Ross: Acela train trip from Hornell through Southern Tier stirs memories, hopes for future

There is often a message on Facebook which asks people, "What is a sound you miss from your childhood?"

In the past when I’ve seen this question, I have often answered it with "Train whistles."

Well, I missed my chance. The other morning when Amtrak's Acela train rolled through the village of Wellsville, I must have been sleeping. The train was being transported from Alstom in Hornell to Olean in Cattaraugus County for storage.

I wish I’d known about it, because I would have stationed myself somewhere along the tracks with the hundreds of others who did see and record its passage. But I didn’t. If it blew its whistle at the several crossings in the village — five that I can think of — I didn’t hear one of them.

I wish that somehow, Alstom had gotten the word out, because while it may be routine for people in Steuben and Catt. counties to hear and see trains, it is a rarity in Wellsville.

Not long ago I sat at a train crossing in Hornell while a train passed, and I was mesmerized with the thought of everywhere that train had been. The cars were covered with graffiti from all across the country and I couldn’t help but think about the people who had tagged it. I hummed the “City of New Orleans” for the rest of the day.

I’ve since read that the Acela train consisted of 11 cars and an engine pulled by two older engines. I have seen the countless videos of the train as it made its way along the tracks past the hills and fields and under the underpasses and over the bridges.

Apparently, the needle-nosed Acela consists of a first-class car, and six standard passenger cars. It also included two catering cars, one for first-class passengers and a catering/club car for the rest of the passenger cars which includes seating and a place to order food.

When I was a kid traveling on the Erie/Lackawanna to Chicago and the Chief to Fort Worth, Texas, I remember going to a little room at the end of the club car to grab some kind of sandwich. But I also have an earlier memory of sitting at a table with a starched white tablecloth with my mother and older sister and ordering pie.

I remember that because I embarrassed the older ladies to death when I picked my piece of pie off the plate and ate it with my hands. Like I said, I was very, very young at the time. We were on our way to visit family and we stopped in Grand Central Station to change cars before going on to New Jersey.

I also remember leaving Wellsville before dawn when the steam rolled out from underneath the cars stopped at the Erie Depot in white clouds. Then, we headed to Texas to visit my sister. We were due to stop in Chicago to change trains. All the times I made that trip, we never made it to Chicago with any time to spare. We always had to run to catch our connecting train.

As I look back on those times, I realize how treasured those memories are. It makes me happy to have them tucked into the crevices of my brain where I can still recall them. It was a lifetime ago now.

It grieves me to see the empty railroad tracks throughout Allegany County, but it gives me hope that what everyone always says about the tracks — they are old and in desperate need of repair — isn’t exactly accurate.

I don’t have the slightest inkling as to how much it costs to construct the Acela train, let alone maintain and operate it, but it’s a good hunch that Amtrak wouldn’t have endangered its investment by sending it down dangerous tracks. I realize the train wasn’t operating on its own … but still.

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It gives me hope because it shows me that those old tracks aren’t as bad as some might believe and that perhaps they can be utilized again. I don’t expect highspeed trains like the Acela to speed along the tracks, but is there any reason why we cannot have excursion trains? Why can’t we have trains like the Arcade and Attica train that takes people on fall foliage trips, Civil War reenactments and mystery dinners?

With this proof that the tracks through Allegany County are useable, I think the towns and villages, the Chambers of Commerce, business associations and the county government are missing the train if they don’t get on this track.

— Kathryn Ross writes a weekly Opinion column.

This article originally appeared on The Evening Tribune: New Amtrak train's journey through Southern Tier stirs happy memories