Re: (erielack) Dining Cars

[Njricky2_@_aol.com]

In the mid-60s, when Motown was overwhelming the British music invasion, I 
took a trip via EL from Scranton to my final destination, Boston, to meet my 
dad's brother who was with the military at that time and lived in a Boston surbub 
with my aunt and my cousins on an army base.

Erie Lackawanna from Scranton to Hoboken was "comfortable", in effect, a 
class act even though the employees knew that EL's days were numbered. The 
breakfast was fine, white table cloths, and believe it or not, a glass of water as we 
all expect some 40-odd years later. And yes the basics, bacon and eggs with 
toast.

Going from Hoboken to Grand Central via commuter bus was OK. From Grand 
Central I then left for Boston via the New Haven. What a difference.

There was no food or drink service whatsoever as NH was on the skids. Many on 
the train were CT commuters who didn't give a damn and were angry because 
things were running slow. 

As a teenager, I had no clue, other than that EL seemed to be fine. I had my 
Motown (Martha & The Vandellas, The Supremes, Marvin Gaye) on WABC and to me, 
that was all that mattered. Most of all, I was riding the rails.

Long story short, after spending a week with my family in MA, it was time to 
return to Scranton via NH and EL.

When I finally got to Hoboken and got back on Erie Lackawanna, it was a 
breath of fresh air. Regardless of my young age back then, I was treated as a 
paying passenger and had the white table cloth (no booze as I was underage) but I 
had anything on the menu that I desired and was treated equally as older people 
were. I was hungry and the food was just fine, even the lousy wax beans. 
After nothing on NH, wax beans tasted just fine.

All I can say is that my experience was that Erie Lackawanna did their best 
against the odds. You had the Erie power with the Lackawanna touch of care. 
Those who worked on EL were indeed "a class act". 

In my mind, they did their damned best to make their passengers comfortable. 
Now that I'm a New Yorker, living in Manhattan for more than half my life and 
having used our three commuter railways and Amtrak, no apologies here. As good 
as they are, they don't come up to Erie Lackawanna standards. It's a 
different time I guess.

I respect them but the problem is that they don't have the resources to offer 
the "care" that those who were Erie Lackawanna considered to be the "norm".

For anyone on the list who worked passenger service on EL, your caring is 
still greatly appreciated. You did one hell of a damn good job and I thank you 
for that. I don't know how you kept it up, knowing that the end would come but 
you sure did. Talk about going the extra mile. You EL men and women sure did. 

Rick


	The Erie Lackawanna Mailing List
	Sponsored by the ELH&TS
	http://www.elhts.org

------------------------------

End of EL List Daily V3 #1945
*****************************