Lackawanna.
I'm not sure Fostoria and Fostorians have always appreciated the revenue
and overall contribution the railroads have made to the city.
We never
appreciate the good things until they are gone. It's too late
now.
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