Author: Jim Pearson

The Illinois Senate today voted 59-0 to create the Illinois and Midwest High Speed Rail Commission with the intent of issuing a roadmap for the creation of bullet train lines in Illinois and neighboring states. Under General Assembly rules, such a commission can be created by a vote in just one of the two legislative chambers. No further legislative action is required.  The resolution creating the Commission, Senate Resolution 806, defines the group’s mission as “recommending the best governmental structure for a public-private partnership to design, build, operate, maintain, and finance a high-speed rail system for Illinois and the Midwest.”

The Commission is to be composed of 19 members as follows:10 public members appointed by the Governor; 3 members of the Illinois House of Representatives, 2 appointed by the Speaker of the House and one appointed by the House Minority Leader; 3 members of the Illinois Senate, 2 appointed by the Senate President and one appointed by the Senate Minority Leader; 3 ex-officio members as follows: the Illinois Secretary of Transportation; the Executive Director of the Illinois Commerce Commission; the Executive Director of the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority;  Earlier this week, mayors and county officials from across Illinois issued an open letter to fellow elected officials that said, “We urge you to work actively to secure approvals and funding for the planning and implementation of a Chicago-St. Louis 220-mph high speed rail line.

This line would bring our business, research and government capitals within less than 1.5 hours of each other, and open vital new connections to O’Hare Airport.” The letter also was sent to U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood.  The Midwest High Speed Rail Association proposes to transform the Midwest into one cohesive, compact economic entity with a network of 220-mph bullet trains with Chicago at its heart, including a St. Louis to Chicago line that would serve Edwardsville, Springfield, Decatur, Champaign, Kankakee, the Southland, McCormick Place, Downtown Chicago and O’Hare Airport.

Charter members gathered for a group photo (right) during the April meeting of the West Kentucky Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society in Madisonville, KY.  These members formed the consist of the chapter’s beginnings in 1985, after several had been active in the Owensboro chapter.

Each Charter member was awarded a 25 Year commemorative shirt and pin.  Unfortunately, the cake was devoured before photos could be taken.  It was delicious!

RAILMARK ACQUIRES ORLANDO DINNER TRAIN OPERATION – NEWS RELEASE – (Walled Lake, MI) – April 7, 2010 – Railmark’s RAIL ENTERTAINMENT USA INC. subsidiary announced today that it has acquired the assets and operations of Florida Rail Adventures LLC and commenced operations on March 19th.  Railmark’s iconic Star Clipper Dinner Train®, the first and oldest dinner train in North America, will begin its 26th season in the Orlando Florida market, moving from the Metro-Detroit Michigan market where it has been since 1985.  The Star Clipper Dinner Train made its debut run on August 4, 1984 in Osage Iowa and since that time has entertained over 2,000,000 passengers.  Railmark’s other branded rail entertainment trains such as its family oriented excursion trains, adult entertainment trains and its unique Pullman Palace Bed & Breakfast operation, will relocate to the Eustis, Mount Dora and Tavares Florida area, all lake front communities along the train’s primary route and located just northwest of Orlando.  The Company’s Florida-based operations website is www.orlandotrains.com.

Railmark has named Mr. Neil Bagaus Vice President of Rail Entertainment USA Inc. & General Manager of the Company’s Florida-based retail train operations.  Mr. Bagaus has spent a good majority of his career in retail train operations and Railmark welcomes him as an important part of its management team.

Mr. B. Allen Brown, Railmark President & CEO comments, “We are looking forward to integrating our themed trains into the Orlando Florida market and building upon the successes of our predecessor’s trains, such as the Orlando Magic Express operated on certain home game nights.  Railmark’s experience and expertise will transform this historic railroad into an important rail oriented tourist attraction in the central Florida market.”

In March of this year my wife and I were returning to Madisonville from our trip to Phoenix, Arizona and decided to stay a night at the La Posada Hotel in Winslow, Arizona. Members Don Clayton and Wallace Henderson had recommended this lovely place to me and I value their judgment because of their vast experience in traveling.

This hotel was built about 1930 and was a stop on the Santa Fe Railroad. Food and lodging were available to travelers using the Santa Fe’s route between Chicago and Los Angeles. The present building replaced one that burned down in the 1920s and is thus, the latest one built. Food was provided by the Fred Harvey Company which worked with the Santa Fe in many of their hotels. The company employed many young women in a hope that this would civilize, not only the hotel, but the surrounding area which was inhabited mostly by males a century ago. These women came to be known as the Harvey Girls and they did help civilize the area and married many of the local men.  Hollywood even made a very good movie called “The Harvey Girls” starring Judy Garland containing a good story and good music showing the life of these hardworking and capable women. It also has some nice shots of Santa Fe steam engines and trains in it.

The hotel was designed by a lady architect, Mary Coulter, who worked on many projects for the Santa Fe and many of these are still standing such as the El Tovar Hotel at the Grand Canyon. The Southwest architecture is quite well done. There are several gardens and the grounds are very comfortable and provide a good place to rest.  There are as many as 140 trains a day going by and the hotel even provides comfortable rocking chairs trackside to observe the action. There is an adjoining Amtrak station where trains such as the Southwest Chief stop. Winslow has a small rail yard and is a crew change point on the modern BNSF Railway which provides a nice opportunity for train watching as the trains stop for a few minutes before continuing their journey.

There are many things to see here such as the intimate gardens, a museum of modern art, the surrounding city with it’s historical buildings, and an excellent restaurant in the Hotel. The Turquoise Room has hosted many famous people over the years and they have a great photographic collection on the walls showing some of them such as Spencer Tracy, Jimmy Stewart, John Wayne, Albert Einstein, Amelia Earhart, and Harry Truman to name a few. The guest rooms are named for these travelers and we stayed in the Carol Lombard room overlooking the tracks. She was an actress and was married to Clark Gable and died in an airplane crash near Las Vegas in 1942 while on a War Bond tour for the Nation’s war effort.

There are two old passenger cars parked next to the Amtrak station that have been preserved and converted into permanent residences. One is pictured here and is a beautiful Pennsylvania Railroad car that is used by a local doctor as his residence. It has four nice bedrooms in it and you can even see the satellite dish mounted on the end of the car for television.

If you are looking for a nice place to stay in Northern Arizona with a lot of history, good food, nice rooms, lots of trains, gardens, art, and is right on Historic Route 66 you might wish to try out La Posada Hotel in Winslow, Arizona.