82 CLASSIC TRAINS FALL 2019
and draw nigh unto us. I was literally
breathless with excitement, because this
was to be my first overnight trip on a
train. Yes, I had ridden both Illinois Cen-
tral and Rock Island commuter trains for
most of my seven years, but
I was about to ride the
Broadway, both going and
coming!
I could scarcely contain
myself, I was so thrilled.
And the going only got
better after we boarded and
made our way to the dining
car, where we enjoyed the
most amazing meal of my
young life as the verdant
Indiana landscape scrolled
past our window. I resolved
then and there that I would
enjoy the same feast on white tablecloths
with real silverware on the return trip.
Yes, I was lulled to sleep that night by
the serenade of steel wheels on steel rails,
but I couldn’t get that amazing meal in
the dining car out of my head.
So, as we concluded our two-week vis-
it with Aunt Molly and her husband Un-
cle Jack and our cousins John and Anne,
Aunt Molly announced that she had
made a special going-away dinner just for
me, her Godson: hot dogs and hamburg-
ers. “Your favorite, Charley,” she said.
However, as she set the
feast before me, I folded my
arms over my chest and
stubbornly refused to eat.
“What’s the matter?”
Aunt Molly asked.
“I’m having dinner on
the Broadway Limited,” I a n -
nounced.
And there was nothing
my family could say to dis-
suade me. I did not mean to
offend my dear Aunt Molly,
but I certainly did mean to
take my dinner in the dining
car of the westbound Broadway.
Aunt Molly could only shake her head
and say: “If your grandfather was alive, he
would make you eat dinner here with us.”
“No,” I said, “Poppa worked for the
Pennsylvania Railroad. He would want
me to eat my dinner on the Pennsylvania
Railroad.”
I was literally
breathless with
excitement as
the Tuscan red
E 8 approached,
because this
was to be my
first overnight
trip on a train.
Oh, I was a stubborn little cuss, but
my aunt and mother went along with me,
and when we boarded the Broadway at
Paoli, my mother asked our porter about
seatings for dinner in the dining car.
He said the dining car was full up for
the night.
Mom said that served me right, that I
would just have to go without my dinner,
and that I should think all night about all
those hot dogs and hamburgers Aunt
Molly had made just for me.
I entertained no such thoughts and in-
stead looked beseechingly at the porter.
He saw a disappointed little boy who
had had his heart set on eating in the
dining car.
“Let me go to the diner and see what I
can do,” he said, giving me a nod.
Within the hour a waiter appeared at
our bedroom door with room service for
one — me.
“I hope you enjoy it,” my mother said,
as the waiter set dinner before me.
I did enjoy it, and I was sure my grand-
father was smiling down from heaven as
I ate every last bite.
— Charles McKelvy
The Way It Was
SPECIAL (^) EDITION NO. 24
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