America Gets Back on Track

By Nancy R. Gibbs

"You know, this is the prettiest railroad country in the world," says Woody Vinson, who by this time certainly should know. He is gazing over a plate of Traditional Trainman's French Toast, past the plastic yellow rose, out the window of the dining car of the California Zephyr as it leaves Salt Lake City behind and makes for the mountains. The tables are full of people ignoring their breakfast, a comment less on the quality of the food than on the galactic beauty of the scene outside. Vinson and his wife Lois are on their way home to Memphis the long, old-fashioned way: across the Rockies to Chicago, then south on the City of New Orleans. Every inch, every jolt, every valley is familiar to him and much loved, for when he retired with a gold watch last August, Woody had worked the trains for 51 years.

The passenger train is a democratic institution now, property of the Federal Government. Gone are most of the Woodys, who catered to a passenger's every whim. Gone too are the silver coffeepots, the mahogany walls and chandeliers in the dining cars, and the nurses on board who would look after infants so that Mother could rest. The glamour trains of the early 20th century, the ones that ferried tycoons cross-country, stopping for fresh strawberries along the way, could not compete with the airlines or the new federal highway system. By the end, when Amtrak had to step in, service had deteriorated out of existence.

But, at last, a happy twist. After a 17-year struggle with decrepit equipment, bad management and public disdain, Amtrak has come into its own. Most of the filthy, ever late, steamy-in-summer, frigid-in-winter rattletraps that Amtrak inherited at birth in 1970 have finally been refurbished or retired. Last year for the first time, Amtrak covered its above-rail operating costs. Its 2,400 cars rolled along 24,000 miles of track in 43 states, carrying 21 million passengers, 12% more than the previous year. "You can't get sleeping accommodations for the summer going west," says Chicago Travel Agent Jacqueline Zarnek. "They're already sold out."

On short, densely populated routes, Amtrak is riding highest of all. More than half its business comes from the Northeast corridor, where trains have surpassed air travel as the most popular form of mass transit. Business travelers on the Bosnywash circuit appreciate the convenience, the wide seats, the reliability in foul weather, and the chance to get some work done. "When you ride a train," says Chicago Bank Executive William McClintic, "you can sit back, relax and avoid the hassles of traffic and airports."

Private companies are beginning to take advantage of the crowded roads and skies, and are buying up cars and rights-of-way to offer a plush alternative to a traffic jam. The Cape Cod & Hyannis Railroad carries 100,000 passengers between Boston and the Cape from May through October. While motorists on the single major highway are bumper to bumper, passengers can recline in the velvety Presidential parlor car, built in 1925. Next May in California, the Napa Valley Wine Train is expected to begin shuttling wine lovers from vineyard to vineyard in vintage railcars.

But it is not only on short trips that trains have become the vehicle of choice. On longer runs -- the celestial Coast Starlight along the Pacific Rim, the Palmetto from New York City to Savannah, the Crescent to New Orleans -- the cars are full of people who don't seem to be in any hurry. It is a fine way to travel if you like being able to knit a sweater between Oakland and Denver. The Western trains manage a lordly 30 m.p.h. in the mountains, 79 on straightaways if track conditions allow. On transcontinental trips, says a steward on the Zephyr, "I figure if we make it to Chicago within an hour of schedule, we're on time." Which doesn't seem completely unreasonable on a 49 1/2-hour trip.

For many white-knuckle travelers, of course, time does not matter. The trains are full of former flyers content to sacrifice speed for calm. After a plane crash, Amtrak ticket agents report, sales surge. "I don't trust airlines anymore," says Paul Voorhees, president of a Columbus, Ga., military-supply company. He is on the 54-hour ride home aboard the Desert Wind from a Las Vegas trade show. "I talk with a lot of other businessmen on the train, and we usually end up saying the same thing: Airlines are cutting back too much on their maintenance."

Amtrak, of course, has been accused of the same thing, particularly after a January 1987 crash near Baltimore, which killed 16 people. Congress is debating the licensing and drug-testing of train engineers. Amtrak Spokesman Clifford Black points out that at present engineers must take qualification exams and physicals each year. In 17 years, he notes, there have been only 40 passengers killed on Amtrak trains. "There are nearly that many people killed in eight hours on the nation's highways."

But anxiety alone cannot account for the return to the rails. Travelers give many reasons: an abiding passion for trains, the freedom to stop off along the way, the animated suspension of a ride through the mountains. A train is a child's adventure, with its hutches and hiding places, ceilings that turn into beds, sinks that vanish into walls, and a blessing for parents. "You can get up and walk around with the little ones," says Travel Agent Zarnek. "You don't just strap them into a seat and expect them to sit still."

Above all, passengers have rediscovered the scenery and the camaraderie. Hollywood's tradition of strangers meeting while trapped on a train is played out again and again, particularly on the Western routes, where the two-story, glass-domed lounge cars promote great sociability. For people who like a good story, there is time to tell it, with ornamentation. "People who ride trains don't wear watches, and they all seem to talk to you," observes Mike Berres, traveling home to Milwaukee from Oakland. "They don't much care what life you're coming from, what life you're going to."

The stacked cars do not run in the East, where low bridges and tunnels would slice them in half, but they are well suited to the teetering pass through the Sierra Nevadas and the run through the ruddy shadow of the Rockies. The California Zephyr route takes passengers past places they would normally miss -- like Thompson, Utah, where the presence of the train doubles the size of the town. And the Ruby Canyon, the throat-tightening Donner Pass. For additional company, there are bald eagles, elk, prairie dogs, deer springing up alongside the tracks at twilight as the car slides past, cameras flashing from the windows. Even a bored 15-year-old cannot maintain her sangfroid in the face of such a host, and wrenches the camera from her father's hands.

For those who recall the white-linen days of yore, the dining car is a disappointment. The tables are covered with blue plastic, the meals served on beige plastic dishes. But the food is hearty, and some standards survive, like the thick French toast and trout served in the mountains. Anyone who suffered the vending-machine fare of the 1970s appreciates the fact that the food is prepared -- or at least thawed -- on board, with good sirloin steaks grilled to order in the evenings.

Meals are included in the cost of a sleeper, which on overnight runs provides some privacy and chance of rest, though at a price. For a passenger traveling round trip between Chicago and San Francisco, a deluxe bedroom quintuples the fare, to $1,050. The compartment does have a toilet and shower; actually, the toilet is in the shower stall, but on a two-day trip, it still seems a glorious luxury, those 30-second dousings of 100 degrees F water. Most trains have family bedrooms that can sleep two adults and two children, if they are all fairly limber, as well as handicap-access sleepers and bathrooms on the lower level of the cars.

Though more people are asking for sleeping quarters than ever before, Amtrak simply does not have the equipment to accommodate them and Washington does not appear ready to provide any additional ones. "It takes political support, public support to maintain a viable rail system," says Michael Barosso, a Sacramento farmer and frequent rider. Since it came under the leadership of W. Graham Claytor Jr. in 1982, Amtrak has reduced its subsidy and improved its service to the point that the system is operating at just about capacity. But without new equipment and restoration of the tracks, Amtrak will not be able to keep up with the explosive demand. For all those who have yet to discover the romance, that would be a very sad loss.

With reporting by Jerome Cramer/Washington and Erik Kirschbaum/Las Vegas