Hudson by Rail was inspired by a drive from Albany - during the Fall leaf season - down the Hudson to NYC... the colors, the bucolic views of hillsides dazzled in oranges, yellows and reds of all shades with the occasional pop of evergreen. Just fabulous being lost in the land of Rip Van Winkle, sleepy villages & towns standing in testament to better years when the Erie Canal & Vanderbilt rails drove commerce along the Hudson.... dreamy, until rounding a corner and there loomed the City - a beehive of towers almost alien to the landscape [indeed alien is an understatement]. Its easy to see how the Vanderbilts, Rockefellers and Roosevelts found the valley an enchanting escape from the stench [well, back when everything was mule or horse drawn] or smog [in the era of coal] of New York. Indeed, speaking of escape, one of my fondest memories of the Hudson was taking the Twentieth Century Limited departing from Grand Central Station at 6PM heading up the Hudson and out to Chicago [stopping to get off in South Bend, Indiana at 7AM]. The comfort of a sleeper car rocking one to bed, the savory delights of the dining car - with a good steak & wine as dusk overtook the train not to mention the tinkle of crystal, the clink of silverware astride china plates resting on fine white linen tablecloths - one might say almost a Pavlovian experience for those on the edge of hunger.... & then the bar car, crowded with classmates heading off to Notre Dame and other college towns west of the Appalachians, drained of anything liquid [except water] by Syracuse. Sweet times but alas, the train lived up to its name and like the Wabash Cannonball or the City of New Orleans .... it was 'limited' and faded away in the twentieth century like a grand old lady. She never became a 21st Century Fox. For those that rode her... passengers fortunate enough to book a ticket got to ride a memory that few will ever experience again. And then there is the question: Have you ever been through Grand Central Station - a masterpiece saved in part by Jackie Kennedy Onassis? Did you ever look up? Can you describe the ceiling? Betting most haven't and those that do never look. Sad! [framed]
Hudson by Rail was inspired by a drive from Albany - during the Fall leaf season - down the Hudson to NYC... the colors, the bucolic views of hillsides dazzled in oranges, yellows and reds of all shades with the occasional pop of evergreen. Just fabulous being lost in the land of Rip Van Winkle, sleepy villages & towns standing in testament to better years when the Erie Canal & Vanderbilt rails drove commerce along the Hudson.... dreamy, until rounding a corner and there loomed the City - a beehive of towers almost alien to the landscape [indeed alien is an understatement]. Its easy to see how the Vanderbilts, Rockefellers and Roosevelts found the valley an enchanting escape from the stench [well, back when everything was mule or horse drawn] or smog [in the era of coal] of New York. Indeed, speaking of escape, one of my fondest memories of the Hudson was taking the Twentieth Century Limited departing from Grand Central Station at 6PM heading up the Hudson and out to Chicago [stopping to get off in South Bend, Indiana at 7AM]. The comfort of a sleeper car rocking one to bed, the savory delights of the dining car - with a good steak & wine as dusk overtook the train not to mention the tinkle of crystal, the clink of silverware astride china plates resting on fine white linen tablecloths - one might say almost a Pavlovian experience for those on the edge of hunger.... & then the bar car, crowded with classmates heading off to Notre Dame and other college towns west of the Appalachians, drained of anything liquid [except water] by Syracuse. Sweet times but alas, the train lived up to its name and like the Wabash Cannonball or the City of New Orleans .... it was 'limited' and faded away in the twentieth century like a grand old lady. She never became a 21st Century Fox. For those that rode her... passengers fortunate enough to book a ticket got to ride a memory that few will ever experience again. And then there is the question: Have you ever been through Grand Central Station - a masterpiece saved in part by Jackie Kennedy Onassis? Did you ever look up? Can you describe the ceiling? Betting most haven't and those that do never look. Sad! [framed]