(erielack) Not Quite The Last Trip, But............

[RJFlei_@_aol.com]

List,
       I rode the Y-Town to Cleveland commuter train several times as a kid. 
My grandmother lived in Cleveland and we only had one car so my mother and I 
rode the train from Warren. 
       I always enjoyed those rides. Alco RS locos always seemed to be the 
power on the headend. If I remember right, the interiors of the passenger cars 
were gray and the cloth upholstering on the seats may have been green. 
       We would get off the train at Cleveland Union Terminal. I remember a 
restaurant named The Oak Room, or something like that in the terminal. My aunt 
worked at Higbee's Dept. Store, which was adjacent to CUT. Sometimes we would 
go to the Silver Grill at the top of Higbee's for lunch. This whole complex 
was quite impressive to a young kid from a small town. 
       We would then go to street level to hop a bus for W.43rd St. where my 
grandmother lived. This was right above the Cleveland Zoo. You could see some 
of the Zoo animals from the end of her street. More importantly, though, was 
that this street also overlooked the W&LE and the B&O tracks. If I heard a 
train coming, I would always beat it down to the end of the street to watch it go 
by. There was a pretty stiff grade there, the trains were slow, and you could 
hear the trains coming for quite a distance. It was also kind of neat to see 
those cooling fans whirling about from my high vantage point. 
       There was at least one time where my Cub Scout Troop rode the train to 
Cleveland to see the Indians play baseball at the old Municipal Stadium. BTW, 
I had the pleasure to have dinner with Indians great, Bob Feller, a few years 
ago. My son is also a pitcher and Bob gave hime some good advice about 
pitching. This was at Mr. Anthony's in Youngstown (Boardman).
       Then there were the Cleveland Press specials to New York City. My 
parents talked about taking this train to New York, but we never made it. I think 
it used to stop in Warren to pick up passengers. 
       I sure wish we still had these trains. I've gone to different events 
in Cleveland in recent years and have ended up in traffic jams on I-480. Seems 
to me that rail service would be a nice alternative to sitting in traffic that 
is in a state of gridlock. I guess that those were the "good old days". I 
miss them. 

Rick Fleischer
Cortland, OH.
ELHS 1426

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