Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Amtrak Spokesman “Bewildered” As “20th Century Limited” Train Pulls Into Grand Central Station, 42 Years Late

“We’ve had a lot of things we couldn’t explain over the years,” Amtrak spokesman Jillian Corman told a hastily assembled Manhattan news conference. “But where this train has been for almost 42 years is something we’ve all been trying to figure out.”

The 20th Century Limited, which operated between Chicago and New York, began service in 1902, cutting four hours off the then-record travel time of 24 hours and operated until 1967, when it was discontinued, due to service problems and competition from the airlines.

One train, which left Chicago in November, 1967, “vanished from our records,” Corman told reporters. “We presumed that the train had gone over a bridge or an embankment due to heavy snow, and we so notified the people we identified as next-of-kin.”

Corman explained that “1967 preceded the era of tracking trains by computer and we could only get information from train crews as they passed various stations or railroad watch towers. So if a train basically disappeared, there was no way to figure out where it was.”

Accounts from arriving passengers on the train, which featured Pullman service and courteous and efficient waiters and bartenders, indicated that the train, instead of falling off a bridge, due to icy conditions, was sidelined outside Buffalo while waiting for a nonexistent freight train to come through, for a period of 11 years. Its markings covered by years of neglect, the train then followed a circular route from Florida to Michigan, stopping only to reload coal, clean sheets, whiskey, cigars, and prime steaks.

“They were just having a good time,” Corman said of the passengers, who lacked modern technology like cell phones or laptops to contact loved ones. “The porters kept the beds turned down, and the chefs must have kept sending out for food, because we hear it was like a nonstop party. People just lost track of time in there.”

Corman says that while she is “grateful” that the train finally completed its journey to New York City, Amtrak “regrets” providing families of passengers with “inaccurate information about the passengers’ demise. Tearful reunions of long-lost relatives have been playing out on the Grand Central Station main concourse,reminding older observers of V-E Day and other happy occasions.

“We’re planning on giving free passes to anyone from that era who is still alive,” Corman said. “It was a different era in railroading, and in travel in general. Men boarding the 20th Century received carnations and women received perfume and flowers. You could get up and walk around—you weren’t scrunched up like in coach on a jet today, and you could make friends with your fellow passengers. And you didn’t have computers, so it was more like a party than a time to get more work done.

“Quite frankly,” she concluded, “I understand why those passengers were in no hurry to get off that train. I guess they’re in for a terrible shock when they find out what modern travel, and modern life, for that matter, is all about.”