Tell us who the greatest passenger railroad was. Aricat says 1. Santa Fe 2.Burlington 3.Milwaukee Road.[:)][:)]
I’ll go w/ your choices and in that order, but lets add GN and NP in w/ the Q for a trifectta. They did run joint services, even to sharing equipment, and are a natural team.
I will have to go with the D&RGW, they lasted the longest. But then I just might have a soft spot for them. [:)]
When?
On the eve of Amtrak I’d have to go with Santa Fe. The railroad simply didn’t know how to run a bad passenger service.
BN was right up there. Especially with their Chicago suburban service.
But if you go back a few years, before the railroads got into financial trouble, a lot of them had great passenger service.
You can’t beat the New York Central and Pennsylvania in 1956. All Pulman overnights between Detroit and New Yorrk/Piittsburg and New York. Every train for every passengers’ need. The Pensy between New York and Washington, D.C. takes the cake.
The SP was right up there. Their all Pulman “Lark” was 2nd to none, including the 20th Century Limited. Its compliment was an all coach Starlight leaving LA for the Bay Area one hour and 15 minutes after the Lark. The Starlight carried a coffee shop snack car (open all night) and a tavern car. Done in by $22 air fares.
I could go on. The Missouri Pacific out of St. Louis (where connections from the east and Chicago were made) served Texas very well. IC, ACL, others, they were all good.
People just din’t want or need it any more.